So, random thing, but....

...does it say anywhere in the official materials for AT how Grathnode crystals are removed from Reyvateils? Can anyone think how they would be? Since the crystals seem to be absorbed into the body at the site of the install port, one would think getting them out would require magic; it's not like you can just reach your hand in and grab one. Yet the Reyvateils' partners seem to be able to remove them fairly trivially.

Any thoughts on this? I was thinking some kind of device might be used to scan for existing Grathnodes, extract the raw... Grathnode-stuff through the install port and recrystallise them, basically reversing the install process, but that's basically my bit of handwaving and Applied Phlebotinum; the actual process doesn't seem to be discussed in-game at all....

I <3 Reyvablog.

Have I mentioned how much I love the Reyvablog? And the fact that its players are now, amongst other wonderful things, spontaneously generating in-world poetry? (See, at current, the bottom of the thread.) It's always an honour to have one's fanwork generate more fanworks, and nowhere does this tendency have the opportunity to thrive more than in RP, where the fans are the content creators, in part.

I'm thankful to everyone who's participated, and continues to participate, in this great shared exercise in worldcrafting. You've all given something great to this work and helped it to grow, and I hope to see it continue to thrive.

Taking first, for the rights of Reyvateils everywhere.

So Falling Through The Generation Gap is, as of this posting, officially the number one Google result for "diquility". That's fairly impressive, considering the term is used in a lot of discussions of AT; I suppose it's that we're probably the only site that actually uses the term repeatedly and often, rather than simply mentioning it in passing.

I'm quite heartened by this, not because I specifically want traffic, but rather because I like to imagine that if there were Reyvateils out there searching for info on Diquility, they'd be able to find helpful advice straight away; and also, if people are searching for generic info on the world of AT and the first thing they find is something that treats that world as a real, meaningful place... that's really awesome, and I'm quite honoured that I could have been responsible for that.

We're also, incidentally, the first result for "reyvateil rights" (in quotes); sadly enough, though, my writings here and on my other blogs seem to be the only results for that query. A shame that no one else has considered the concept worthy of serious discussion, especially since there are such obvious parallels with the oppression of various groups in our own world throughout history. I suppose AT's a small fandom, but still, I think there's a lot of potentially enlightening elaboration to be had there, which is why Falling Through The Generation Gap exists. I hope, through it, more fans can be brought around to seriously thinking about the rights of Reyvateils when they enter that world; I think it's an issue that, if you're at all a fan of the Reyvateil characters (or even if you aren't, but especially if you are), deserves some serious thought.


Speaking of FTTGG (or the Reyvablog, as its players fondly refer to it), I'd like to re-promote this particular link and see if I can't get a few of you to spread it around. It's presented from an in-game perspective, but it was written with a dual purpose: as well as making the players aware of many of the unfair ways in which Reyvateils are treated day-to-day on the streets and in the media, it also contains a message to those of us in this world, about how the characters people idolise might feel about artwork that shows them being degraded and humiliated.

If you sympathise with a fictional character and feel uncomfortable with the way a lot of artwork treats them as objects, and want to encourage other people to reflect, for a moment, on whether the characters they love would really want people thinking of them in that way, I encourage you to link to this entry if you can. It's not about being anti-porn; I'm quite fine with the existence of works that portray sexualised situations for the purposes of other people's pleasure. I just don't like that images that specifically degrade and brutalise characters are becoming widespread and even normative, because I don't like seeing the characters I love portrayed that way and I don't like thinking that others are becoming desensitised to the idea of their casual mistreatment. If you think the same way, linking to this campaign is one way to raise your voice in harmony. It may make someone think twice.

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.

I feel personally tortured by GUST...

...with the release of this heartbreakingly magnificent Phantasmagoria music box, already sold out in preorder, and this Jakuri mug (endearingly entitled "The Last Boss's Black Mug"), which is not yet sold out but which I can't imagine ever being able to procure.

At the very least, you can listen to a snippet from the music box on the page. Doing so fair broke my heart; it's simply beautiful. I think it officially sounds a lot nicer than the version of Phantasmagoria on the Hymmnos Orgel Collection, even if it's only a brief snippet of the song; there's a deep, rich warmth to the sound that makes me all nostalgic, probably because I actually used to have a little music box that only came out at Christmas-time (we kept it with the decorations the rest of the year) and so the sound reminds me of that. I miss that music box. Makes me want to see fanart of a Reyvateil gazing longingly through the windows of a toy shop at a music box on a snowy day....

Even if I can't have these, I'll be saving the pages for posterity. Still trying to work out why the Jakuri mug is trembling at me from the top of the page, though.

Can we do it? On January 20th, we start finding out.

Further to my previous post on the topic, I've been cooking up some January 20th-related images that I plan to add to t-shirts to wear on and around the time: here and here.

I'm pretty proud of my idea of the first one in that it works as well to describe Obama's inauguration as it does to describe interacting with fictional worlds: social change is our responsibility, in both situations. And I'm really pleased with what I managed to do with a certain couple of imposing and important structures in the second... wow. And I'd never have made that parallel, either. They do kind of look alike, don't they?

Jakuri for VP! Hey, she'd overturn this civil rights mess that's wrecking the country currently. Vote for her and she'll SING EQUAL RIGHTS BACK INTO THE CONSTITUTION, people.

Ringing and singing the changes....

I just learnt that President-Elect Obama's inauguration day is going to be January 20th. And all we Ar Tonelico fans know what that date means, I hope...? :)

It's going to be a wonderful day for new hopes, new awakenings. A wonderful day for new worlds.

(Also, I suddenly had the thought that it would be so amusing if January 20th fell on a Tuesday next year, because then we could call it AT2's Day. And I looked up, and it so totally is. Not since Sonic 2's Day have there been such release-date lulz. Well, release-date lulz are usually fairly hard to find, but still.)