Flandre's Quest (Touhou) World - (Madness Quest)

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

Dermonster said:
Wait, where are we?

We're in the hexed town of Chamba in the world of Breath of Fire IV. A hex is basically what happens when someone tortures an innocent civilian (or group of them) and takes all their rage and hate and suffering, condenses it, weaponizes it, and fires it out of a cannon.

It's never, ever a good thing. The man responsible is a complete monster who I really hope gets his just desserts with Flan in the region.

The guys in the masks with the weapons are people who go around to hexed regions and slowly disperse the malevolence by pumping and purifying it. Part of their duty is killing the monsters that form out of high concentrations of hex, hence the weapons. Hex is really dangerous to normal living things, which is why so many of them are in masks and protective gear.

It occurs to me that Flan is, for all intents and purposes, an Endless. She's from another world, wields terrible and fantastic powers, and is extremely hard to kill, if not actually legitimately immortal barring severe measures.

I wonder how the other Endless will react to her.

Dermonster · Apr 25, 2016

Stormgear said:
We're in the hexed town of Chamba in the world of Breath of Fire IV.

Wow I have no idea what any of that is. This is what I was afraid of.

Slith10 · Apr 25, 2016

Kairae said:
I have Zero idea where we are or who those people are... Looks like I'll be voting a lot less for a while...

Hmmm. And could someone explain to me why the two are acting like Falnd did something wrong? I honestly can't see where she did come thing to be "punished" for or somehting she has to learn from. From what I can see from Flans perspective the injuries to Remilia or consequences from the Dawnguard and AlduinAlduin were all entirely accidents. Not something Flan had any reason to suspect in the slightest or had any intention of causing at all. Punishing her for somehting completely outside of her knowledge when she made her best choices with the information she was given seems a bit odd to me. Although I can see why Patchouli would be unhappy with Flandre since she obviously cares more for Remilia than her and she got hurt because of her actions even though Flan had no reason to believe that her actions would cause anything at all like what they did. And no real way to find out before what happened happened either. She did attempt diplomacy first with Alduin after all...

Diplomacy with the creature that is causing the end of the world probably wasn't going to end that well, even if we had spoken in Dragon Language so he could understand us(bit unkind to take us literally and not in the spirit of the situation, Flandre would switch to DragonSpeech if she was going to talk to a dragon, otherwise Parley would be a waste of time.) with Alduin having just destroyed a castle, maybe simply leaving before he noticed would have been a good option because once he killed our subordinates in the first attack he had to die.

Stormgear said:
We're in the hexed town of Chamba in the world of Breath of Fire IV. A hex is basically what happens when someone tortures an innocent civilian (or group of them) and takes all their rage and hate and suffering, condenses it, weaponizes it, and fires it out of a cannon.

It's never, ever a good thing. The man responsible is a complete monster who I really hope gets his just desserts with Flan in the region.

The guys in the masks with the weapons are people who go around to hexed regions and slowly disperse the malevolence by pumping and purifying it. Part of their duty is killing the monsters that form out of high concentrations of hex, hence the weapons. Hex is really dangerous to normal living things, which is why so many of them are in masks and protective gear.

It occurs to me that Flan is, for all intents and purposes, an Endless. She's from another world, wields terrible and fantastic powers, and is extremely hard to kill, if not actually legitimately immortal barring severe measures.

I wonder how the other Endless will react to her.

I'm wondering if Flandre fighting in a hexed region wouldn't potentially make things worse due to her strong emotions?

Draggon73 · Apr 25, 2016

Stormgear said:
It occurs to me that Flan is, for all intents and purposes, an Endless. She's from another world, wields terrible and fantastic powers, and is extremely hard to kill, if not actually legitimately immortal barring severe measures.

I wonder how the other Endless will react to her.

Flandre is also Youkai. She should be able to draw on the Hex and use it to empower herself - but will not be able to control her rage and will probably go berserk. She is also more or less immune to the miasma.

