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New Island: Maati
NEW ISLAND: MAATI

The votes are in! And despite the abstracted nature of this round of voting, most characters elected to vote for the fourth option presented: the one represented by golden flames, a set of scales, and a number of shapes that resemble birds.
The newest addition to LifeAftr can be found on our Locations page. The Storyteller alert explorers on the night prior that the new island will be ready for exploration via the mana pools on November 10th.
Transportation
The Storyteller will manage to link Maati's mana pool with Ensō's. As they are still in a state of recovering from the havoc the fabric of Mu has played on your psyches, as well as the multiple resurrections they had to enact all at once, they do not - or rather, cannot - inform you of any specific dangers or things to watch out for on the island of Maati.
The mana pool is present on the E5 square, should the characters choose to arrive via that method. In addition, characters are free to sail there on their own, if they so choose.
The Storyteller does mention the name of the island, at least, in the initial dream.
Be the Power to Compel Me
The island itself is relatively bare, surrounded on all sides by cliffs. The cliffs are sheer, so much so that attempts to climb them will come with a high chance of failure unless characters invest a few stories into proper climbing gear. Those with powers of flight and teleportation will also be incapable of reaching the top until these areas have been explored...or otherwise made available to them.
This land lacks very many natural resources due to how rocky and desolate it appears to be. However, that does not mean that nothing can be uncovered in this area at all - old tools and equipment can be uncovered with enough searching, as though a great many struggles or battles were fought here, a long time ago.
However, from a distance, it can be discerned that Maati is a peculiarly shaped island: a seven-pointed star. While the center remains the only part of that land that can be initially charted, the different prongs of the star are each walled off with a large door, each bearing a different, glowing sigil. Those who remember the caves underneath Ensō might recall this occurrence as worryingly similar.

Won't You Liberate Me?
The avatar of Maati, similar to Harv, will make their presence known rather quickly. Their temple can be found at the island's center, and it will be fairly obvious when one draws close: some of the only green on Maati can be found there! Their temple is a fairly simple thing, built of iron and copper. Yet more copies of the same seven sigils that can be found on the doors are inlaid periodically across the exterior, carved from differently-colored variants of jasper. Twined about the metallic construct, woven neatly throughout the composition of the building, several chestnut trees rear out into the sky. And everywhere you look, the symbol of the eagle can be found - fanning wings, hooked beak, outspread talons - carved into the walls, in the form of simple ornaments mounted on ledges and peaks.

