It's Giving Princess Celestia

<:3 good boys

@terraria-comic-number-1299

@asktewawa

@milokchan

@drzootsuit

@ask-a-simple-hero

@buttermilksandwich

@purity-town

(well, I love all NPCs, but I can easilly draw only the guides)

You can only REBLOG THIS TODAY

💙 it’s been a long time. how have you been? 🧡

hello yes i’m mad hyperfixating on terraria rn and i’m neck deep in The Lore. i’ve fallen in love with purity town in the process and i just vibe so much with the idea of the guide’s character in general anyway this is me requesting as much Andrew lore as you’d be willing to type up because your worldbuilding is so good-

gfjdkslkdlmf Hi I would absolutely love to go off about him but I collapse in an unstructured environment so! I’m gonna toss some random stuff under the cut! I know this took a while to post anon, but I hope you enjoy!

Family

He was raised in a small village. If you can picture the in-game purity backgrounds, the area he's from is based off of the background with the grasslands and plateaus. It's part of a larger swath of grasslands to the east that borders part of the same mountain range that the comic takes place in!

He lived with his single mother and older brother.

His mother was born shortly after the war ended, when the world was at its most vulnerable, before the Wall of Flesh locked away the worst of the monsters and the most unstable magics. She knew how it was to grow up in a village where the bell rang every night to signal sundown, when everyone was to shutter their windows and barricade their doors.

His mother and brother both had black hair -- Andrew was the only one in town with orange hair, which was endlessly confusing and annoying for him. Andrew never learned who his (and presumably also his brother’s) biological father was, and doesn't really care.

Andrew’s hair color is natural in the sense that it technically grows that color, but if it weren’t for the whole “link to the WoF” thing, his hair would have been brown or black like the rest of his family. Likewise, his eyes would have just been brown.

His closest father figure was a man named James who was one of the original people made into Guides -- that is, the first group of folks who started out as community leaders, researchers, etc. helping to rebuild post-war that Terraria first gave her blessing to and made into the first Guides. James was a trans man and Andrew’s mother’s best friend, so he was around their house a lot. For simplicity and lack of a better word, on the rare occasions he mentions James, Andrew refers to James as his step-father or mentor.

His village didn’t have a school, so James was likewise the one to handle his education, and encouraged him often to go out and talk with people to learn more about the world (especially since Andrew never knew the world pre-WoF, when it was far more dangerous and monstrous).

Andrew’s brother, Nathan, didn’t get along with James whatsoever.

Andrew met the Dryad once as a child when she visited his hometown. She didn’t like him much, sensing what he was, but she adored his brother who had gotten a reputation as a local hero. Andrew was jealous for the longest time over this.

Andrew’s whole family was able to ride horseback, mostly out of necessity. Andrew’s horse was a deep red gelding named Chessie, James’ horse was a golden-brown mare named Peanut, and Nathan’s horse was a black mare named Flora. When his mother rode with them, she’d usually go on Abby, a speckled white and black gelding, and there was another mare, Tango, used for teaching kids to ride. (These horses were all shared among the village, but this was usually the selection they rode with.)

Andrew and Nathan did a lot of adventuring together once Andrew was strong enough to use a bow with a heavy enough draw weight to do some real damage. Nathan had more of a tendency to jump into danger, though, being a melee user, and this eventually led to his death.

Nathan had always wanted to “get out” of their hometown. He and Andrew had their arguments growing up, but they both loved learning about the world beyond the plains and mountain ranges where they had grown up, and searching for ruins and artefacts from before the war.

Because of where Andrew grew up, he’s more inclined to live in smaller communities, even if they fall prey to the small town rumor mill aspect of things. Big cities (not that there are many of them, and even then they’re not that big) are a bit overwhelming and disconnected from nature, though he appreciates being more anonymous in them. He wouldn’t mind someplace like where Chris grew up -- big enough to have better infrastructure and public services and slightly less of a small town culture, while still being small enough that it’s a part of the landscape rather than replacing it.

