hi everyone! I created a new sideblog EXCLUSIVELY so that I can post this text (I figured my main account is shadowbanned or smth) ANYWAY
you can read the 1-5 Acts' Summaries done by @parasolemn! They've done an amazing job and I wanted to take part in deciphering too, hehe
note: English is not my first language therefore word-guessing can be pretty hard for me. There are some minor places I couldn't undestand so I would highly appreciate your help!
UPD 10/04/2025 @parasolemn kindly helped to fill in some lacunas I had in Endings! At the weekend I'll try to edit other gaps myself
Cunoesse has brought Cuno to Hämärä Maa as a replacement for a kid she drowned three years ago.
Cuno and Jaakko – the drowned kid – don’t have much in common. Both are/were boys with red hair, and about the same build but that’s about it. Only a child’s mind would come up with a plan to replace the dead kid with an ‘identical’ one so she’d be accepted back in her tribe.
But Cuno can’t just be like Jaakko, he has to *become* Jaakko.
The Suru(?) have a coming-of-age rite that involves drinking a brew made of the bone marrow of a blind underwater cave fish. This experience has sometimes profound, sometimes devastating effect on one’s consciousness.
Perhaps this “Naming Ceremony” doesn’t happen until the Hämäräns are 10 years old, so that’s why Cunoesse never got her name, and this is the pretense under which she lures Cuno into the ceremony – a name for herself (but Cuno doesn’t know it’s also going to be a new name for him.)
Cunoesse believes that if she subjects Cuno to this ceremony and “spirit guides” him through this process Cuno might actually *become* Jaakko. Or at least accept he’s Jaakko now. She’s been laying foundation for this transformation throughout this whole journey.
Cunoesse’s people thought her dead, drowned with the boy. Hardly anyone could recognize her at first sight.
Maybe Cunoesse hid the body (under a rock in one of the caves) before she fled Hämärä Maa, so in her mind no-one can definitively claim the kid she brought back isn’t Jaakko.
We want this to be a truly visually … and spectacular setpiece where you can bind the rules of everything <…> and apply dream logic.
The entire underwater showdown will be in FELD.
We can depart form/ play with the … perspective, switching into a side-view showing the vastness of the dark screen, with the C&C small figures sinking.
Experiment with overlays, filters as well as tainted and/or 3D mode/ed addictions (??) in the scene, showing people, motifs and icons elements from their journey. There can be lots of … with the visual elements reflecting decisions the players has made throughout the game.
Competitive Red Checks are the key now feature we want to test here, to create unique playthroughs and the impression of truly “fighting yourself” as the rolled value of Cuno or Cunoesse’s Red Checks affects the difficulty of the other’s counter attack.
For the first time, … and commune with each other.
Cunoesse comes out of the trip with +1 Psyche is she lives.
Blue notes:
Multiple life/death outcomes.
Swarm/Locust City side-plot reaches its conclusion.
New home for Locusts
Funeral cultural event
(another note totally unreadable for me, sorry)
_____________________________________
In its bare minimum implementation Hämärä Maa could have the same density as the Deserter’s Island finale of Disco Elysium, where the game’s entire conclusion is communicated through a small number of characters – three very extensive and immersive dialogues (one of which is a stylized dream sequence) followed by a posse epilogue. Although railroaded, Disco’s finale had a “page-turning” quality to it that we should aim for as going too much into the mundane idle of the Hämärans would kill the pacing. However, since the entire journey has been about getting to the island, we should give the player at least a little more to see and do than the Deserter’s Island did.
An example of how the task chain at Hämärä Maa could look:
Face Cunoesse’s folks
Find a new home for the Locust City.
Learn how the brew works
Make the brew
Go to the caves
Survive the caves
Bring “Jaakko” to his parents.
Reactivity/Outcomes
Cuno drowns and Cunoesse is this time for real exited by her people
Cunoesse drowns and Cuno returns to Jamrock alone.
