A Huge Thank You To @beetlebasher For Commissioning This Vulgora Bath Scene! I Had A Lot Of Fun Drawing

A huge thank you to @beetlebasher for commissioning this Vulgora bath scene! I had a lot of fun drawing it ✨

Also, I feel like a dummy for not drawing any battle scars on them before, so another thank you for this suggestion in particular.

I came and brought some headcanons.

Since I don't like making headcanons about MCs, and the whole concept is not for me, I'm doing... a side character based on my favorite musicians instead. Who, in my opinion, fit into the Arcana world.

And I'm sure: "Blackmore's Night" is one of them (my beg pardon, I'm an old fan). Since I feel the same aesthetic and the same atmosphere, let's go.

1. This is where I feel the STRONGEST "Girl Power" vibes. What about, say, the "Nadia/MC" route? Portia can be here too (I mean, girl party in a storm on a cliff overlooking the ocean? YEAAH!).

2. I don't know why, but here I feel "Asra/MC" (suddenly!) vibes more than anything else. So, why not?

2.1. "Asra/MC" (or just Azra themselve), so-why-not-2:

So: "The Rowdy Raven". It's easy to imagine R. Blackmore and K. Night as musicians playing in the tavern. Maybe their patron arcana in the Arcana world are also "The Lovers", like Aisha and Salim. I don't think the patron arcana can choose the only person (or couple like "the Lovers" do). I guess "being chosen by the Arcana personification" is not an exclusive offer. It's rare? Well, yes. But I think it's much rarer to be exclusive. It depends, I guess.

Anyway, this is my own headcanon about side characters, which is just giving me a special ambiance as I see it. I like such non-binding vignettes, say:

1. Dancing in the "Rowdy Raven" to this song. Maybe this is a bit of an anachronism ("Lorelei" is a poem by Heinrich Heine, 1824 or even Clemens Brentano's poem "Lore Lay" on 1801) for the "Renaissance" setting of the game, but as long as there is tango (as the most obvious anachronism) in the game itself, this is allowed too.

(Imagine all those old sailors dancing under Mazelinka's leadership. She's sure to have many stories to tell about beautiful sea maidens: she was married to one of them. But with a happy ending. 🖤)

2. Oh, well, it's pretty simple. I think it was one of Julian's favorite songs. Especially for the "sentimental mood" ('cause he is a sweet sentimental boy, you know).

3. This is so obvious that I won't say any more.

I've been listening to them for over 15 years. It's kind of a "band of my youth" and maybe someone will discover "Blackmore's Night" for themselves, idk. Just say something if you want. I always appreciate little vignettes about the whole world (not the "MC with /put your LI here/…" type), but such content is rarely seen here.

Finally, my favorite:

/Lunatic Sun/

Sorry, but. ApostleJay on the line.

As a masochist, I would say that this thing works quite the opposite.

Yes, masochist can assotiate pleasure with pain - and it could be a coping mechanism. But it forms right into your brain and couldn't be turned back. Actually, it could be the other way - masochist may open up in healthy relationship and finally be themselves) There are different forms of masochism: some people enjoy degradation, some of them don't, some prefer the sensation of pain, others like to obey - it's not always about sex.

So I would insist that Julian is definitely a masochist and submissive as fuck :))

(UPD: Also short addition, because I, Lunatic Sun, have my own description in the quote.

BDSM is like a snake. Can you dislike snakes? Yes, you can. But don't say things like "all snakes are venomous" and kill poor reptiles. Not all snakes are venomous, and most likely the snake on your path wants to go away, not attack you. But if you killed every snake you saw and spread your opinion, you'd be harming the environment.

You can have your own opinion, but not your own fact. It's not enough: "a few articles from the first page of Google" for having your own opinion. But "BDSM is not my cup of tea and I exclude this line from my description of the relationship between my MC and Julian" would be more than enough. I may not like Asrian, but I don't scream "this is not canon because I don't like it and I think their relationships are kinda abusive". Asrian is a fact of the Arcana canon. "Julian is a masochist" is another such fact. That's all.)

Let's assume for a moment: someone looking for ancient manuscripts in Vesuvia's palace library. Opens a huge tome. And see…

THIS.

"Pontifex, as indicated earlier, there is a... Ahem. We seem to be under surveillance."

"Did I tell you to THROW OUT THE DAMN LUTE??!"

Source:

The Arcana (head)canon.

I have a strong opinion: Valdemar, because of their antiquity, was born in the land that has a lot in common with ancient Egypt. Not only because of their antiquity: the developers (NH, of course) said themselves about their inspiration for the Tarot history.

Okay, Renaissance, Arabic, but... Egypt? I have never seen any specific Egyptian motifs in the visuals of the game. But what if...

Okay, okay, Valdemar is an ancient being born as a human. Somewhere in the ancient kingdom like the Ancient Egypt in the Arcana world. I'm absolutely sure!