The Order

All Guides have a symbol they use for publishing in place of their names. This is because it’s fairly common practice to change your name after being resurrected, and Guides are resurrected more often than most folks are due to their importance to helping communities flourish. So, they use marks, which are made with specialized stamps for wax and ink and are carved into a particular symbol with some meaning to them. It’s pretty common to also get this symbol as a tattoo, though Andrew's never bothered, especially since tattoos and piercing and the likes disappear every time he dies.

Andrew’s mark is a phoenix head with a stylized eye, and is the same mark he’s used since he became a Guide (they usually go through an apprenticeship/training period after it’s discovered that they possess the Gift of Knowledge/Terraria's Blessing/whatever you'd care to call it.)

Considering Andrew is the most well-read and published Guide as a result of being immortal, his mark is very well known among academics, but it’s typically assumed by scholars not associated with the Order that that particular mark is being passed down from one Guide to his trainee and so on.

Andrew being immortal is an open-secret among the order. The ones who have been in the order for longer love to spook trainees with crazy stories about him (he's a half-demon demigod who can smite people!!! :0), but he actually meets up with others so rarely that he’s often not recognized outside of the more senior members. He finds it pretty funny though when he’s assumed to be a new Guide and tossed in with the other trainees and all, though he does try to gently correct said crazy stories when they get out of hand.

Likewise, whenever he introduces himself as "Andrew, y'know, the immortal guy who writes all the textbooks?" the reaction he usually gets is "huh, I thought you'd look older." He did get stuck with eternal youth and is forever in his 20s, so that reaction does at least make a little sense.

Outside of the Order, some academics who have gone digging are aware of the rumor that there's a man who's immortal, but it's hardly ever documented or acknowledged -- after all, magic exists and Terraria's lone remaining Dryad is immortal herself, so it's not a crazy jump to imagine she also randomly blessed some guy. For all they know there are dozens of immortals in society, and none of them are selling some snake oil immortality potion, so why care?

Andrew's main reasoning for hiding his immortality in the first place is 1. People already think suspiciously of him and he just wants to disappear and 2. It can make it even harder to fit in, and would just be weird to be famous for. So, he’d rather it didn’t make its way to the general public, though he wouldn’t really care if it became more known so long as it didn’t affect his daily life personally.

Guides usually don’t go for a proper degree at one of the few major universities (outside of getting an honorary degree), but they’re always allowed to sit in on classes as an observer. Likewise, Andrew would really love for one day to be able to lecture in history or linguistics at a university like that -- he thinks it’d be grand to show up to a class and say “today I’m giving a guest lecture on history and the reason you should pay attention to me is that I’ve actually lived through because I’m 463 years old.” But he’s never done it.

Andrew-Specific Quirks

He has a habit of pulling at his hair right behind his ears where it grows longer/curls over by his jaw whenever he’s thinking hard or getting nervous, but also tends to just generally play with his hair as a fidget thing. It used to be long enough to pull back, but he changes his hairstyle every few years. Right now it’s short and clean shaven, but he’s messed with it plenty before.

His favorite fruit by merit of utility is apples, because many of their varieties are quite sturdy as far as plants grow, and you can make tons of things out of them. However, his *real* favorite fruit is strawberries, particularly the variety that’s very small and super juicy/sweet.

He’s not even usually a fan of sweet things, in contrast to Chris who has a crazy sweet tooth. He likewise doesn’t often get into arguments, but it was pretty funny to get into it with Chris over whether strawberries are naturally meant to be eaten with or without sugar. (Andrew is adamant that strawberries should be eaten raw. Chris says they need at least a little sugar, maybe cream and vanilla.)

He’s not a fan of alcohol, and doesn’t really *get* it. Like, you drink a gross tasting thing that makes you lose control? No thanks. If offered something that doesn’t taste alcoholic his reaction is more “why would you give me this? I’d prefer a glass of just the mixer.”

