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this blog contains fandom fever & random stuff i find important, cute or rad. i like asoiaf, adventure time, gravity falls, steven universe, etc.
Using canon events! Sadly we can’t actually fix it, but I hope this makes it a little better. I make my own edit proposal at the end that changes the bar scene to include Felicia without issues.
They meet in the mines, and meet Felicia and her partner there too. They end up together somehow (I think we can put the brotherly allegations to rest now, eh?) and one of them (or both) inherit/buy a bar.
Although Vander is the barman, there is no indication Silco doesn’t own or co-own the place. After all he comes to take it eventually as his own, and he’s still not bartending. That’s just not his gig.
It’s implied that Vander and Silco made it, as in, got away from the mines, while Felicia clearly didn’t, as she comes home to both her daughters with mining gear and gloves.
So despite Vander and Silco building the Lanes together, the mines aren’t closed, and the work “isn’t done”.
Felicia says they’ve done it, and Vander is happy to celebrate their success. Meanwhile, Silco has his “NoZ” Nation of Zaun book in which he’s scribbling, still planning.
Vander’s first memory that Viktor sees even has Silco holding that book.
Later, in season 1 episode 3, we see that Vander tells Silco that he had Vander’s respect, the Lanes’ respect, but it “was never enough”.
There’s also this fakeout moment in the memory at the bar, where Vander says they’re done, and Silco replies with “You’re gravely mistaken”. And I thought he was going to go all zealous and say “We’ll only be done when we have the Nation of Zaun”, but no, he claims he’s Bozo 1.
And imo, he is probably right. He calls out Vander in act 1 saying “I trusted you and you betrayed me”, and Vander does not contest this. It makes the most in character sense as well that Silco is the brains of the operation while Vander is the brawn.
And we can conclude that Silco’s goals were always “bigger” and that the Lanes were indeed not enough.
Years pass, during which we can only assume Silco keeps building his Nation of Zaun and Vander happily bartends and manages the Lanes with Silco. Felicia keeps working the mines and raises Vi, then Powder.
Vi is at least 11, if not more, by the time she’s on the bridge. This is just consistent with her model, but also to make her 18+ by the time of act 2.
It’s a long ass time for Vander and Silco to be running a bar and the Lanes together. Even assuming Vi is more 8 or 9yo, Vander and Silco spend all that time being together.
Sadly, their models aren’t aged very well.
We are also forced here to make some unfortunate assumptions.
It’s not a problem, IMO, for Silco to know Felicia and be close to her. It’s a problem for him to not be close to Vi and Powder too. Close enough to recognise them at least.
It’s easy to say, “Well, Felicia went back to the mines and raised her kids and wasn’t super involved with Vander and Silco, who lived much higher up in their bar.” Adult friendships and all that.
IT MAKES SENSE, but then it makes zero sense that Vander would murder his life’s partner, a man he’s been with 10 years at MINIMUM (fuck knows how long they were together while in the mines), over the death of a friend in a revolt they allegedly BOTH participated in.
The memories also imply that Silco is responsible somehow, for throwing a molotov. And yet the molotov doesn’t kill the enforcer.
But Vander is shown in the opening of Act 1 season 1 pummeling one to death himself, long after the rest of the revolt has died down. That enforcer wasn’t getting back up lol
So whatever we pick, because the writers made Felicia and Silco close, they create a plot hole either way.
Either Vander is whacko and murders his husband over a dead friend at a revolt he set up (since he repeatedly apologises for what he did, and claims he “lost his head after she died” and had that guilt on his hands too)
Or Silco and Vi and Powder spend ALL of season 1 acting like they don’t know each other at all. Then Silco takes in Powder and somehow never comments on the fact he was friends with her mom.
Everything being triggered by Felicia’s death also means that Vander’s emotional thematic moment dropping the gauntlets after seeing what his violence led to is then followed up by a horrible attempted murder on the love of his life, which is… you know. Bad writing.
So I propose that they indeed drift apart. Silco knows of Felicia’s kids, and they hangout a bit, but they aren’t that close. She’s busy mining and being a mom, and Silco is busy making the safe Zaun he promised to deliver.
The creation of that Zaun leads them to act out revolts and uprisings. Vander is happy to follow. He’s angry, like he tells Vi. And this manifests in violence. Silco points his violence. It’s how they create the Lanes and the moniker of Hound of the Underground. A hound usually has a master, after all.