Kairae · Apr 25, 2016

Yea but what I'm getting at is that at every point Flan tried to be responsible and picked the best option from what she knew. She had no idea of who Alduin was and even if she did likely could have never expected Akatpshes actions. Hell neither did we from what I can tell. What I was asking was why were Pache and Remilia acting like Flan was being irresponsible and fucking around when she did in fact according to her own knowledge at every pint was both reasonable and made the "best" choices? What happened to Remilia (actually Flan but she took the punishment on her own) was a complete accident and somehting no one let alone Flan had reaosn to predict or expect. So why are they blaming her for it when it was a complete accident/ consequence that no one expected? I can understand if it's just emotional but I'm wondering if there was a differing thought process behind it that I just wasn't seeing.

Slith10 · Apr 25, 2016

Kairae said:
Yea but what I'm getting at is that at every point Flan tried to be responsible and picked the best option from what she knew. She had no idea of who Alduin was and even if she did likely could have never expected Akatpshes actions. Hell neither did we from what I can tell. What I was asking was why were Pache and Remilia acting like Flan was being irresponsible and fucking around when she did in fact according to her own knowledge at every pint was both reasonable and made the "best" choices? What happened to Remilia (actually Flan but she took the punishment on her own) was a complete accident and somehting no one let alone Flan had reaosn to predict or expect. So why are they blaming her for it when it was a complete accident/ consequence that no one expected? I can understand if it's just emotional but I'm wondering if there was a differing thought process behind it that I just wasn't seeing.

Can you provide a quote of the part of the post you are referring to?
I can't see much of that in the latest post.

Entropy Judge · Apr 25, 2016

Kairae said:
Hmmm. And could someone explain to me why the two are acting like Falnd did something wrong?

Flan and Patchouli have a rather rocky relationship (similar to Homura and Sayaka's relationship, complete with Remilia/Madoka tying them together), and Flan has come to the understanding that if she's being scolded for something, it's because she did something she shouldn't have (IE, something 'wrong') - even if she personally doesn't believe she did anything wrong. By 'admitting' to a mistake and saying she doesn't know how to do it better, she is trying to apologize to Patchouli in the belief that it will keep her more or less helpful.

From what I can see from Flans perspective the injuries to Remilia

Flan - thankfully - doesn't know about those.

or consequences from the Dawnguard and AlduinAlduin were all entirely accidents. Not something Flan had any reason to suspect in the slightest or had any intention of causing at all.

Which is where personality differences come into play. Essentially, Patchouli is the sort of person who likes to sit back and study things in order to learn the best way to go about them; she understands the need for brute-force approaches, but she normally seeks to maximize efficiency and minimize pointless things - she would have studied everything about the dragons, the political/military/economic situations, everything before making her moves. And in her opinion, Flan's attack on the dragons outside the flooded prison - itself the major catalyst for the showdown with Alduin - was certainly a mistake that could have been easily avoided, one that even Flan should have been able to avoid.

Flan, meanwhile, is much more direct most of the time - if there's a problem, smash through it. An enemy, destroy it. For her, eliminating potential threats is something you just do, and she normally doesn't exercise forethought; she doesn't consider long-term consequences of her actions, which is another thing that sets her apart from Patchouli (and her sister).

Punishing her for somehting completely outside of her knowledge when she made her best choices with the information she was given seems a bit odd to me.

From Patchouli's point of view, that's part of the problem - in her mind, Flan should have made more of an effort to learn about her surroundings. That Flan isn't particularly equipped for that job, or that her personality and capabilities make it something she only rarely has to consider, is irrelevant. Patchouli feels that it's perfectly reasonable to blame and punish Flan for what happened despite - even because - she was unaware of the consequences of her actions. Flandre was unaware of who/what the big black dragon was? She should have tried to find out - preferably beforehand. That she didn't know breaking a dragon would cause problems? She should have learned more about dragons and their place in the world. That most people were similarly unaware of those things isn't relevant - the knowledge existed and was accessible, and that's enough for Patchouli.

Patchouli is not necessarily a fair person.

Slith10 said:
...(bit unkind to take us literally and not in the spirit of the situation, Flandre would switch to DragonSpeech if she was going to talk to a dragon, otherwise Parley would be a waste of time.)

Flan can't speak the Dragon language, actually - the knowledge was only temporarily granted by Vulthuryol. Besides, it's entirely possible that even if she could speak it, Parleying would still be a waste of time.

maybe simply leaving before he noticed would have been a good option because once he killed our subordinates in the first attack he had to die.