When sleeping somewhere unfamiliar to him he’s a very quiet sleeper, but when at home he’s very restless. He goes to bed every night with a pillow under his head and blanket pulled over him like a normal person and by morning has thrown one pillow to the floor, has the other clutched to his chest/stomach, is sleeping with his head on his folded elbow, and has mostly lost his blanket to the clutches of gravity off the side of his bed.

Continuing on this vein, he tends to wake up just before sunrise every day. To keep with his sleep schedule he usually gets up after he naturally wakes up, though if he didn’t force himself out of bed he’d probably be able to get back to sleep.

He doesn’t tend to nap either, though he will if he’s gotten a headache from staring too long at a paper or something.

He’s a bit of a snob about fountain pens and their ~superior smoothness~ on the paper, but in all actuality, it does help that he can keep his hand relaxed while writing, which eases the tension in it. All injuries are reverted upon resurrection (RIP the earrings he wore as a teenager) so it wouldn't matter *that* much, but he does at least attempt to stay healthy.

Mostly due to his connection with the WoF, he can do a tiny bit of magic, but has never pursued it. In Purity Town, falling stars are essentially loose magic, so only a mage can hold them -- he can just barely contain one in the way that one would cup sand in their fingers. (Chris, by contrast, started catching falling stars mid-air for fun because he heard as a child they'd give you wishes and thought that was a cute idea.)

The bow he usually uses is just a basic wooden recurve bow mainly used for small game (and basic protection, like against slimes). He still hunts sometimes, but less so now that he lives in town vs. being outside of a town’s borders as he’s lived for some time. He does own a heavier draw weight bow that he practices with sometimes, but it’s mainly reserved for blood moons. Being an archer for so many years, and learning to shoot while on horseback, has given him a sharp aim. His first bow was just your typical simple survival bow, but while he’s learned to make his own, nicer ones over the years, he still tends towards simplicity.

He commits to using no “trendy slang” because he’s awful at accidentally using slang from 60 years ago interspersed with slang from 10 years ago and he just can’t keep that all straight. He has a tendency to use outdated phrases, though.

But outside of that he’s very good at picking up new languages! It’s a Guide thing. His native language is Old Terrarian, he’s obviously fluent in Common, and he learned the Lihzahrd language ages ago when he, his queerplatonic partner at the time, and a Lihzahrd friend would go out adventuring together.

His personal involvement in adventuring really died after said partner was killed, though he's still remained very close to the whole "hero" situation. He's still capable of accompanying someone without getting himself immediately killed, and at the least he isn't grossed out by mud or blood or anything.

His moving to Purity Town in general was a *mess*. The Arms Dealer nearly gutted him for "skulking around" and was terribly displeased when all Andrew had to do was introduce himself and the town's Guide at the time was plenty happy to welcome Andrew in for a chat despite his aura.

He’s a huge nerd when it comes to being able to identify things. He’s not as good at any one subject as any of the other townsfolk with specializations are, because he’s done a lot of book learning vs. actual practice, but he’s gotten good at telling gemstones apart, determining the properties of soil, testing cloth materials, and so on. It helps when he’s having to identify stones and minerals!

He’s also something of a potion-maker. It sort of ties back into having James, a trans man, as his parental figure -- learning to make a potion to literally change yourself into a better expression of your gender identity. It’s instilled a strong value into his mind of “it’s not as hard as you think it is. We’ll figure out how to make this potion for you so that you can be the best you you can be.” This is especailly because so many people don't know how versatile gender change potions can be, even for people who don't have dysphoria, only have dysphoria in certain parts of their bodies, or are agender/nonbinary (or physically intersex or just generally not doing a flat mtf or ftm transition).

But also, potion making is like cooking and baking! Just gotta follow the instructions.