Vander is Silco’s hound, and I think, in Vander’s mind this absolves him of some of the consequences of his actions.
So when his friend dies on the Bridge, even if they haven’t been that close in a while, well, it’s easy to put the blame on Silco.
Since we’re following the new canon timeline… we’ll have to have him go back with the girls, ready to turn a new leaf.
I think the best way here is to have him either dropping them at an orphanage, or back at their home (trusting Vi to look after Powder for a while) or with friends.
That way, Vi and Powder aren’t immediately in Silco’s legs back at the drop.
Then Vander and Silco take part in the “clean up” at the bridge. They go get bodies, and since they have no real estate in the fissures, they commit them to the sea (we have canon monsters in there, so I’m sure it all gets gobbled up).
That way, we explain why Vander is weirdly shaved, and why Silco and him are at in the Pilt: they just commited the bodies of the fallen to the waters.
There may have been many others, but Silco and Vander stay there, in the shallows, as they talk.
Vander is done. He doesn’t want more of this. He thinks Silco went too far with pushing this one to the bridge. Piltover got defensive and they lost too many people.
Silco doesn’t get it. Where he goes, so does Vander, but Vander is his own man, he decided to come too, and he killed enforcers too. Felicia’s death is tragic, but as he later will tell Renni about the death of her son: at least she died fighting for the cause, and not some petty infighting, or worse, an accident at the shitty mines.
Vander, the Hound, is not only mad with grief, he refuses to carry the blame of his own actions. It’s a character flaw and that’s fine! The angry man channels that anger with violence, the only way he knows how.
Silco is probably shocked, and may not say the right things to calm Vander down.
Silco is under the assumption that Vander BELIEVES IN HIS DREAM. That he’s a true believer of the Nation of Zaun, like Sevika turns out to be. A true believer would understand sacrifice. A true believer would understand too, that stopping now, after Felicia’s death, would make THAT VERY DEATH POINTLESS.
So maybe he screams at Vander! What do you MEAN abandoning the fight? What do you mean, being content with the Lanes? How dare you? You’d make her sacrifice meaningless! You’d make Felicia die a pointless death!
And Vander would bellow that it’s over. No more death. No more bloodshed. He rescued her kids from that bridge, and they don’t deserve to die too, they don’t deserve to see more death.
And Silco screams back that it’s their job to create Zaun so these children won’t have to see more death. Vander is just delaying the struggle.
And then, perhaps, Silco may even mock him. Say that Vander can’t change like that. That he’s not that sort of person, to just hang up his gauntlets and go peaceful. That Felicia’s blood is on his hands too, and that the only way out is through more blood, more sacrifice.
It would be a horrible point to make, if then Vander truly loses it. Silco runs, and Vander’s hound comes out, just grabbing Silco and trying to drown him.
It would be poetic, because then Vander goes home in shame. Gets his arm patched up, hides the scar under a brace, collects the kids and tries to pretend like HE CAN BE THAT MAN. Even though he surrendered his gauntlets and metaphorical violence, and tries to lean into the bartender chill persona, there’s what he did to Silco.
And later he’ll tell Vander “I’ll show you what you really are”. Because Silco knows that Vander’s promises of being a peaceful good dad are flimsy at best.
Anyway, Vander goes home, and eventually the impact of what he’s done really hits him. He’s single now, and with kids, and the Lanes to run, and nobody knows where Silco is.
Vander slowly realises Silco was right about one thing. Just because Vander followed, doesn’t mean he wasn’t behind that event on the bridge. Becoming the solo leader of the Lanes has to have hammered that home for him. Suddenly so much responsibility thrust on him.
So Felicia’s death was on him too, and his actions against Silco are the proof that he is indeed the sort of man Silco said he was. At any rate, surrendering violence as his first reaction to any trigger will take a lot of work.
He goes to their old hideout and leaves a letter for Silco.
In the happy AU, Silco finds it, and returns to Vander BEFORE ever meeting Singed. There is no glowing eye, no shimmer, and no cannery.
In our AU, Silco never finds the letter. He finds Singed instead. Starts helping him develop shimmer.
I’ve been thinking that since the goal of shimmer is a form of “keeping alive” and also “bringing back to life”, then it’s possible that Silco’s glowing eye is a byproduct of shimmer experimentation.
