I believe that is the Chinese pronunciation.
Oh, phew, I'm not the only one.
This was seriously facinating. The similarities you pointed out between the Morrigan and Tempest are mind blowing. I love learning new things like this.
There is obviously a lot of influence we can see here. I guess my question now is, how do we think these strong similarities are going to translate into the actual SotM storyline?
Conveniently, I've recently read the first two books of the Iron Druid series, so I recognize a lot of these people and swords.
It's actually from the Irish word freagra, which means answer.
I'm not sure I'd read too much into the shapes that the Morrigan took during her fight with Cúchulainn. After all, the whole Táin thing started because two swineherds had a shapeshifting competition.
The similarity between Morgana and Morrigan seems like pure coincidence to me, incidentally, based on the etymology of the names. (Morrigan means 'great queen', and Morgana seems to be a female version of Morgan, which doesn't.)
Reading the Morrigan over and over just makes me think of Lost Girl.
I think this is very true. To me, it is more of what the birds represent to Odin that is important, not the fact that they belong to him specifically. Those two birds are his eyes and ears on the ground and they report back daily with news. They are the scouts of a major diety. Are they also scouts for a major diety in SotM? That is some juicy speculation right there.
This makes sense on the fantasy end, as Fragarach (the ToEE sword) was also referred to as The Answerer–it would give you a free attack against anyone who hit you in melee.
I'm told that in one of the DotHack games, there's a Fragarach which, if someone tries to hit the wielder with their strongest attack, instantly kills them. Apparently "balance" is not exactly a thing in these games.
No the .Hack// games are not known for their balance… but based on the story it's really about how an mmo can/is hacked so it makes some sense there's alot of bs things in the game.
So if it's a story about a game gone wrong, why exactly did they make a game of it? Seems like tempting fate. O_o
Does anyone think that Expatriot somehow fits into all of this? Her deck is FULL of birds and was released at the same time as Matriarch. Could there be a connection here somehow?
I understand the art reference that those doves are supposed to illicit (John Woo and all that), but it is certainly not limited to one card. It is a huge motif in her deck. Matriarch has two bird cohorts. So does Expat in a sense with Pride and Prejudice.
The Morigan stories tell of her being mentioned frequently as one of 3 sisters of sorts. It is simple to draw a connection to Tachyon there, but maybe there is reason to believe Expat is interwoven here as well. I know the Morigan angle is a bit of a stretch, but I think the doves in Expats deck warrent a second look considering the emergence of Matriarchs relevancy to the larger story arch.
I think those are supposed to just be John Wu references.
For those of us newer to the game, can you summarize that? AFAIK, the only relevance right now is that she's Tachyon's sister/cousin.
Summarize which part? If you mean the family/sister thing, I make that connection in the loosest sense I can think of. I am not saying they are related. But the bird motif is something that I think could be examined a little more closely
I have a theory about Expat.
I'm fairly certain that she's got a hidden power, namely some kind of return-with-the-dawn regeneration ability. I think that in general, she might get stronger/faster/better/returns from being dead at night.
There are several instances (tactical shotgun, for one) where the artwork depicts her as VERY pale (and always at night). It could be stylistic, but it also could indicate that something else is going on.
Think about Flak Jacket for a second. It does absolutely nothing for small amounts of damage, and only works on big hits. In fact, it is one of the few things in the game that can take the biggest hits- an infinite hit, even- and leave Expat without a scratch. On the other hand, it is absolutely worthless against the few enemies who actually use bullets. Hired guns? No flak jacket. Voss's soldiers? no flak jacket. A full-on assault by Iron Legacy powered by grief, loss, madness, two rings, and covered in obsidian shards? Sure!
Here's what I think is happening. I think that she is actually dying (and it seems to be a regular occurence, seeing as how flak Jacket references getting her "this time"), or taking a mortal wound, staggering away (or passing out) and then (at night) she comes back to life. She then looks at her ruined Flak Jacket and thinks "These things work really great!"
A further hint might be her incapacitated side- she's down (and certainly looks out), but later on (in the Scholar's cards- proverbs and axioms?), you can see that same location and she's getting back up.
See, my guess is that her incap side is a major turning point for her. Its a time when she can't deny anymore that something weird is going on. The Scholar is helping her come to terms with who she really is (that being the kind of thing he does), and she's going to have to learn more.
I kind of have a theory that only Citizen Dawn's power can really put her down in any sort of real way- and thats why the scar on the missing eye is so vivid and raw-looking. Her innate power can't really heal it properly.
Now, I think that a HUGE amount of her skill and lethality is training, talent, and will. But I think that she's a lot more survivable than even she knows.
Story wise, I think it would be kind of hilarious if its not a story about the power-less daughter being driven from home, but the story of a daughter WITH powers being driven away by people who didn't understand them.
Flak Jacket totally prevents damage from Hired Guns, who rarely do less than 3 damage and frequently hit for 7+.
Hired guns, by themselves do 2 damage.
Hired guns, with the Contract, do 3.
Hired guns , with the Contract, and the Chairman can do up to 8.
BUT- Hired guns, who use bullets, by themselves...do 2. Which does not trigger flak jacket. Nor do Voss's minions, with their guns.
If Flak jacket had a constant damage reduction, and went away after a high damage hit, or had some kind of threshold in how much they could take, then I'd be less suspicious.
But it doesn't. Flak jacket provides better protection than Bunker's armor. It provides better protection than the scholar's best transmutations. you could stack every hero on TOP of one another, and the flak jacket would still be better protection than a suit MADE from all the heros put together.
What I'm saying is that it does something NO OTHER armor does- provides infinite protection. As long as the hit is above the 3 damage mark, it works. Thats not normal, and that goes beyond "armor".
7+? Frequent? Stop letting 3+ obsidian fields stay in play is my suggestion.
Tachy has the same thing, but she can them redirect it and hurt someone else.