Speaking of baking, as a Guide he’s got a perfect recollection of facts he’s read, so he doesn’t own any cookbooks that aren’t gifts. He can just commit the recipes to memory, after all. This fact drives Chris absolutely nuts, because while Chris is very much a “I don’t technically know how much spice to add, you just shake it in based on the whims of your soul and you'll just kinda feel it” sort of cook, it’d still be nice to have easier access to learn new recipes to try.

Andrew counts on his fingers and writes tally marks differently than the accepted modern-Terrarian way! Most folks count pointer finder, middle finger, ring finger, pinkie, and thumb, while he starts with his thumb and then counts the other four fingers. Likewise, most folks do the four |||| with a line across making five, while he was always taught to start with a ( symbol, do three dashes across the center starting from the top, and then close it to make a backwards D. This goes back to how his first language is written, where ( and ) are used for sentence punctuation an are mirrored at the start and end of a sentence, so tally marks start like a sentence does and then are closed “flat” to allow you to continue to add more tallies beyond just the first five.

And one last bit, he’s not a huge fan of fiction! He doesn’t hate poetry conceptually but he’s not super into it, or anything else that’s more about symbolism/feeling/interpretation. It’s funny, because he actually quite enjoys listening to people tell stories, and music, but he’s just never been that into sitting down with a story book. He’s got hit little subset of fiction books he owns, and an even smaller subset of fiction books he inexplicably likes, and that is all.

OKAY I wrote all 2k words of that in a haze and a flurry of typing, but if you’ve made it this far I hope you found at least some of this interesting!

Ahhh I got TAZ: The Crystal Kingdom in the mail today!! Crystal Kingdom was always my favorite part of the podcast, and the graphic novel is so good,, highlights:

Bitch fucking Frankenstein-ass Lucas is so very enjoyable, his character design is lovely and for a little bastard of a necromancer I do just adore his character

Taako: "He's the Grim Reaper! Read the room!!!" Kravitz: "Wow! So not just a pretty face!"

UPSY YOUR LIFTING FRIEND is so very FUCKED up

Noelle......her remembering and everyone's expressions when they realize is so good

EVERYTHING about Kravitz, holy fuck. He gets such a spotlight in the graphic novel!! He's just hanging out and occasionally reaping souls, as one does

DM!Griffin also wearing a spacesuit

They kept the Crystal Kingdom song!

Lucas and his mother aaaa

They removed the "turn Magnus into stone and then use shape stone to make a corkscrew and remove the relic" scene which is honestly for the best because I do NOT want to see that drawn on paper

The "tentacle your dick" line IS still in there but they changed the context

Okay but I really like the character dynamics and emotions, like Lucretia at the end reflecting on Lucas and Maureen

THE ENDING with the seven birds prophecy, the IPRE badges, and the Starblaster!!!

AVI IN A SWEATER AVI IN A SWEATER I WANT TO EAT HIS GENDER

Johann and the voidfish also make an appearance <3

The cosmoscope :D IT'S SO PRETTY!

Taako's macarons!

Taako is smitten

"Kravitz? Tell Julia I finished her chair?" aaaa

Angus is adorable

GARFIELD THE DEALS WARLOCK IS HORRIFYING

Wooden ducks!

Lucas' face at "I know, I know, apprehend him-" "No. Kill him."

I know it's funny to hate on Lucas but he's actually so great

SO IS KRAVITZ I’m so happy he got so much screentime here

"Lucas, you don't need an advanced degree to water a plant"

First off, thank you for making this writeup! The Dungeon/Temple lore has always been particularly nasty to try and make sense of so it's helpful to see how other folks interpret it. Had some thoughts to add on the subject!

Regarding defeating Plantera slowing down biome spread -- this could tie into the theory that the Dryad(s?) created Plantera!