Something else Patchouli would take issue with - the need for immediate vengeance.

Kairae said:
... What I was asking was why were Pache and Remilia acting like Flan was being irresponsible and fucking around

Not Remilia. She doesn't blame Flandre at all.

Redshirt Army · Apr 25, 2016

I have no idea what's going on or who these people are... and that's great! Neither does Flandre, so this way my votes can easily be in character and not depend on meta-knowledge! I'm gonna go out of my way not to find out what's happening in this story for the full experience!

[x] Keep watching them. Staaaaare~
- [x] Especially if they go into the misty area. You want to see what happens!

We can't speak with them, and have no real reason to attempt diplomacy anyway. On the other hand, killing them all is boring. Snore. So let's watch them and see if they do something interesting - especially going into the misty region - that sounds entertaining!

If they bore us, we can just kill them and leave. No harm done.

Kairae · Apr 25, 2016

Entropy Judge said:
"Why? If you keep doing this to yourself, if you keep hiding things from her, she won't learn! She'll just keep doing what she wants, no matter what you want! If you'd just let her suffer -" She jerked back, startled, as a reflexive spasm of Remilia's wings shattered the back of her chair.

---

"I wanted to leave here there, Remilia! I didn't want to do a damned thing to help her! And I shouldn't have helped her, should've left her to her own devices when that damned god through her out of his world, just left her to recover on her own and maybe learn something for once! But you … you …." Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before she was reduced by her own wracking, asthmatic coughing fit.

What I was referring to was mainly these two arguments on Pache's end. Where she argues that Flan should have been left to suffer so that she "Learns". What I'm asking is what does she expect her to learn and what doesn't she think she knows? As at every point Flan did her best with the information she was given to be responsible. That she had absolutely no way of knowing what destroying Alduin would have lead to and that in fat even the readers never guessed it. It reads like she's blaming Flandre for either doing something stupid/ irrespinsible or for not purposely choosing to do something that lead to herself/ Remilia being injured. I'm wondering why she's blaming not her for it when if you look at it from Flans point of view she pretty much always made the responsible choice using the information she was given.

Edit- Ninja'd. Thanks for the Answer based QM. Makes a lot more sense to me now.

Edit 2-

[X] Keep watching them. Staaaaare~
- [X] Especially if they go into the misty area. You want to see what happens!

Draggon73 · Apr 25, 2016

[x] Keep watching them. Staaaaare~
- [x] Especially if they go into the misty area. You want to see what happens!

AramilOniasha · Apr 25, 2016

[X] Keep watching them. Staaaaare~
-[X] Especially if they go into the misty area. You want to see what happens!

[X] Try to communicate.
-[X]Charades
-[X] Try a greeting, and an attempt to ask what it is they're doing here.

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

Vote moved!

HymnOfRagnarok · Apr 25, 2016

Holy crap Breath of Fire?! Breath of Fire 4?!

K, gonna have to find time to reread and catch up, I have got to be around for this because I friggin' love this game and can't believe a Quest is gonna cover it.

...Assuming I can handle Flan desecrating my childhood memories. That might be a problem.

Redshirt Army · Apr 25, 2016

HymnOfRagnarok said:
Holy crap Breath of Fire?! Breath of Fire 4?!

K, gonna have to find time to reread and catch up, I have got to be around for this because I friggin' love this game and can't believe a Quest is gonna cover it.

...Assuming I can handle Flan desecrating my childhood memories. That might be a problem.

Would you (and any others who have played the game) mind covering OOC information up in spoilers? I want to make my decisions with access to the same amount of metaknowledge that Flan herself does.

HymnOfRagnarok · Apr 25, 2016

Redshirt Army said:
Would you (any others who have played the game) mind covering OOC information up in spoilers? I want to make my decisions with access to the same amount of metaknowledge that Flan herself does.

I'll do my best.

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

Redshirt Army said:
Would you (and any others who have played the game) mind covering OOC information up in spoilers? I want to make my decisions with access to the same amount of metaknowledge that Flan herself does.

Sure, sure, no problems there.

HymnOfRagnarok said:
K, gonna have to find time to reread and catch up, I have got to be around for this because I friggin' love this game and can't believe a Quest is gonna cover it.

MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER

veekie · Apr 25, 2016

[x] Keep watching them. Staaaaare~
- [x] Especially if they go into the misty area. You want to see what happens!

HymnOfRagnarok · Apr 25, 2016

Also, if you wanna read the source material, there's a very good LP of the game. Very informative, good notes on the symbolism in the game.

Shame the videos are gone, but it's still quite good.

Stormgear said:
MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER

BROOOOOOOOOOTHER! /LiquidSnake

Stormgear said:
We're in the hexed town of Chamba in the world of Breath of Fire IV. A hex is basically what happens when someone tortures an innocent civilian (or group of them) and takes all their rage and hate and suffering, condenses it, weaponizes it, and fires it out of a cannon.

It's never, ever a good thing. The man responsible is a complete monster who I really hope gets his just desserts with Flan in the region.

The guys in the masks with the weapons are people who go around to hexed regions and slowly disperse the malevolence by pumping and purifying it. Part of their duty is killing the monsters that form out of high concentrations of hex, hence the weapons. Hex is really dangerous to normal living things, which is why so many of them are in masks and protective gear.

It occurs to me that Flan is, for all intents and purposes, an Endless. She's from another world, wields terrible and fantastic powers, and is extremely hard to kill, if not actually legitimately immortal barring severe measures.

I wonder how the other Endless will react to her.

I can't wait to see how Deis reacts to Flan. She might not be able to speak for herself, but she can get Ershin to speak to her in a roundabout fashion.

Also, while Flan is very similar to Endless, she probably hasn't got a Dragon's Eye, never mind a pair of them. Still, she's unusual enough that she if she's polite enough and doesn't go around killing worshippers, she could probably expect to treat with the resident Endless and dragons and be responded to. The Fou Empire's summoning ritual screws over everyone it summons, so having to consume the blood or life force of others wouldn't be too unusual.

It's not far off from what happened to the poor Iron God who was forged into the Dragonslayer.

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

HymnOfRagnarok said:
Also, if you wanna read the source material, there's a very good LP of the game. Very informative, good notes on the symbolism in the game.

Shame the videos are gone, but it's still quite good.

If manga is more your speed, there was actually a really, really good official one put out a while back, called Utsurowazarumono. Literally That Which Remains Unchanging.

HymnOfRagnarok said:
I can't wait to see how Deis reacts to Flan. She might not be able to speak for herself, but she can get Ershin to speak to her in a roundabout fashion.

Also, while Flan is very similar to Endless, she probably hasn't got a Dragon's Eye, never mind a pair of them. Still, she's unusual enough that she if she's polite enough and doesn't go around killing worshippers, she could probably expect to treat with the resident Endless and dragons and be responded to. The Fou Empire's summoning ritual screws over everyone it summons, so having to consume the blood or life force of others wouldn't be too unusual.

It's not far off from what happened to the poor Iron God who was forged into the Dragonslayer.

It'll definitely be interesting. Deis is probably worldly enough to know that Flan isn't actually an Endless, but is something close enough that her presence should attract her attention. That alone should be some really interesting interactions.

Also, it'll be neat to see how she and Fou-Lu might get along, if they ever come into contact. The Once And Future God-Emperor meeting the little incarnation of destruction that is Flandre could be pretty cool, especially given that both of their story arcs thus far involve being ridiculously overpowered forces of nature in human guise- and how they interact with a world that they don't quite belong in. They could swap notes! As long as Fou-Lu doesn't see her as a threat to his kingdom, or the world as a whole.

Can't be a God Emperor when everything's a smoking crater, and he's not at the Kill 'Em All stage just yet.

I just hope Flan doesn't get Carronade'd. That'd be... Really, really bad.

HymnOfRagnarok · Apr 25, 2016

Stormgear said:
If manga is more your speed, there was actually a really, really good official one put out a while back, called Utsurowazarumono. Literally That Which Remains Unchanging.

I read that too! And am of mixed feelings about it. On one hand, there aspects of the game it does great justice to. On the other hand there is not nearly enough face-wrecking on the part of the party.

It'll definitely be interesting. Deis is probably worldly enough to know that Flan isn't actually an Endless, but is something close enough that her presence should attract her attention. That alone should be some really interesting interactions.

