Go~ go~ Miracle Editing Force~! Also, GODLY ART.

So, looks like the translators are done with the first batch of scripts! Now it's the editing team's turn to take these apart, pretty them up, and generally get on with the task of making everything sound fluid and natural. Having unofficially grabbed the editing coordinator role for myself, I'm going to be starting in on these first, and passing them along as I complete them. Hope you're all okay with that. <|

In other awesome news, please, feast your eyes on this absolutely magnificent Reyvablog request pic by Linearis. It's a beautiful sketch (I was particularly fond of heartofharmony's rendering, as I've had so much trouble with getting pictures of her to look right-- this captures her personality and her fashion sense so well-- but they're all cute!), and it just gets even more impressive when you discover that the artist did this in four minutes. FOUR. MINUTES. Timed to a song, apparently.

Wonderful, wonderful stuff. Soon as I get the URL for the translation project stuff (as I'm woefully bad at remembering where things are), I'll get cracking on that.

The Mirball!

At long last, I have acquired that one thing in SL without which my Mir avatar was not complete.... the Mirball, perhaps better known to most people as the shield she surrounds herself in at the end of AT1. Thanks so much to Eolande Elvehjem, who made this for me absolutely free of charge! (Warning: some small degree of obscured nudity.) 1 / 2

You have to see it in person to appreciate it fully; it animates, causing the texture to swirl prettily over the surface, and it works perfectly in flight, wherein Mir can hover and float around just as she does in AT.

We're Ar Tonelifying Second Life... one step at a time. =D

Shurelia in SL!

So over in SL-land, our latest project just came to fruition... the creation of Shurelia! We managed to get a designer to produce some custom hair for us, which is now on sale at Discord Designs in-world (just search for it), titled, yep, Shurelia. I really hope some random AT fan stumbles across it at some point and does a double-take....

Mir eyed it with some suspicion before we tried it out on an actual Shurelia-ish model. (We need to get a better skin for her... the problem with SL skins is that they're generally far too huge in the lips.)

As you may have noticed, we're on a floating piece of land in the sky-- somewhat appropriate, and we just found it randomly.... Less fortunate was when Mir accidentally stepped backwards and plummeted into the Sea of Death. (This was made even more amusing/horrifying by the fact that Shurelia teleported her back up to the sky island again, only to misaim the coordinates and send Mir falling for a second time....)

Schoolgirl Shurelia is cute.

Shurelia the Mir fan!

Over time, they finally came to understand each other... with the help of a little bit of Dive Therapy. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

[Edit: The image that replaced "Mir falling into the Sea of Death" previously has now been swapped out for the right one. Consider it a moment of "Bleep"-style censorship. This image was too awful to show viewers, etc.]

~reyvablog: omake post (spoilers follow)~

So, just kicking off here with a couple of the omake bits I've created for the Reyvablog so far....

Lyuma as an IPD. I'll create page 2 of this at some point....

Randomly, isn't every city in the AT world an airport city? Firefly Alley, Nemo, Rakshek....

And a little bit of background for this next omake... I believe, at some point in the story, dhezeall mentions an experience where she went diving with her friends and couldn't handle the subsequent embarrassment she felt when they told her about what had happened in her Cosmosphere. As a result, she became uncomfortable with the idea of diving. Basically, the first level of her Cosmosphere dealt with her fears about being perceived as feminine and stereotypically Reyvateil-esque, as well as the secret crush she had on one of her friends. So, in her Cosmosphere, she approached said friend, acting shy and coquettish... and wearing a big floofy dress. Her friends didn't stop laughing for quite some time, and of course, she was mortified....

I do, however, have her permission (yes, I really do) to show you a couple of pictures of what that might have looked like....