And that the only way to keep it alive and function is more shimmer injections. It would otherwise be grey and dead like in the Nice AU.
So Singed is also a factor here. He gives our Silco a real way to deal scary violence to Piltover. And this changes our Silco. He’s more radicalised, and more opposed to Vander, having discovered that Vander works with Grayson to keep Zaun under Piltover’s boot (basically making sure the boot stays, but doesn’t press down too hard).
Vander is, as always, the enforcer of the status quo.
And though this works for them timeline wise, it sadly doesn’t change the fact that Silco should know who Vander’s kids are.
Vi and Jinx can be excused for not recognising him, what with him being one of their mom’s adult friends, and scarred. But Silco doesn’t have that luxury. His great friend Felicia had two very distinctive kids, ONE OF WHICH VANDER FUCKING NAMED! And her death triggered his husband so badly he tried to kill Silco over it. If anything, Silco would be hyper-aware of Felicia’s kids.
And no amount of alternate fix-its changes that. It’s permanent damage to season 1’s Silco.
I feel like we can fix Vander’s side of things by inventing an entire scene at the Pilt as I did above, but we can’t fix 10 years of knowing your friend’s kids and then a lifetime of acting like you don’t know them.
I think it also cheapens the found family aspect of both Vander and Silco’s adoption. You’re left to wonder if they took in the girls only because they were friends with the mom.
Silco’s adoption of Jinx and co-dependence with her was great because it spoke of the similar shape of their traumas, and how unexpected their bond seemed.
But now it’s redolent of friendly obligation. And lies.
How would I fix it by keeping Felicia in the picture?
I would fully remove Felicia’s one-on-one with the boys. That night at the bar? It’s a party. Young Sevika is here too!
Felicia and many others are there, all congratulating Vander and Silco over the creation of the Lanes. Eventually Silco tires of the social niceties and goes to write in his notebook at the bar. Or maybe there’s a montage of the night as the crowds thin.
In the end, Silco is writing, and Vander is still socialising. He talks to 3 people–Felicia, her husband, and a random person. They thank him for all his work. They’ve done it! And the conditions in the mines are so much better now thanks to XYZ!
Vander is beaming, he’s just so pleased. It’s clear for him this is the end goal. Felicia asks him, pointing to Silco, if he’s okay.
Vander laughs, says Silco is fine, but he’s already got his head back in the clouds. You see, Silco doesn’t just want the Lanes, he dreams of a free Nation of Zaun.
The other 2 laugh, but Felicia sobers up. She rubs her belly, thoughtful. Then she says “Sounds like a dream worth fighting for.”
I don’t think she even needs to say anything about being pregnant, but she could go on with something like “I’m expecting. A girl, I think. I know. And I would love if she could grow in a safe city. I’m so scared she’ll have to live the way I did, growing up.’
And Vander smiles sadly and tells her, ‘We’ve gotten this far, and we’re not going back. We’ll make Zaun safe for your kiddo, I promise you that.’
And that’s it.
Vander knows OF Felicia. She is a community member. He knows her enough, maybe from Lanes meetings, that eventually he can recognise her children. But they’re not friends, and SILCO definitely isn’t friends.
And the disagreement after the bridge is fully about where to go from then on, and Vander deciding he wants to run the Lanes and keep them safe, that what they have now is good enough, while Silco wants "more”.
That disagreement can turn nasty, and the fact Vander tried to drown Silco becomes a statement about how violent and temperamental he is as “The Hound of the Underground”. Something he’ll regret soon enough and spend the next few years working hard to try and change.
I’ve seen a few people on Reddit and Youtube talk about how Fowler was supposedly hyped up as a master swordsman and were thus either disappointed by Mizu and Fowler’s fight in episode 8 OR they felt it didn’t fit Fowler and that he was made OP. Starkly different assessments.
Personally, every scene of or discussing Fowler (namely how Madame Kaji speaks of him) points towards his main assets (combat wise) being strength and brutality.
I personally think Mizu’s assumption that only a Master could make that cut makes sense for how Mizu learnt swordplay - namely by practicing what she observed masters of various schools perform for Master Eiji as part of their sword being forged appropriately for how they’d use it. Taigen somewhat challenges Mizu’s idea that skill matters most in combat (since her skill and wit is proven effective more often than not) by overpowering Mizu despite using Shindo Ryu (trash technique). Showing that strength can be as important as skill in turning the tide.