Also, it'll be neat to see how she and Fou-Lu might get along, if they ever come into contact. The Once And Future God-Emperor meeting the little incarnation of destruction that is Flandre could be pretty cool, especially given that both of their story arcs thus far involve being ridiculously overpowered forces of nature in human guise- and how they interact with a world that they don't quite belong in. They could swap notes! As long as Fou-Lu doesn't see her as a threat to his kingdom, or the world as a whole.

Can't be a God Emperor when everything's a smoking crater, and he's not at the Kill 'Em All stage just yet.

I just hope Flan doesn't get Carronade'd. That'd be... Really, really bad.

Fou-Lu has been weighing on my mind too. Honestly it all depends on when Flan meets him and how disillusioned he is with humanity at the time.

I actually have Fou-Lu in mind when I said Flan had good chances of successfully treating with and Endless; Fou-Lu's very polite and not given to rash action, so Flan presenting herself and her circumstances would likely go over quite well. She's not one of his humans or Endless, she's done him no offense, so he strikes me as very likely to politely give her some guidance and then be on his way.

Of course, if he still values his Empire, he would also be likely to defend it from Flan. He may not be happy about his role as God-Emperor, but if he didn't take his duties seriously then it wouldn't have grieved him so much to essentially fail at them. From his perspective.

On Flan's part, she damn well better respect the Dragon God-Emperor. She should appreciate A. the power, B. the ability to command humans on such a large scale, at least in the past, and C. the fact that Fou Lu is positively ancient. I've always suspected that his was the 'persona' that existed as the Yorae Dragon before he was summoned, and that he still remembers something of what he was like then. So he has his experience on this world, and what came before.

Finally, strong possibility that unless Ryu (or Fou-Lu, somehow) is killed, that Flan will be ushered off to her next destination by the Yorae Dragon sending her on her way. That thing is not far off from being a capital G God.

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

HymnOfRagnarok said:
I read that too! And am of mixed feelings about it. On one hand, there aspects of the game it does great justice to. On the other hand there is not nearly enough face-wrecking on the part of the party.

ESPECIALLY THE ENDING. Oh my God, it was so good to have that kind of closure to the story.

HymnOfRagnarok said:
Fou-Lu has been weighing on my mind too. Honestly it all depends on when Flan meets him and how disillusioned he is with humanity at the time.

I actually have Fou-Lu in mind when I said Flan had good chances of successfully treating with and Endless; Fou-Lu's very polite and not given to rash action, so Flan presenting herself and her circumstances would likely go over quite well. She's not one of his humans or Endless, she's done him no offense, so he strikes me as very likely to politely give her some guidance and then be on his way.

Of course, if he still values his Empire, he would also be likely to defend it from Flan. He may not be happy about his role as God-Emperor, but if he didn't take his duties seriously then it wouldn't have grieved him so much to essentially fail at them. From his perspective.

On Flan's part, she damn well better respect the Dragon God-Emperor. She should appreciate A. the power, B. the ability to command humans on such a large scale, at least in the past, and C. the fact that Fou Lu is positively ancient. I've always suspected that his was the 'persona' that existed as the Yorae Dragon before he was summoned, and that he still remembers something of what he was like then. So he has his experience on this world, and what came before.

Finally, strong possibility that unless Ryu (or Fou-Lu, somehow) is killed, that Flan will be ushered off to her next destination by the Yorae Dragon sending her on her way. That thing is not far off from being a capital G God.

Those were basically my thoughts on the matter. Assuming that we're roughly following the party right now (no guarantee), Fou Lu is still way in the early stages of his reawakening, so he's presumably still going around trying to get his empire to actually fulfill their end of the bargain and let him be king again.

I'll note here for people who aren't familiar that, unlike similar situations in lot of media, Fou-Lu taking power again is actually arguably a good thing. The Fou Empire isn't in a bad way, but the emperor is a corrupt jerk who employs inhuman, amoral assholes, and Fou-Lu was the benevolent Dragon God-Emperor who was summoned to be literally a perfect regent. He expects people to respect his authority, but that's mostly because he is legitimately really good at this 'being an emperor' thing.

Anyway, tangent over. Point is that Fou-Lu is probably the closest thing we've come to having a character who could actually be a mentor-figure to Flan, instead of something that exists to be stomped on like a bug. Of course, he's not nearly at full power right now, but he still has the ability to turn into a dragon that can evidently shoot black holes so that's totally a thing. I'm really interested to see how Entropy Judge portrays him, and how Flan might react to him.