Please don't tell me who they are: AMAB or AFAB, I really HATE THAT subject. And I really hate any kind of "AMAB Valdemar" or "AFAB Valdemar". They are NON-BINARY. They were non-binary as a human, they are non-binary as a demon and eldritch horror. That's it. Also, I love the fact that Vulgora and Valdemar are demons and have never considered that a "bad representation". Sorry, but as a non-binary person, I really want to have the ability to fully transition as an option. I want nothing to do with any option of human genitalia. And I have the strongest gender envy for the Vulgora and Valdemar. They're not human anymore, they can turn their bodies into anything they fucking want and they can live as they feel. Not AFAB. Definitely not AMAB. But Ȩ̵̙̟̬͚̊̿̉͌͜͠l̷̶̡͙̼̗̳̃̑̄͒͡d̶͒̍ͤ̓͏̴̦̮̲͓͝ŗ̛̯̪̠̤ͬͯ͂ͫ̕͠i̴̵ͪͥ̄̎͜͏̭͎͕̗ẗ̵̨̹̻̥̹ͥ̂̆͜͡ç̝͚̗̗̃̍̔ͬ͘͠͝h̆̌͛̔҉̴̧̦̲̘̪͢ ̵͚̤̲̮ͫ́̀̔̀͘͜H̴̡͙̥̩͔ͩ͛͐͛͟͞o̢̢̖̳͉͕͛͂ͫ͌͟͞r̵̞̮̮̮̄͑ͭ̃̕͢͟r̒͗̒̒͏̢͏҉̯̠̝͚o̯͔̭̝ͦ̔ͣͬ́̀͞͡r̍ͫ̔̄͝҉̛̺̺̗͔́ ̏͊̃ͮ҉̸̷̢͈̲͍̝.

Okay, let's go back to the Ancient Egypt theme. I'm sure - the developers should have had that reference, and maybe when they were building the Arcana world they had that thing in mind.

Also. I love learning something (or use my knowledge) and turning it into the Arcana reference. Ancient history is the best thing for that entertainment. So...

Meet the goddess Sekhmet. She's beautiful, she's angry. According to the myths, she wanted to destroy humans because they had humiliated her father, the Supreme God Ra.

And the goddess Sekhmet was a... patron goddess of medicine. She was a patron goddess of medicine, and the same time she had the power to command the diseases and especially the plague.

Plague!

That was her, shall we say, "crown curse sign". Medicine in ancient Egypt was also extremely advanced (for the ancient world, of course). The first time, I swear, I headcanoned Valdemar as a priest of Thoth (for the reasons). But the connection between medicine, plague and the goddess Sekhmet is amazing.

Thank you for coming to my Ted-Talk. :D With all my love for the world of Arcana, Lunatic Sun.

/Lunatic Sun on the line, as you might guess/

Okay. Not the first time I have seen such an opinion in the fandom, but the first time it looks like a full consideration. Well.

As someone who knows a little more than a few articles on the first page of Google, perhaps I'll take the liberty of... clarifying the issue. I probably won't be kind enough because I'm so annoyed by these hot takes.

To be clear, this isn't much about the canon or Julian himself. My speech is about the whole image of BDSM on this "Opinion.jpg".

I can understand that you don't know much about BDSM and this is not your cup of tea. I understand that it is not for everyone.

But please. Please, tell me, someone, any of those people with such hot take.

Why do you think that if you are into BDSM you have no alternative? If you are a masochist, you can only be horny because of pain? Thank you for not EVERY pain, I have heard such… opinion.

Okay, can you explain to me, sadistic/dominant person, who am I? Maybe I want to torture everyone I have a relationship with? I have no alternatives? Perhaps I have more macabre intentions? Come on! "The "Sadist" sounds terrible! Maybe he/she/them will kill someone one day, they definitely can't live without torturing someone!" Welcome to the "As Vanilla Says..." TV Show!

The description of masochism as a disease (DSM-V, I mean) includes distress, "psychosocial difficulties" because of their masochistic sexual attractions.

And there's no "healthy relationships" in the clinical recommendations for rehab, iykwim. (✨Oh, love, the most beautiful miracle, heals all!✨ Sorry not sorry. Bruh.)

As I said above about sadistic affections, "sexual sadism disorder" as a disorder has this description:

"The individual has acted on these sexual urges with a nonconsenting person, or the sexual urges or fantasies cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

I sincerely hope you got that.

As a sadist and dominant, I don't want to kill your grandma, humiliate my partners 24/7 without their consent/for my own pleasure or whatever. Masochists can be horny without pain (If a masochist can only be aroused by pain, it's a disorder). Also, masochists can dislike some kinds of pain (even the "safe" kind, not the taboo or something extremely hard), and if I, as their sadist, ignore their ban/request, this behaviour will automatically make me an abuser and rapist. This is not my goal as a sadist.

BDSM is not a judgement.

There are many practices and the same person, whoever they are, can have many behaviours. Even in the area of "kinks and sexual attractions". And the devs surprisingly correctly described Julian Devorak as a masochist, okay? Not in the "disease way", but in the "kink way".

In conclusion, if you claim the golden standard of healthy relationships beyond "dialogue", "support" and "freedom to be yourself in a mutually respectful way", you seem to have no idea about healthy relationships (I mean, indeed, if you exclude BDSM as something harmful or sick from your "Golden Standard ™"). And yes, BDSM relationships must have the "mutual respect". Because the other way is pure violence. Or silly fantasies about such violence like the-film-that-shall-not-be-named.

Sorry, but. ApostleJay on the line.

As a masochist, I would say that this thing works quite the opposite.

Yes, masochist can assotiate pleasure with pain - and it could be a coping mechanism. But it forms right into your brain and couldn't be turned back. Actually, it could be the other way - masochist may open up in healthy relationship and finally be themselves) There are different forms of masochism: some people enjoy degradation, some of them don't, some prefer the sensation of pain, others like to obey - it's not always about sex.

So I would insist that Julian is definitely a masochist and submissive as fuck :))