Ending 1 – Jaakko Ending
Location: Hämärä Maa
Cunoesse is alive, Cuno is brainwashed
Notes:
Cunoesse’s manipulations worked. Cuno has fully internalized Jaakko.
The scene closes with Cuno diving dead-eyed among the Hämäran boys. He’s one of them now.
Loss of Identity. No more Cuno-sentences.
Ending 2 – Pale Ending
Cunoesse is dead, Cuno is alive
Location: Tréville, deserted
Notes:
With Cunoesse dead, Hämärä Maa holds nothing for Cuno anymore. He turns back, aimless.
He lands back in Tréville and finds it deserted. The prison has finally moved.
Cuno sits with him. With Cunoesse’s death, Cuno’s prison has left him too. The thing about freedom is that no one tells you where to go.
Cuno waits with the prisoner indefinitely. We fade to white and roll credits.
Ending 3 – Bad Ending
Cunoesse is dead, Cuno is dead
No notes, no location
Ending 4 – Circle Ending
Cunoesse is alive, Cuno is dead
Notes:
With Cuno dead and her plan failed Cunoesse must exile herself from Hämärä Maa again.
She goes into another Murder Hangover, back to sleep and hibernation.
The Internal Skull(?) announces “A new epoch of timekeeping is beginning”
(two another unreadable notes for me)
Ending 5? – New Tribe Ending
Cunoesse is alive, Cuno is alive
No notes, no location
ok i saw the meme i needed it to be rememed
"If you use em dash in your works, it makes them look AI generated. No real human uses em dash."
Imaging thinking actual human writers are Not Real because they use... professional writing in their works.
Imagine thinking millions of people who have been using em dash way before AI becomes a thing are all robots.
a scene can start wherever you want it to
writing isn't real life. You don't need to set up a character walking into a room or two characters greeting each other and talking about the weather or what-have-you in order to lead into the conversation you actually want them to have. just start at the conversation.
hell, start in the middle of the conversation. you could even start at the end and then have one of them leave and the other one left behind to reflect back on what just happened.
writing gets easier when you open yourself up to writing the parts that are interesting, to starting where it's easy instead of where you think you should start.
if it ends up not working? that's okay. you tried it, and sometimes just getting something out of your head is a necessary first step to getting the words right
Please see end of post if you want to use these!
Submitted by you, voted for by you, I'd like to present the voicelines you were just dying to hear being said by Kim - dutifully performed by the brilliant Jullian Champenois.
In 10th place,
How did we get here? We walked, believe it or not. You were not entirely lucid.
In 9th place,
I want to have fuck with you.
In 8th place, Normal people, when they go down a slide - they're fine.
Submission idea attributed to this post.
In 7th place, No, detective, I do not just want to go apeshit.
Submitted by bowyooo. In 6th place, Apartment complex? I find it quite simple.
Submitted by elelei. In 5th place, Officer, what the fuck was that?
In 4th place, Trans rights are human rights, detective. Obviously.
In 3rd place, Do I like men? Man is a hopeless creature. I don't like much of anyone. ...Oh, if you meant sexually, then, yes.
In 2nd place,
Detective, Instead of worrying about appearing 'submissive and breedable', please make sure your paperwork is submitted and readable.
Submitted by scrollingdown. And finally, in 1st place, the voice line you all wanted to hear so so badly is...
You are welcome and encouraged to use these for memes, shitposts, and other foolish fan content on social media. When you do, please include credit to Jullian Champenois. You can also include a link to his website, tag him on Instagram/Twitter (@julliannailluj), or mention his Youtube channel according to the content you make. Commercial content of any kind - ads, promoted videos, etc - is explicitly forbidden by these usage terms. Anything of this sort will require specific permission by Jullian. Please don't fuck around we love him. That's it! Thank you everyone for participating, reading, and enjoying this silly little project.