(Big Brother Fou-Lu would be all kinds of hilarious)

I'd make a joke about how Flan may not have the eye of a dragon, she might have the blood of one, but ZUN has mentioned that the Scarlets aren't actually related to Dracula at all, so whatever.

HymnOfRagnarok · Apr 25, 2016

Stormgear said:
ESPECIALLY THE ENDING. Oh my God, it was so good to have that kind of closure to the story.

Yeah, Fou-Lu got tossed a bone. Very satisfying.

But truthfully, my head-canon for what happens after the game is a fanfic: Pluralis Majestatis

Read. If I've judged you right, you will love it dearly.

Those were basically my thoughts on the matter. Assuming that we're roughly following the party right now (no guarantee), Fou Lu is still way in the early stages of his reawakening, so he's presumably still going around trying to get his empire to actually fulfill their end of the bargain and let him be king again.

I'll note here for people who aren't familiar that, unlike similar situations in lot of media, Fou-Lu taking power again is actually arguably a good thing. The Fou Empire isn't in a bad way, but the emperor is a corrupt jerk who employs inhuman, amoral assholes, and Fou-Lu was the benevolent Dragon God-Emperor who was summoned to be literally a perfect regent. He expects people to respect his authority, but that's mostly because he is legitimately really good at this 'being an emperor' thing.

Anyway, tangent over. Point is that Fou-Lu is probably the closest thing we've come to having a character who could actually be a mentor-figure to Flan, instead of something that exists to be stomped on like a bug. Of course, he's not nearly at full power right now, but he still has the ability to turn into a dragon that can evidently shoot black holes so that's totally a thing. I'm really interested to see how Entropy Judge portrays him, and how Flan might react to him.

(Big Brother Fou-Lu would be all kinds of hilarious)

I'd make a joke about how Flan may not have the eye of a dragon, she might have the blood of one, but ZUN has mentioned that the Scarlets aren't actually related to Dracula at all, so whatever.

Fou-Lu taking power again....arguably good. Arguably. It's better leadership for the Empire and the corrupt assholes are going to have bad days, but if he decides to be expansionist and aim for victory by conquest then the Alliance is in deep shit. That could mean anything from Fou-Lu and Ryu merging and deciding who to support, if any, or the two dragon gods duking it out at the heads of their armies. Which could be cataclysmic.

Also, keep in mind that while he was summoned to be a perfect leader, he noted that he could not satisfy everyone's wishes and that pained him. He was pretty amazing, by all accounts, but even if he were at his full power he still couldn't fulfill the role for which he was summoned.

And yes, Big Brother Fou-Lu would be incredibly adorable. He is probably one of the few people who could earn Flan's respect. For all his faux-Shakespearean English, or keigo in Japanese, I always felt he seemed incredibly dignified. I can kinda see Flan straightening up and trying not to embarrass herself, like she's about to be tested on manners.

Also, he's pretty bitchin' with a sword and would probably acquit himself well in a duel with Flan. He's almost certainly got much more skill and grace to go with his weapon. And in addition to the turn into a dragon, he can just summon a dragon next to him. Guy may be sleepy and still waking up, but he is not to be trifled with.

Getting them to meet will be tough though. Perhaps if Flan and the party can avoid being caught in the Empire while they look for Elina, so they don't have to backtrack later on.

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

HymnOfRagnarok said:
Yeah, Fou-Lu got tossed a bone. Very satisfying.

But truthfully, my head-canon for what happens after the game is a fanfic: Pluralis Majestatis

Read. If I've judged you right, you will love it dearly.

I'll give it a read over the next few days. This is technically my finals' week though, so it might take me a bit to get through between all the studying and the work.

HymnOfRagnarok said:
Fou-Lu taking power again....arguably good. Arguably. It's better leadership for the Empire and the corrupt assholes are going to have bad days, but if he decides to be expansionist and aim for victory by conquest then the Alliance is in deep shit. That could mean anything from Fou-Lu and Ryu merging and deciding who to support, if any, or the two dragon gods duking it out at the heads of their armies. Which could be cataclysmic.