The Giant reinforces the power of strength and Mizu’s difficulty outperforming it in combat. This is then reinforced by Taigen’s comment about The Giant not needing a weapon to kill her (which The Giant almost does in episode 6).
Plus, the Tea Party fight showcases ways Fowler can (and then does) overpower Mizu. Including a chokehold, and even breaking her bones in the same hold as Fowler.
Mizu is literally and figuratively bringing a knife to a gun fight. Fowler doesn’t need to have mastered the sword, as Mizu has, to beat Mizu.
Basically, I don’t think Mizu’s comment about the flower is enough to assume Fowler is a master swordsman. Given that we see him before Mizu does, we see what he is actually like and capable of. That cut was made cleanly because Fowler is both strong and precise. A practiced sadist with two decades of experimentation to hone any method of injury he pleases, not a swordsman.
Mizu dreaming of killing her white half through taking her revenge & Fowler shocking her by implying that the brutality and the consequences of her revenge remind him of the crimes white men committed will always be incredible to me.
“My country’s history is one of manufactured suffering. I was a boy when the Tudors burned any food the rebels under O'Neil might think to eat. We starved; everyone starved. Mouths on the dead stained green from chewing nettles. You get resourceful in a famine. My parents… died early, left me and my sister - catching rats. The rats ran out quick… fed my sister on my blood… kept her alive an extra, two weeks. I didn’t sleep for three days to protect her body from the starving til the ground thawed. I cut out her kidneys… and buried her. Fat cap on ‘em like a pea. I haven’t eaten a single meal, since, my mind didn’t go to that bite. Was the last thing I ever did because I had to. I control my life now.
Every bite.”
This quote from Fowler has been on my mind for a week or more and I only found time to research it now. I thought for sure, this was something I’d have learned about, being British and learning about the Royal family and the Tudors in particular being one of those things that British kids learn about.
I was in secondary school in the 2000s so it might’ve changed since, but we never learned about the Irish famines or the Nine Years War. Considering I’d already checked that guns existed in Japan in the stated time frame and that the borders were closed by the shogun, I figured this was based in reality, but maybe with an artistic exaggeration.
Turns out it’s not. Like, it’s not even close to exaggeration.
I love things that make me research things, but I didn’t think I was gonna read so much unbelievably awful information. Much, much more in the source:
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how good Blue Eye Samurai is at avoiding cliches? I 100% - no, 1000% expected Fowler to find out Mizu is a woman through the classic expedient of him ripping her clothes and exposing her breasts - especially since this show doesn’t shy away from nudity. Instead, he pointed out how “his” bones break like a woman’s, and that line was so unexpected and powerful because of course Fowler would know something about women’s bones and the way they break. He’s been doing that for the past 10 years
i found your jinxtor art and its made me really contemplate them as a ship bcs it never crossed my mind but thematically it really works?? both have a lot of paralels in s1 too (especially the part that they're suffering while their partner/sister is off romancing lmao). i also really like how one is physically impaired while the other is mentally impaired. they both experience severe limitations but could still achieve great feats in science. they both know what it feels like to be outcasts. they both know what it feels like to bear guilt over deaths of loved ones in their pursuit for their own goals. they'd definitely relate to each other in so many ways that they wouldnt be able to experience with others in the main cast.
You really got it OP! They have a lot in common, besides the science, and tragic arcs. They could really benefit from each other. And I feel like the best aspect of a Machine Herald / Jinx dynamic is :
“I can fix her” (mentally) “I can fix him” (physically)
And both being wrong… Well, they sure can try! And that’s how you develop a slightly uneasy relationship where your partner is also your “project”. Usually not a good thing, but rather fitting for two unhinged people.
They definitely have a lot in common. I think another benefit of their relationship would be the way Viktor is clearly leaning into touch-starved, attention deprived territory, while Jinx will obviously need to be “needed”. Silco is gone, her sister abandoned her in all the ways that matter and refuses to acknowledge her as “Jinx”.
So Jinx would be all over him, needing constant validation and attention, but she’d give him all the attention he needs and more. Meanwhile, he wouldn’t be nearly as lax or as easy going as Silco used to be, keeping her more in check and potentially shifting how she shows her love (not killing dozens of people in explosions, because Viktor doesn’t like that).
So there’s this unholy place for them to meet in the middle. She’ll give him skinship, pay attention and have his back no matter how crazy he goes, but he just can’t ever neglect her or abandon her. He probably has to micro manage her at times just so she’s too busy to go nuke something.