Touched on this before im a bit saddened by the complete removal of mutton chops in fem hdb fanart because in the game, they symbolize both his disco holdover complex AND the shame over his disability (law jaw). I think they matter to her character but i get cis women cant usually grow beards or whatever plus different connotations. So hm i think fem hdb would have just hugely messy hair. Big bangs across her forehead in a 70's style but not very well maintained. And i guess her shaving moment would just be cutting it all off and starting fresh with short hair. If harry du bloke was using the mutton chops as a security blanket for his jaw, you could move the paralysis higher up and make it so harry du broad uses her hair to hide paralysis in like, her forehead and eyebrows. If hd bloke was trying to channel a casanova superstar and ended up a stinky leering man, maybe hd broad was trying to channel a cool and aloof female celebrity but is viewed as a rude hag who should try looking happier. Just My Thots
when it comes to disco elysium, one of my favourite things within the game is the usage of lungs as a motif of love and the representation of this through dolores dei. it’s an incredible way of showing it, as when you love someone or something it almost seems to sustain you, becomes the air that you breathe.
however, another thing i noticed is that an overwhelming majority of the characters smoke. smoking is famously damaging to your health, more specifically to your lungs - almost like smoking is a metaphor for the way these characters show their relationships with others.
some prime examples are:
• harry du bois, who smoked heavily before losing his memory (and after, depending on player choice), a clear instance because of dora and her effect on his life and relationships for years after she left
• the smoker on the balcony, who is never seen without a cigarette, and is in an unloving sexual relationship with someone who can never understand him or truly know him at all
• klaasje amandou, who is also never seen without a cigarette, believes that she is at fault for all of her relationships collapsing and has a skewed view on what it means to love
however, my favourite example is, of course, kim kitsuragi. yes, he smokes as he enjoys the control he has over his addiction and the “cool factor” it gives him is satisfying, but i think there’s a more specific reason there - kim is so repressed that he consistently walls himself off from relationships.
kim himself says that he smokes one a day as he goes over his notes. to me, this says that he is causing minor, daily damage to his interpersonal relationships that builds up more and more over time. the fact that he does it specifically when going over notes says a lot to me too - that his work is what he’s using to push others away.
he does break this one a day rule, however - in the ending where the player chooses not to recruit kim. harry leaves kim behind. they shake hands, and as soon as harry turns away, kim lights a cigarette, a visual representation of the damage caused by another partnership cut short.
Interview with Argo Tuulik, one of the many incredibly talented writers behind Disco Elysium who is now with Summer Eternal.
Reminder that Argo has a crowdfund and has asked for help with essentials and legal fees. If Disco Elysium reached you in some capacity, consider checking out the full story behind the legal battle and donating to the cause:
I'll just post this in case anyone wants a good ref!
Back in July of 2024, I was incredibly inspired by the project Mapping Revachol by Map Max and wanted to continue on with an attempt of my own. The canon map we're given felt out of date and more than a little incongruous with what we're told in-game, and being both an avid fanfic writer and compulsive visualizer, I really wanted to be able to see Revachol in my mind's eyes.
So, taking inspiration from both Map Max's attempt, as well as meticulously combing through in-game dialogue (with the help of my intrepid friend and far more meticulous researcher than I, @spine-y) we scoured Fayde for any and all directional references to the different districts of Jamrock, East and West Revachol, and everything that lay beyond. (Shoutout to the MoralIntern questline, that one came in clutch).
I took a few liberties with district placement, especially because the wiki also seems to contradict a few things we're told in the game. You may not agree with my choices, and I'm open to suggestions! I may not make any changes anytime soon because this took forever, but I also welcome any other attempts to map Revachol!
(The red line that cuts through Central Jamrock and Faubourg is Boogie Street!)
Included below is my initial sketch before I realized that doing this in markers and microns would actually be the death of me, and then some of the early screenshots of trying to figure out what the hell the 8-81 would actually look like and how to make it make sense.
Does it make perfect sense? No! I'm not a cartographer; I'm a fanartist. I'd much rather draw men dicking each other down nasty style. But this was an incredibly fun project that only took me... only six months to complete.
I hope you enjoy!
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I NEED YOU. YOU CAN KEEP ME ON THIS EARTH. BE VIGILANT. I LOVE YOU.