The Shifting Mound - Tumblr Posts
“Come with me and be mine my love…
…stay and break my heart”
Context: I like listening to a song on loop while drawing, and I think it fit.
🧿a doodle dump of multiple interests I've had over the past few months. I want to draw more. I need to draw more.
I just wanted to draw Shifty, I DID NOT EXPECT IT TO TURN OUT LIKE THIS
Apotheosis, Stranger, and Wild are a trio to me, being the three who got closest to reaching Shifty’s true nature.
I also like to think of it as “Pothy and those fucking birds that she hates (while she achieved literal godhood and the others haven’t, they are technically more like Shifty than she is)
I'm so fucking abnormal about my eldritch hand wife
Something looks a lil backwards here
Textless version
One concept I thought would be fun is that the voices (+ narrator) could show up through the TLQ's shadow when they're talking.
So, imagine this...
I don't think we can heart lungs liver nerves our way out of this one boys
Some of the lore for the D&D Slay The Princess AU:
In the beginning, there were only two gods---The Long Quiet, the god of constants, emotion, stability, connections, and comfort, and The Shifting Mound, the goddess of change, transformation, beginnings, endings, and time. Together, they were able to spin stories into worlds, shaping entire universes to exist side by side in the Material Plane... but every one of these universes was eventually fated to end, for you cannot have a story that lasts forever.
A man, whose name has been lost to time, grew bitter at this cycle, believing death to be a curse. As his universe began to take its steps towards its ending, in his desperation, he managed to achieve godhood, becoming The Narrator---the crow god of knowledge, fate, and tricksters. He tore The Long Quiet and The Shifting Mound apart, banishing The Shifting Mound to languish underground while The Long Quiet was left to mourn in the stars. Legends say that The Narrator intended to trick The Long Quiet into killing his love, but he failed in the end. Death still exists---you can never fully rid the world of death---but as long as change and constants are separated, no other worlds can be made, meaning that the world we find ourselves in now is entirely alone, and bound to the cruel laws of fate.
In the wake of this, new gods emerged to help guide the mortals through their confusion. The first was The Apotheosis, the goddess of justice, retribution, power, and light, who watched over the afterlife of those who were good in life. The second was The Fury, the goddess of anger, war, slaughter, and destruction, who watched over the afterlife of those who were wicked in life. The third was The Wild, the goddess of shadows, secrets, mystery, and sorrow, who dwelled deep in the tangled woods of the Feywild. The fourth was The Thorn, the goddess of love, redemption, discovery, nature, and growth, who lived in the Feywild alongside her counterpart. And the fifth was The Grey, the dual-natured goddess who guided souls to the afterlife---wearing white and burning with hope if you were good in the end, and wearing black and drowning in despair if you were wicked.
There are four other beings who some consider gods and some consider monsters, depending on who you are and how much terror you possess in your heart. The Eye of the Needle is the queen of the dragons, and while she has no use for mortals and only cares for gold, you will earn her respect and undying aid if you can defeat her in a fight. The Wraith was once human, but has long since left that behind in favor of being a lich, and she will rob you of your will and turn you into her puppet if you dare cross her or get in her way. The Mother of Clarity is the queen of the vampires, and though she and her children are feared and hunted everywhere you go, she will listen to you if you are willing to plead. And The Den is the mother of all fearsome beasts that stalk in the shadows, and she obeys no order other than the one of the hunt.
That's all I got for now, but I do have some ideas for the Voices, so... :)
need people to stop calling long quiet/shifting mound toxic. guys you are missing the point. this is not a toxic relationship. the only reason the horrible things happened was because the narrator took something that was never supposed to be separated and ripped it apart and the two halves clawed their way back to each other. its not toxic murder partners its not theyre obsessed with the cycle of violence. the point is BREAKING the cycle of violence. the point is that the love is there, its not always strong enough to stop the hurting but its always there. its about loving people even when theyre messy. its about conflict making people stronger and helping them understand every piece of each other. its about inextricable connections between people, souls, concepts. the relationship between them alone goes so far beyond "toxic cycle of violence lovers" and it drives me CRAZY to see people saying thats what the game is about because even JUST the relationship is not about that and the game in its entirety is about so much more. stop calling it toxic love. thats not what it is. you are missing the point.
- tlq
Do you have any thoughts on what a mortal life for LQ/SM might look like after the ending where they choose to leave their lives as gods behind? Or is that entirely up to player interpretation? Is there anything you could see either of them finding comfort or joy in in a mortal lifetime?
is that what happens in that ending?
MAJOR slay the princess spoilers below cut
the way the shifting mound is described in the leaving ending really reminded me of this tumblr post. how she lost herself in becoming a god. how she was no longer the 'true' princess. the way the princess describes being a god like it's a prison, like it's too much at once to bear. she's happier being understandable. definable. she's happy just being the princess.... idk this game fucks me up man
like!!!!!!
Wait... That's not how the plot goes--
“…You’re here to slay her.”
We love eldritch horror romance
Couple goals: Horrid beast tormented by voices, whose only choices are to witness/cause the death of their soulmate and a princess who’s doomed by the narrative to repeat the cycle upon their death.
The new Pristine Cut announcement trailer is so cool... I've watched it at least a dozen times at this point. But there's this one part I can't get out of my head: that final line from the Narrator.
"I—I refuse to let her get the last word in."
Banger voice acting and accompanying music aside, it's also an interesting character beat for the Narrator imo. He's framing the situation like a debate that the Princess is getting the last word in, and not as a situation with a single correct answer (Slay the Princess) the way He usually does.
I think it shows a little more self-awareness from Him than usual: a moment of hesitation and a quiet admission of His lack of control over your opinions and actions. If He really was able to convince you, it wouldn't matter if she got the final words, because you'd choose to slay her regardless.
It's also such an specific thing for him to focus on... He's not just stopping you from freeing her or stopping her from ending the world, He's stopping her from getting the last word in. Because that's usually what happens, right?
The game starts with His narration, His perspective. You need to slay her, or it will be the end of the world. But then you get her perspective, and as the game progresses, inevitably the Narrator falls behind as you and the Princess go through more and more loops that He can't remember and can't meaningfully respond to. You and She build a vastly sprawling dialogue across a network of lives, and meanwhile He's struggling to get his first words in.
And even when you discover your true identity and talk with him openly through the mirror, He inevitably shatters, and moments after that you talk to Shifty, who has much more space to argue her position. The Princess always gets the last word in.
...except for in this trailer. The sentimental moment with the base princess cuts abruptly to the Narrator. Usually when He talks about stopping you in-game, you have the power to resist or outright ignore Him, but here? The video just ends. He gets the last word in.
I just wonder, what does this mean for the Pristine Cut? Will there be a point where the Narrator really does get the last word?