AR: screenshot showcase, and a little backstory

In these last days of the world of Ar Ciel, the homeless Reyvateils who slept outside AR's apartment complex are no longer there. She hopes that, wherever they've gone, it's somewhere safe, a warm and comfortable vantage point from which to watch the end of the world. Maybe they returned to their families, finally able to reconcile and put the issues that held them apart behind them. Or maybe some charitable soul was able to give them a new start. Either way, somehow, the atmosphere in these slums feels a little calmer, a little less laden with suffering and doubt, than it did several days ago. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Back in AR's small apartment, the room seems cleansed by the still light of sunset, liquidy and gold. Even these dark places are slowly having their pall lifted from them, it seems, in preparation for a new world's arrival. Not a thing can feel too cruel, too cold, or too shabby in these final hours, for cruelty and coldness hover on the brink of banishment. 1 / 2 / 3


A sidenote: The doll is Amarie, the physical inspiration for AR's Mind Guardian. (Named that well before AT2 came out, incidentally! I guess it's a popular name in that world....)

She was actually once somewhat intelligent, about as much so as a household pet; the technology that produced Reyvateil-level artificial intelligence went through a lot of refinements, first creating beings with the mental capacities of simpler animals before going on to replicate humans. This cruder technology, in the modern day, is now fairly cheap, and is frequently used to produce toys for children that cost about as much as a "talking" doll using very simple technology would today.

Through the development of such beings-- possessing the intelligence level of animals, yet capable of speech-- humans learnt a lot about the emotional capacities and needs of various animals, and stronger animal cruelty laws were introduced in many nations. Ironically, however, the dolls themselves are often treated poorly for being "artificial", with many simply discarded when they break or the child gets tired of them. While they don't feel pain, don't take offence, and are generally extremely meek, kindly and non-destructive, in order that they might be fit playthings for children, they still have needs for comfort and security, which can often conflict with the desires of a child who sees themselves as having outgrown toys. Reyvateils are often much more sensitive to the needs of these toys than humans, and many have found them to be steadfast companions whom they treasure as dearly as flesh-and-blood pets.

AR has carried Amarie's physical counterpart with her from home to home since she was five years old, occasionally relying on advice from hobby forums in order to carry out servicing on her that she couldn't afford to pay someone to do. Several years ago, Amarie simply stopped functioning, and there seemed to be no way she could be repaired within the limits of AR's budget; AR debated whether to keep what in some ways seemed like a corpse, but found she simply couldn't bear to part with her. Thus Amarie now lives with her as a silent companion, a continuing source of comfort, yet her only life within AR's own mind.

Oddly enough, the time the doll-Amarie stopped working was around the same time as AR found herself out of reputable work and took up an unfortunate career on the streets. The symbolism of this is not lost on her.

In AR's mind, she wears a small suit of armour and carries a spear.

Hymmnos lacks words for a lot of things.

That little comic I talked about yesterday. (Warning: contains spoilers for today's Reyvablog plot.) Born as a result of the problems we had translating Mir's speech....

and she may cry, but her tears will dry/when I hand her the keys to a shiny new Pastalia....

Further to my previous "no Reyvablog posts until Sunday" missive, winters just made a guest post over there, so there's something up right now after all. :) Go check it out.

Did another Reyvablog photoshoot in SL last night; mostly just test shooting, putting together new avatars for some story-related snaps we're going to take later, but got several images in the meantime that I wanted to show off (as well as a little outtake comic that I'll post after tomorrow, since it contains spoilers for the current plot).

Mir and Lyuma 2.0 chilling at the Mirbunker as furnished by IKEA, and looking far more villainous than they really ought. If you were wondering exactly what happened to neonsunray and what she looks like as a result, here you go; that respirator actually makes some pretty terrifying hissing sounds in-game, by the by. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Just a random shot I thought was amusing; it looks like Mir's checking out a stain on the carpet.

And, at long last, our esteemed blogger herself, AR, enters the picture! And is also chilling at the Mirbunker, for the reason that we'd already set up the room and were basically just putting together her avatar. 1 / 2 / 3

And, taken a while back, but haounomiko got some wonderful glamour shots of briyante posing and enjoying the Tenba facilities-- and IIRC none of you have seen what she looks like yet, so I had to show these off when I got them in my inbox. 1 / 2 / 3

And finally, courtesy of haounomiko-- JAKURI PER4MANCE UPGRADES 4 UR MIND. That's all I have to say.