Also, keep in mind that while he was summoned to be a perfect leader, he noted that he could not satisfy everyone's wishes and that pained him. He was pretty amazing, by all accounts, but even if he were at his full power he still couldn't fulfill the role for which he was summoned.

And yes, Big Brother Fou-Lu would be incredibly adorable. He is probably one of the few people who could earn Flan's respect. For all his faux-Shakespearean English, or keigo in Japanese, I always felt he seemed incredibly dignified. I can kinda see Flan straightening up and trying not to embarrass herself, like she's about to be tested on manners.

Also, he's pretty bitchin' with a sword and would probably acquit himself well in a duel with Flan. He's almost certainly got much more skill and grace to go with his weapon. And in addition to the turn into a dragon, he can just summon a dragon next to him. Guy may be sleepy and still waking up, but he is not to be trifled with.

Getting them to meet will be tough though. Perhaps if Flan and the party can avoid being caught in the Empire while they look for Elina, so they don't have to backtrack later on.

It all depends, really. The fact is that Ryu is one of the few things in the world that Fou-Lu sees as an equal. They're the same, after all. Two sides of the same coin. Fou-lu's ultimate stated goals are A) Rule the empire again, and B) Merge with Ryu once more, so I'm pretty sure he'd go for B once he's got A down, similar to what happens at the end of the game. I think the important question he'd be confronted with is whether it's worth all the death and the suffering that would come from war with other sovereign states. This is not the world he was summoned into anymore; the politics are a lot more delicate, and brute-forcing through things would only cause long-term suffering all around.

I think Fou-Lu is probably nuanced and calculating enough to recognize that victory via soft power is a viable solution, especially since the Empire is theoretically pretty damn powerful, if it gets over all the bureaucratic corruption and associated issues. As you say though, while he was summoned to be a perfect ruler, and while he did a damn good job, he's still imperfect. Even as the Yorae Dragon, he's not infallible or invincible. He's still virtually unmatched in raw power, though.

He does casually obliterate something passing itself off as a volcano god in the manga, after all. Even as only a half-existence, Fou-Lu is probably a fair match for Flan as long as she doesn't try popping his eye.

(I'm not even sure what his eye would look like, admittedly.)

It'll also be interesting to see if she might be able to learn anything about her own condition from Ryu and Fou-Lu, and to an extent, from Ershin and Deis.

HymnOfRagnarok · Apr 25, 2016

Stormgear said:
I'll give it a read over the next few days. This is technically my finals' week though, so it might take me a bit to get through between all the studying and the work.

Fair enough, good luck! And let me know what you think afterwards!

It all depends, really. The fact is that Ryu is one of the few things in the world that Fou-Lu sees as an equal. They're the same, after all. Two sides of the same coin. Fou-lu's ultimate stated goals are A) Rule the empire again, and B) Merge with Ryu once more. I think the important question he'd be confronted with is whether it's worth all the death and the suffering that would come from war with other sovereign states. This is not the world he was summoned into anymore; the politics are a lot more delicate, and brute-forcing through things would only cause long-term suffering all around.

I think Fou-Lu is probably nuanced and calculating enough to recognize that victory via soft power is a viable solution, especially since the Empire is theoretically pretty damn powerful, if it gets over all the bureaucratic corruption and associated issues. As you say though, while he was summoned to be a perfect ruler, and while he did a damn good job, he's still imperfect. Even as the Yorae Dragon, he's not infallible or invincible. He's still virtually unmatched in raw power, though.

He does casually obliterate something passing itself off as a volcano god in the manga, after all. Even as only a half-existence, Fou-Lu is probably a fair match for Flan as long as she doesn't try popping his eye.

(I'm not even sure what his eye would look like, admittedly.)

It'll also be interesting to see if she might be able to learn anything about her own condition from Ryu and Fou-Lu, and to an extent, from Ershin and Deis.

Ryu as an equal? Well....sorta? Definitely the lesser of the two though, much less experienced. For better and for worse. But as the final battle shows, in the game and the manga, he considers trial by combat to be a perfectly good method of settling their differences. He might be able to recognize victory by soft power as a solution, but other people may force the issue with violence. Ryu is definitely hot blooded enough to do so, if sufficiently provoked.