Lots of potential for push and pull.
Now imagine how yummy it’d be if Cait finally corners Jinx and wounds her down in Zaun, and while hesitating (because Cait suspects there’ll be no coming back from this with Vi if she kills her sister…) Machine Herald just crashes to the ground in full wrath mode. Not only someone hurt his Jinx, but it’s Jayce’s bestie.
Anyway, have the fully updated file! I have had NO time to paint or draw. Life has been insane. I’m way late on everything… So IDK when I’ll have time to paint this or finish the Silco&Evelynn. Urgh. Let alone writing. *Lies down face first*
So. Some of you may be wondering why we haven’t written a whole ton about the secondaries or what have you. Here’s the reason: we were waiting for them to end before we really dug into the problems we were noticing. We felt that it was only fair to wait for the routes to finish so that we had an understanding of the writers’ vision. Who knew, we thought, maybe they would see the problems themselves and course correct, maybe they are building to something we can’t quite see yet and these issues will have actual payoff, maybe-
In light of Muriel and Lucio’s endings, and the general mess that has dominated Portia’s route for a year plus now, we are breaking our silence. We are actually going to talk about this shit show.
The fandom at large has talked about a bunch of issues with the secondaries but for me, the cardinal sin, the thing that really all the issues lead back to, is this: the writers lost sight of the tarot themes which so strongly defined and held together the primary routes. Let me explain.
The primary routes each center around three thematic cores:
The Love Interest’s Major Arcana and its Reversed/Upright meanings
The MC’s Fool’s Journey, both how it can go right and how it can go wrong
A question about the MC’s identity and their relationship to said identity
Asra’s route asks: Who was the MC? How does the MC navigate a past they cannot and will not remember? What do they owe a past they cannot remember? How do they handle the revelations of what Asra, Nadia, Julian, etc did? How do you right the past? Can you?
Nadia’s route asks: Who is the MC? The MC has no past. Are they the Fool only? Are they actually the same person they were? How can they tell? Who are they, really? Are they an imposter? No one can answer these questions for them.
Julian’s route asks: Who will the MC become? How does the MC see their future? Is there anything worth fighting for for that future? What will become of them and their loved ones?
Now, if you notice, these themes are expertly woven throughout the primaries. Asra’s past dominates his route, Nadia is also missing memories and trying to construct her identity both with her family and with Vesuvia, and Julian’s fear of the future drives his flailing for control. Asra has to learn to take a broader view of his actions to get his Upright Ending, Nadia has to learn to trust herself and those around her for hers, and Julian has to learn how to let go for his. These lessons are the issues their cards stand for. The primaries are so dang elegant and delicate in their handlings of theme it is honestly awe-inspiring.
Thematically, the secondary routes have completely lost their hearts. First of all, the MC does not have strong, core questions which need to be answered. They just don’t. I suppose the writers did not want to retread old territory (which is weird considering how tightly bound the primaries are; it really tricks you into thinking you’re living the same events but from different angles depending on your route) but they did not replace the old with anything new. Muriel’s route is, on the surface, about discovering and owning his past, the good and the bad. Why not tie MC’s self-discovery to that story? Or they could have taken the angle that Muriel’s route is about convincing him to be present and active in the world while MC builds an identity for themself outside of Asra, the shop, and the memories they cannot retrieve. Why not tie the investigation themes running through Portia’s early route back to MC and their past? Portia has the unique angle of being as in the dark as MC about all of this, why not discover the past together? And for goodness’ sake, Lucio has no future when his route begins, why not tie that to his need for growth, responsibility, and MC’s own future between the Fool, the Devil, or something mortal and in between?
Secondly, the routes lost their tarot backbone. We have a primer on how to get specific endings for each LI and it still holds, but the writers did not follow through on the thematic coherence of each secondary. The Hermit is looking for something, be it perspective, insight, a solution to a problem, whatever. The key here is that the Hermit must find or learn what they are searching for, this thing must change their understanding of the world, and finally, they must bring this lesson back to the world from which they retreated. Can someone please enlighten me as what exactly Muriel learns then teaches the world around him? Nothing Muriel learns from Morga, MC, or even the Hermit ties back into anything. The Devil warns that you are out of control and exerting a lot of manipulative, destructive behavior on the world around you. It asks you to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. So can someone tell me why Lucio’s route actively avoids any interaction or reflection on two of Lucio’s biggest victims: Muriel and Julian? Why does the route only try to make amends with the “easier” of his victims in the cast? The Star is first and foremost the card of clarity, the light at the end of the tunnel. Perseverance, if you will. Yet Portia’s route has been the muddiest of the trio; the writers drop the investigation aspect of her route in favor just handing her and MC information they could have easily found and muddying the waters with Tasya (she blows up the palace but it’s all okay bc she has a secret daughter Julian never thought to bring up or mention) and the complete removal of the Devil as antagonist.
