-I Am Half Sick Of Shadows, Said The Lady Of Shalott-

-I am Half Sick of Shadows, said the Lady of Shalott-

"Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,

As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;

For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart

Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.

Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold

Thy face hath not the power to make love groan:

To say they err, I dare not be so bold,

Although I swear it to myself alone.

And, to be sure that is not false I swear,

A thousand groans but thinking on thy face

One on another's neck do witness bear

Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place.

In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,

And thence this slander as I think proceeds".

Sonnet 131, William Shakespeare

Part two (2/3):

Previous part:

Part 1 of 3

Ahem. How can I start the conversation? OK, I'll try. How do you do, fellow humans?

Tonight I would like to talk about the setting of the Arcana game. Or, more specifically, its atmosphere, about background illustrations that people usually don't notice and/or don't usually talk about.

I love the Arcana background CGs so much. To be honest, those CGs are what got me into the game.

A little story: 4 or 5 years ago I saw an advertisement of the Arcana for the first time. And when I saw those ads on Instagram, it was so horrible and tasteless, imho. These cringe ads rather repelled me instead of attracting me. I saw it and forgot about it, but then…

Some time later, I started looking for background references for my text-based roleplay and found some beautiful illustrations. I didn't use these illustrations for my text roleplay. Besides, I soon forgot about my roleplay. :D and, in Google, I looked at the descriptions under the illustrations I found: "the Arcana game". I was intrigued. Then I downloaded the game. A few moments later I remembered those stupid ads, but I decided to take a chance.

And then, after the Prologue, I was absolutely fascinated. It had nothing in common with those commercials. The game itself was more beautiful than I'd ever imagined. And here I am :D and here we are.

Back to the background graphics. I am personally humbled and grateful to the original artists for these backgrounds. We love the characters – there's no doubt about that. But this setting and atmosphere wouldn’t be what it is without these illustrations.

I usually refer to photos that I think have "the same vibe" or "this place fits the world of Arcana" when I want to expand the world of the game on my own. Like headcanons, fanfiction, et cetera, you know.

Next I would like to show my selection of such photos. All photos from Instagram, not the Pinterest, as this is the most convenient method of attribution.

And all of these images, you know, I am NOT using for any commercial purposes. Crediting is in the order of the images.

⏬

Okay, let's go. It's not that I'm HCing any specific locations. I can only give a very rough idea of the "location area". You'll see the notes, I hope. Credits and links below. Credits are clickable.

graciousopulence (the main source)

1. clivenichols

2. nationaltrust*

3. bonvoyagecleo

4. gamma_f

5. rcmccloskey

6. designboom*

7. amarosanchezdemoya

8. curly.beard

There are some images that conjure up more specific associations for me.

© devonchurchland*

To be honest, this photo became the indirect reason for this post.

I saw this today and the theme song from the game immediately started playing in my head (can you guess which one?). At the same time, I remembered some of the scenes that take place in our storyline. A lot of the action takes place in the Temple District. Just because… why not? especially when you and your co-author are historians obsessed with religion, lol.

I imagined this picture very vividly:

One of the churches in the Temple District. Silence. Julian sitting in an empty church, deep in thought. Watching how the strip of light from the stained glass window slowly creeping across the floor and the benches, then how the flames of the candles flickering.

He reflects and looks away, shyly, from the instruments of passions and the images of martyrs.

No, he is not religious at all. Just... impressionable. He is only impressionable in that he probably thinks most of the time that he has not yet been struck by lightning because of his impure intentions. Poor boy… 🫀

Ahem. Sorry. I think I got carried away. :D Just look at this last item.

© dumbartonoaks*

Leave your comments and share your thoughts, requests, etc. Ask is open.

"Sex, or Sextans is the equatorial constellation. Located between Leo and Hydra."

***

Julian, who was working in the Dungens that time, just passed by and overheard Valdemar's line.

"Oh, and you can call me Captain Uranus, right, Quaestor?" - and with a broad smile he tried to dogde a hand dressed in black. But he didn't sucсeeded and recieved a usual slap on his forehead, which didn't erase his smile and his joyful mood anyway. Slightly humming a tune, he headed towards the shelves carrying several test tubes with medical samples.

/© Apostle Jay /

"What do you know about sex, Quaestor?"

MC asks playfully, trying to look into Valdemar's eyes. For a few seconds Valdemar does not seem to notice. They were engrossed in a brand new anatomy atlas.

"Sex, or Sextans is the equatorial constellation. Located between Leo and Hydra."

Valdemar finally answered without taking their eyes off the page. Then added, stubbornly correcting another article right in the tome,

"And I'm not insisting that you have to feel the same way, but I am definitely insisting."

/sorry not sorry, made just for fun/

The Death of Orpheus (c.1870) - Henri Leopold Lévy

I choose first, of course.

I just have the strongest gender envy: I want to be able to turn my body into an ẻ̷͕̎͆̐l̵̠̼̀̕ḏ̶͕̟͔̈́̏̊͒̉ͅŕ̵̞͇̞͛͊i̸̳̱͙̳͚̽̊̄̓́t̶̝̰͓̯̉̈̋̇͜c̴̢͍͈͍̈́̉ḧ̷̟̲͓̩̑͠ ̷͉̯͂h̷̗̟͉̍̈́ỏ̵̱̇̀̀͜͝r̶̪̣̞̾̚͜ṛ̵̨̢͍̠͛o̵̗̥̦̰̮͗͝͠r̵̨̔͊ whenever I damn want, and be someone who technically no longer has the sex assigned to them at birth/any kind of specifically human genitalia. And if knowledge is your goal, then immortality starts to make sense.

Nothing else. Other things I already have. :D

/L.S./

P. S. Jay will join the percentage of those who chose the second option. Others don't care enough.

calling all valdemar fans