There is a very loose connection between the Dryads and the Jungle; most obvious is that the Dryad in-game has the Jungle as her liked biome. In her happiness quote for the jungle she says "I kissed a tree in the Jungle and I liked it." While this is mostly just a funny little reference, it does gain a little more depth when you remember the Dryad turns into a tree in the end credits. The items found in the living mahogany trees are also pretty thematic for the Dryads -- the staff of regrowth and flower boots specifically.

Then consider that the Dryad sells purification powder, analyzes world purity, and pushes the player to purify the world. Combining this all together makes a nice little link to the Dryads creating Plantera with their own magic. Of course, our Dryad can only do so much being she's the last of her kind, but defeating Plantera releases a big burst of that Dryad magic that was put into creating it, slowing biome spread worldwide. Bit of a reaching theory, but we don't have much to work with on this one, haha.

Changing course completely -- you had disregarded the fact that a voodoo doll is found in the Underworld, but I would say it's pretty relevant considering the existence of the Diabolic Sigil bearers and the Molten Legion (and in a different way, the Necromancers and Ragged Casters).

The Diabolists and Molten Legion both explicitly run with the hell theme -- Diabolists wield flames "as intense as any in the Underworld," and drop a classic devil-style trident (though devils in-game drop unholy tridents -- more on that later). The Molten Legion members are immune to On Fire!/Hellfire debuffs and like Diabolists can light you on fire.

Now for a side tangent on shadow magic/shadowflame. You see this kind of magic in a few places -- Goblins specifically manipulate "shadow energy," summon spirits of the dead with it, and cast with shadowflame/use weapons that inflict shadowflame.

Devils and demons are immune to shadowflame, and although they don't inflict the shadowflame debuff proper, demons are stated to cast "shadow magic" in the form of their demon scythes, which inflicts the darkness debuff. Red Devils respectively drop the Unholy trident, which links on its own back to the Corruption (see: Unholy water, unholy arrows, etc.) and the Corruption's shadow orbs.

Back to the dungeon, the Ragged Casters inflict the blackout debuff, a stronger version of darkness, while Necromancer beams are also referred to as "shadow beams." The Clothier also casts shadowflame skulls, a shadow'd version of the skulls you can cast from the Book of Skulls dropped by Skeletron. Now look at the shadow chests in the Underworld -- they contain hellfire weapons and a shadowflame weapon.

And how do you open shadow chests? With a key from the dungeon.

(Side note: the Lunatic Cultist's Ancient Doom projectiles also look similar to the Clothier's shadowflame skulls, but they don't inflict any relevant debuffs. The LC does have fire magic similar to Diabolists, but this seems to be a part of an elemental magic theme rather than a hell one specifically.)

(Side note #2: While their attacks obviously look different, the demon scythe item is actually just a recolored version of the water bolt item! Both spellbooks have the same design on their covers.)

(Side note #3: There's also maybe another link to be made involving the obsidian-scaled serpents that once ruled hell, the Eater of World's shadow scales, the wyverns/phantasm dragons, the obsidian summoning set, the obsidian skull, and the obsidian lock boxes, but it's much more reaching in my opinion.)

Anyways, this was a lot of words to say that there's a quite significant link between the Dungeon and the Underworld, and the fact that there's a voodoo doll found in both locations only adds to that! Link that with the Witch Doctor mentioning voodoo magics/having the same happiness dialogue for both the Dryad and the Guide, and the connections you had previously established between the Dungeon and the Lihzahrd Temple and we're starting to get...something. Not sure what, but there's something here!

Rambling once again: Dungeon

In the lore, the only thing we're told is that the Dungeon used to be a prosperous city, now in ruins, with its inhabitants kept undead by a curse.