First "official" Reyvablog photoshoot, and a bit of worldbuilding....

So I did say, a while back, that there'd be more SL photos of the Reyvablog avatars, this time in their home environments as opposed to a studio setting. I hold to that promise, bringing you a selection of photos from the first of our shoots, focusing in on dhezeall, heartofharmony, and neonsunray.

briyante's pics are coming soonish, as well as more from dhezeall and heartofharmony, and we should be close to being able to put AR's avatar together. polyhymnia is a little further away, but eventually we'll get her put together too.


Commuter transit is pretty tiring for dhezeall.... especially when fellow passengers keep giving her the eye.

Still, breaks in the noise and the hubbub afford opportunities to relax, as well as time for a couple of portraits.


heartofharmony looks to the Goddesses, amidst dazzling church architecture. Such places can inspire a sense of serenity even in those spirits they hold captive.

Sadly, she remains elusively hard to photograph, but we got a couple of candid shots.


neonsunray relaxes at her favourite song parlour, letting herself get caught up in the music.

Coming across a giant piano, she takes a little time out to indulge in symbolism, truly embracing her nature.

Shadowed in the doorway of the song parlour, she tries to stay discreet.

Letting go of her shyness a little, she strikes a pose.

As she leaves for home, we find her pausing momentarily to look to a starlit sky, dreaming of hope.


And now, a little world info....

The song parlours neonsunray attends are a cross between cosy lounges and karaoke establishments, with private rooms for small groups of friends and slightly larger, public areas for ad hoc socialising. The public areas generally feature a small stage, surrounded by long couches all pushed together so people can recline on them, and little else; there's not usually space to dance, and people don't tend to do so, although they may stand up and join in with the singers on stage, or sway to the music. The experience is about listening to people sing, taking your turn, and joining in with the harmonies, as well as feeling emotionally conected to the music and to each other.

Though song parlours are quasi-infamous among humans for being hotbeds of promiscuity, the interactions that go on in these places are rarely, if ever, sexual. United by the music, many choose to relax their personal boundaries or let go of them altogether, but the intimacy that results is more of a relaxed, liberated openness of being than a frenzy of passions. People will curl up in each other's laps, lean against each other, snuggle and stroke each other's hair and faces, but their actions are expressions not of physical desire but of the comfortable closeness they feel as the harmonics of the group blend and align. As with all fond interactions between people, occasionally this bonding will lead to physical attraction, but the song parlour isn't considered an appropriate place to indulge these sorts of feelings. They're really a lot more like musical cuddle parties, with the added benefit of the participants being able to experience deep emotional closeness through their magic.

Generally, people tend to come out of these events feeling warm, happy, refreshed, and released from their tensions and distractions. Being around people who, through harmonics, you feel instinctively fond towards, safe around, and happy to share your feelings with is a deeply therapeutic experience for many; it's possible to relax with the people at a song parlour in ways that many people don't get to in all of their daily lives. And while song parlours aren't sexual venues, a lot of Reyvateils who attend them find that relationships with humans feel awkward and stilted afterwards, devoid of that instinctive emotional connection, and find themselves drawn more towards relationships with others of their kind.

Due to the increased need for emotional bonding that presence at these venues can awaken in people, they've been blamed for causing an addiction to diving in some Reyvateils, though others argue that someone liable to be addicted to diving will become that way through diving alone. A diving addiction can be dangerous, as the Reyvateil will often push her partner to explore deeper and deeper levels in which the Reyvateil's, and diver's, subconscious minds are at great risk of damage, and may forgo caution on these levels in order to seek a more intense experience.

Reyvablog avatars!

So, for the last few days now we've been working on a little project over here: constructing avatars of the Reyvablog cast in Second Life! Unfortunately we probably can't do everyone's character, since we don't have as detailed an awareness of what everyone else looks like as we do of our own characters and because of the necessity of buying items every tweak and modification costs money, so unless you're willing to pay and provide a really good description (and we can find Teru tails and horns), there probably won't be any, say, winters avatars coming along soon. But at the very least, you can get an exclusive OOC glimpse at the faces behind the words of a few of our regular commenters.


dhezeall sticks it to The Man by refusing to pose in anything other than her lounging-around-the-house clothes.