So that leaves just the Fool’s Journey trying to hold this stool up with only one leg. And well…it doesn’t go well. At best, the secondary route books pay the barest surface level homage to the themes of the individual cards. At worst, they ignore the cards completely. Muriel’s Moon book has nothing to do with illusions or delusions or lies or even an Alice in the Looking Glass upside down world. Portia’s back half is a complete and utter mess, starting with her Temperance book being so badly mangled that Muriel’s aftermath book does it better. Lucio’s route too bungles the Tower and the Star. There just isn’t enough here to carry the routes alone.
Add to the core loss the loss of intertextuality. The primary routes are very good, even great but they too do have their moments and mistakes. What helps strengthen them when the cores stumble is how the trio is woven together. Things you learn in Asra’s route can inform the way you play Nadia’s, for example. Julian’s route informs what is going on in Asra’s route and slots some missing puzzle pieces together. Nadia’s route tells you of the power struggles she is facing and informs the other two routes’ handling of Julian and his trial. On and on, the three routes support each other because they are built out of the same basic plot beats, just tackled in very different ways. Now, the writers are allowed to try and write whatever they want. They apparently wanted to be more experimental and less tied down to an overarching plot with the three secondaries. Okay, fine, they are allowed to do that. The problem is that they sacrificed one of the key strengths of the primary trio and didn’t replace said strength with anything else. They also, on some level, harmed the very premise of the game, which is that only the player’s choices and route selected change the overall plot. Instead of feeling like legitimate possibilities or offshoots of the same timeline/plot, the secondaries feel almost like Arcana AUs. The secondaries throw out all relations to the primaries and each other as quickly as possible and for what?
It is probably the height of arrogance to suggest fixes for works whose behind the scenes I do not know. At the same time, some small, obvious changes could have salvaged Muriel and maybe Lucio’s endings (rip Portia). Instead of having the Hermit appear as a disappointing cameo, why not have him say something cryptic to Muriel, then have MC start trying to seal the Devil. Then let Muriel use his forget me mark to cloak MC and hide them from the Devil’s attacks. Protecting MC by hiding them from Lucio, keeping him focused on Muriel, seems to me a simple third solution between Muriel’s desire to run and his desire to never fight again. It lets him stand up to Lucio and let him have it while holding onto who Muriel has become. The Reversed End would have MC try to draw Lucio’s attention at some point, disrupting the sealing, and eventually leading to Muriel killing the Devil. With Lucio’s Upright End, I just have to ask: why doesn’t MC fully claim the power of the Fool instead of the Devil? We don’t need the other Arcana involved in this fight; we have three routes that demonstrate that. Just have MC pull Scout into the conflict, then have Lucio tell MC he believes in them, then add his power to the mix. You got yourself a full Fool who leaves Scout guarding the realm until they and Lucio’s mortal bodies fail and they return to the realm to be together forever. Boom, you’re done, you can even add some ambiguous lines so that players can decide how happy their MC is with this arrangement, send me the check.
Here is the bottom line. Our group is full of aroace, and several combinations therein, individuals. We are the last group who should have gotten into a dating sim of all things. But the Arcana did something with the primaries that was special; they wrote a compelling plot with dazzling lore, complex characters, and strong themes wrapped up in a dating sim bow. The writers know better and we know they know better. I do not know what happened with the secondaries, especially around books 10-11, which is where minor issues slowly start spiraling into major ones, but it is clear that Nix Hydra needed some more planning before they released these routes. Hopefully they will learn.
TL;DR: Nix Hydra fired their tarot consultants about eighteen months ago and it has wrecked their secondary routes until they were just embarrassments. They never intended for the secondary routes to even exist and once they had to make them, they scrambled and threw out everything that made the primaries work. — Mod Telos