Also, Fou-Lu casually obliterated most of his enemies in the manga. As I recall his fights were usually effortlessly crushing the opposition and then getting exhausted, or just effortlessly crushing the competition.

I honestly question whether Flan will be capable of crushing Fou-Lu or Ryu's eye. From what I recall in this Quest, Flan crushed Remilia's eye and she came back via fate shenanigans.

The Yorae Dragon is the Dragon of the Future, or so I recall. Taken from here.

Ryu and Fou-Lu together represent the Yorae Dragon. The Yorae Dragon's concept, and even its name, are a giant flashing SYMBOLISM sign. You see, the word "Yorae" is apparently a Korean form of Bodhisattva, while the Japanese name, Arukai No Ryuu, translates to "Arhat Dragon." Arhat is another word for Bodhisattva. The Yorae Dragon isn't just any Bodhisattva though, it's "The Dragon of the Future." Swap Dragon for Buddha, and you have "The Buddha of the Future," a term for Maitreya, the Buddha who will come to teach the true Dharma once all knowledge of Buddhism is lost, thus creating the new Age.

Yes, the Yorae Dragon is a big, scaly Buddha with laser beams.

So if Fou-Lu and Ryu have an aspect of the future, what is to be, I have to wonder if they're even within Flan's grasp. I mean they're halved, Ryu is a baby, so probably, but the naming makes me think that they might be relevant to Flan on a conceptual level.

But this is all speculation. Needless to say, I am bouncing in my seat at the thought of meeting Fou-lu. So awesome.

Stormgear · Apr 25, 2016

HymnOfRagnarok said:
Ryu as an equal? Well....sorta? Definitely the lesser of the two though, much less experienced. For better and for worse. But as the final battle shows, in the game and the manga, he considers trial by combat to be a perfectly good method of settling their differences. He might be able to recognize victory by soft power as a solution, but other people may force the issue with violence. Ryu is definitely hot blooded enough to do so, if sufficiently provoked.

Also, Fou-Lu casually obliterated most of his enemies in the manga. As I recall his fights were usually effortlessly crushing the opposition and then getting exhausted, or just effortlessly crushing the competition.

I honestly question whether Flan will be capable of crushing Fou-Lu or Ryu's eye. From what I recall in this Quest, Flan crushed Remilia's eye and she came back via fate shenanigans.

The Yorae Dragon is the Dragon of the Future, or so I recall. Taken from here.

So if Fou-Lu and Ryu have an aspect of the future, what is to be, I have to wonder if they're even within Flan's grasp. I mean they're halved, Ryu is a baby, so probably, but the naming makes me think that they might be relevant to Flan on a conceptual level.

But this is all speculation. Needless to say, I am bouncing in my seat at the thought of meeting Fou-lu. So awesome.

Well, I'll rephrase. He sees Ryu as his most equal. In all the world, Ryu is the only one who even approaches Fou-Lu, even above the other Endless- though Fou-Lu probably at least respects them, too.

Regarding the political issue, if someone forces violence with Fou-Lu, it will probably not go well for the person in question, as we've seen throughout the game and the manga. Having him in power would massively increase the Empire's influence, if not just be cause the threat of imminent Dragon God is an even bigger stick than the Refined Suffering Cannon. Some countries back their words with NUCLEAR WEAPONS, it's basically equivalent.

What you bring up about the Yorae Dragon is interesting, though. Flan was able to at least seriously injure Alduin by squeezing his eye, and Alduin is relatively similar in nature, being destined to one day bring about the end of the world and all. Though Alduin is also nowhere near as... metaphysically weighty as the Yorae Dragon. He also exists within the world, whereas the Yorae is supposedly something that transcends it. It'd be more like trying to kill Akatosh or similar divine entities.

Them being halved is definitely an issue, though. Still! I'm really interested to see where this is going. Like I said earlier, I'd run something in this setting if I wasn't so busy, because it's just so good.

Flandre's Quest (Touhou) World - (Madness Quest)

The Shittiest Wizard

Back from the dead and ready to party!

Back from the dead and ready to party!

Recurring Bouts of Misanthropy

Cannon Fodder

Let's Rock

Cannon Fodder

Let's Rock

Let's Rock

Let's Rock

Let's Rock

Let's Rock