Unfortunately, it was hard to get a good shot of heartofharmony; she was too shy to look into the camera much.

neonsunray is ready to face the day.

In a society that hates what you are, even little expressions of your self can be dangerous....


These avatars aren't really finished-- dhezeall needs better eyes (she's wearing temporary eyes that were Photoshopped at the moment because the ones we bought for her didn't fit her face), we'll probably acquire more clothes for her and neonsunray as well as generally poking at various tweaks until we have everyone down exactly right, and we'll be doing photoshoots with them in more realistic settings (and poses). Plus, we've yet to put together AR's avatar, but rest assured that she'll be around soon too. Still, for now, enjoy the preview of our work to come!

Sometimes, even a really sketchy image can capture your heart....

Do you ever get that? When you run across an image that isn't the best of fanart, not the most detailed, has plenty of errors, yet still somehow manages to evoke something so sincere that it ends up becoming a favourite?

That's how I feel about this. (Worksafe warning: contains naked Mir curled up; just a sketch, vague.) Simple, yes, yet there's something about the lines of her face that evokes such sympathy from me. I've always been touched by this pose of hers; it's a striking pose for the very final boss to have. Instead of being an imposing, monstrous demigod at the end (okay, she's that in her penultimate form, but still), she's just a frail little girl hiding away behind protective shields, hugging her knees in fear. That combined with the fact that beforehand, all she's basically saying to you is "go away... don't come near me...", creates such a heartrending image of someone who, more than anything, just wants all this conflict to end, even if she's scared that if she's the one who ends it, things will only return to the way they've been before.

Mir can't give in; she needs the world to change before she is prepared to stop fighting. If she concedes, she has no guarantee that they will. But Lyner proves that humans can be safe by being the first to back down, and once she's convinced of that, she gives in easily. She never wanted to fight.

Well, now I know what Misha might look like if she were in this world...

...seriously, just... awwwwwwwww.

Good cosplay of my favourite characters is something that'll always win me over; good cosplay staged in appropriate settings, even moreso. (The Crescent Chronicle picture is particularly aww-worthy, in my book.) I kind of wish she'd saved the images at higher quality, because the pixellisation kind of spoils them; but other than that, hats off to Sei Kein Zala for some truly impressive work that also simultaneously reveals the secret of how Misha gets those drums to stay up in her hair.

Now if only we can get some Mirs and Ayatanes out there; I trust that you'll all keep me updated on this matter. ;) I'd sort of like to try Ayatane myself, but that armour is ridiculous, and would take more skill than I have to make and more money than I should spend to commission, most likely. Still, it'd be so much fun to run around as him. I would shout "Q" at things a lot. XD

And now, the weather.

I could sum up my thoughts on the ambient temperature outside today rather quickly, but that would make for a pretty boring blog entry. So, because I'm still in a silly-doodles mood, how about we ask Mir for her thoughts?

I kind of want to draw a bunch of these and make a little barometer for the side of the blog. On the other hand, there's something a little cruel about using a Reyvateil to measure the air temperature...

doodles

Normally I don't set out to draw without some concrete plan in mind, but I was having an overflow of fannishness and nowhere for it to go, and I wanted to practice drawing eyes (which, seriously, are one of my biggest obstacles when it comes to art), so I doodled some random Mir and Ayatane stuff.

The poses are referenced in places, but I still kind of like how these came out. Even if I don't know why Ayatane is suddenly shorter than Mir. Seriously, no one in AT is shorter than Mir, except maybe child!Misha.

Disclaimer: I do not actually think Ayatane is a twerp. For some reason it just popped into my head as an appropriately... motherly-affectionate-but-also-kind-of-prickly-person sort of line. Or something. It's 4am, I don't have to make sense. =P