Firstly, I'm guessing that the "curse" is the same curse as the Skeletron. When the Dryads ripped out parts of Cthulhu's skeleton, they left the bones near the dungeon, but something, something, hate, let me tell you how much i've grown to hate you - "The disembodied bones of a former tyrant pulsed with a hatred so strong, it left behind a mighty curse which guards the Dungeon". Remember that. Secondly, the Lunar Cultists appear near the Dungeon, Mechanic was thrown into the Dungeon where they forced her to build the mecha bosses. So, the Dungeon is like their base. Why? Here's the next thing; "former tyrant" is Cthulhu, and what is a tyrant without something to rule over? I say that the people of the Dungeon, in life, before Cthulhu has fallen, also worshipped him. Most were left to rot away and remained as skeletons; and the Lunar Cultists we see in-game are the leftovers of this bigger cult, those who, although also maddened, have managed to keep at least some consciousness, and instead of rotting away like the others, were made immortal and had their aging process slowed down <- this is a personal headcanon based on nothing, just keep in mind that the curse can do that, it is important for my eventual Clothier lore.

Now, what *was* the Dungeon? Many of the enemies we see in-game from there are either mages or "parts of an elite military unit in their past lives". There's several factions: Necromantic Order, Ragged Brotherhood, and the Diabolic Order(?) are the mages. Diabolists do hell magic, Necromancers do shadow magic, Ragged Casters summon spirits. Some supra-natural dark magic, that's the first big thing. We also get the alchemy/bewitching table from the dungeon, there's potions scattered everywhere, so, yes, they were doing magic. Then, the "warrior" factions: Molten Legion (matching the Diablosts' hell magic), Rusted Company (matching the Ragged Brotherhood's 'tattered' theme), and an unnamed one that is for Marching Bones/Blue Armored Bones; there's also the "military unit" spread throughout the Dungeon, consists of Snipers, a SWAT team (ok i guess), rocket launcher guys, and knights/guards. A lot of military. There's also ninjas because what would you do without them. The only ones who don't fit into this military-cultist shitstorm are the Angry Bones and Cursed Skulls, giant and non-giant. I assume those were just regular inhabitants.

What we have is - a military-focused city with dark magic practitioners. Interesting.

Another thing is the Dungeon's connection to the Jungle/Jungle Temple. The chests/keys in the dungeon have been cursed by Plantera. Plantera awakens after from the fallout after we defeat the Mechanical bosses (though I guess that's not very surprising, if you're a floral being you're probably sensitive to changes in the soil, and there's no way 3 giant fucked up mechanical things, which are, mind you, imbued with Souls so evil they had to be sealed away by the Wall of Flesh itself, are good for the environment). We get stronger enemies in the Dungeon once Plantera (a giant thing who gives access to the Jungle Temple, a "Guardian" - remind you of anyone?) is defeated, Cultists arrive once the Golem is defeated. And, remember, we have Lunar Cultists - and while the existence of Solar Cultists is implied, considering the robes Clothier sells and the unused White Cultist Archer enemy, we've never once seen Solar Cultists. Except we have. Remember, the Golem has a lot of Sun motifs.

The Lizahrds are basically the opposite to the Lunar Cult. What exactly that means for the lore - eh, who knows. Probably they were one of the races, along with the Dryads, trying to stop Cthulhu from returning or something. I've seen the theory that Plantera was made by the Dryads, that seems kind of cool. I'll think about that later.

That's about 80% of my brainpower for today used up. Thanks for listening folks.

A little note, a giant stretch, but worth mentioning: the aforementioned Bewitching Table from the Dungeon can also be bought from Witch Doctor, a Lizahrd, once the Wizard appears. Books can also be bought from the Wizard. Btw, don't those two words sound familiar. And, there's something about the Witch Doctor selling (allegedly) voodoo things, and voodoo dolls appearing in the Dungeon (and technically in the Underworld, but that's irrelevant). I think speculating about the Witch Doctor and the Wizard's connection to the Dungeon would be the lore equivalent of a crackship, though, if that even makes sense.

Been thinking about this scene from @aspidateasteism‘s TIS.

I drew this very specific ace artist meme with Mothman because I wanted to feel some happiness specific to me.