Surprisingly gentle, we say, because Anbaki is the avatar of justice. And they might be able to explain those symbols mounted on all those doors, too...
As always, we'll have a thread for questions and comments, and we encourage you to make use of our Mod Contact page for private correspondence!
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
cw: suicidal ideation [slight episode ardyn trailer spoilers]
Character/Username: Ardyn Izunia |
Prior to coming to LifeAftr, what is an aspect of your character that they struggled with - be it a shortcoming, a fear, a bad habit, or eccentricity?:
One of the roots of Ardyn's problems is stagnation, in a sense. He refuses to let go of his past, often acting out his own past traumas on everyone and everything around him (notably in chaining up the Crystal, but primarily in a long list of things he says and does to Ravus, Prompto, and Noctis in particular).
Heavily implied to have been imprisoned for a full two thousand years, it's likely he's both unwilling and unable to move forward, seeing time and change as something which no longer applies to him. He barely remembers his past life as a human
dear god square don't make a fool out of me on that oneand can hardly remember his own brother as anyone but a 'jealous king' (which seems to be a twisted perspective) and the source of all Ardyn's misery. Neither able to recall the past nor truly let go of it, he exists in a constant state of murderous fury at the present with no regard for a future he sees no place in.Ardyn revels in his cruelty because it's what he feels all of existence deserves--that his own insanity is a result of his past treatment, and essentially the world created their very own monster. So he's more than willing to play the part and make them regret the mistake. The desire for vengeance is his most defining trait--gods, humans, and all the planet are seen as equally complacent in his suffering, and given the malice and negativity incarnate contributing to his own anger, destroying it all in revenge may well be the only coping mechanism he knows.
What do they struggle with now? Is it the same as the above?
Even if his general cruelty and sadistic tendencies have been lessened with his time ingame, he doesn't see it that way. So far as Ardyn's concerned, the only reason he doesn't just murder everyone that annoys him is because it earns him nothing and is a waste of energy--he refuses to contemplate the idea that it's simply because he doesn't want to.
After spending eternity in darkness unchanging as well as being literally made of curses, Ardyn can't fully recognize change in himself, and if he does he's unsettled enough by unknown territory that he immediately tries to backtrack into spite and bitterness. Positive emotions are dampened at best and negative fueled like a wildfire due to the Starscourge he contains within himself, providing a literal darkness Ardyn's not always willing to fight against simply because he knows no other way to live. Easier to remain suffering as 'Ardyn Izunia' than risk leaving 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum' open to trusting others, where he's certain trust will unequivocally lead to betrayal and further anguish. Once bitten, twice the emotionally deadened Lucifer figure.
Even so, over time he's started to recognize that he isn't sure he wants to harbor the daemonic hellplague anymore--but he doesn't understand what purpose removing it would serve. It wouldn't change that he desperately doesn't want to exist in this or any world, and he also secretly fears the vulnerability of the human he might be without it.
What personal demons, specifically, haunt your character from canon or from past game experiences?
well i mean there's the literal daemons he's made of, but apart from that...
Ardyn detests trust or attachments; platonic, romantic, and especially familial. He is almost fully convinced that the mere concept is one that ends poorly one hundred percent of the time, and that people only get close to others to use them and discard them once they've fulfilled whatever purpose. He regards his own connection to Ignis as a peculiar addiction on Ardyn's side at worst and reckless stupidity on both sides at best. Even if Ardyn expresses wanting to trust him, he inevitably regrets it to himself later on. He's become a walking contradiction: certain of the futility in trusting others while also beginning to question if there could be exceptions. Wanting to be saved from himself, while also perfectly willing to stay exactly the same until he can eventually die.
Following that is a crippling fear of betrayal, replacement, and abandonment. While he sees such things as eventually inevitable, perhaps his single greatest trauma is being cast out by his brother and subjects. His refusal to willingly form any significant relationships is closely tied to that--and for example, it's the prime reason he despises everything about Gladio. From Ardyn's twisted and corrupted perspective, whatever part of him actually valued a connection with Ignis is equal parts enraged and terrified at someone else seeming to take his place. Having been replaced by his brother, it's well beyond 'sensitive subject' into the realm of 'legitimately distressing'. It also ties to his distaste of being forgotten. After being erased from most historical record, most of the theatrics and drama he acts out even while committing murder and ending the world seem to be a desperate attempt to be sure no one forgets exactly who it was that ruined their lives and the very planet.
As a perhaps obvious afterthought: he isn't fully aware of and refuses to even think of acknowledging the fact that he is terrified of confinement.
What is the type of person your character hopes to become?
Ardyn's greatest flaw as it stands now is that he's beginning to lose all understanding of who or what he is, as well as who he should be. For him, it comes down to 'the Accursed' (a mindless creature that only knows how to corrupt and destroy), 'Ardyn Lucis Caelum' (who he regards as a foolishly compassionate and careless idiot) or 'Ardyn Izunia', the middle ground trapped between daemon and human. The extreme end of corruption isn't an option he wants, the human self is terrifying to him, and the middle ground is rapidly seeming like an unsustainable thing. He doesn't hope for anything so much as he wants some kind of understanding as to what to do about it, if anything at all.
What is the type of person you hope your character will become?:
i'm down for anything, god knows i'll just have to take a pickaxe to whatever happens once actual canon finally comes out
Do any of the Seven Deadly Sins or Virtues stand out as applicable to your character? Why?
Wrath- He's literally made of hatred and copes with his own misery by causing untold suffering and committing a fair bit of murder. Moving on.
Envy- He is incredibly envious, primarily of Noctis--who he sees as having everything Ardyn should have. Loyal friends, a kingdom, subjects who regarded him as a beloved savior. Ardyn knows damn well that none of Noctis' own companions would have gone along with tormenting and imprisoning him if the gods said so, and it drives Ardyn mad with jealousy that he can't say the same of his own brother. Ardyn envies what he doesn't think he can have (and can't recognize even if he did): people who care about him.
Pride- Despite hating the human he was and caring very little for whoever he is now, Ardyn still carries himself with an infuriating amount of arrogance and pride. Everything about him screams to be noticed and recognized, from his exaggerated demeanor to his outdated clothes. Whether he gives a damn about himself or not, he exists and by the gods everyone is going to know it.
Justice- Warped as the definition is, Ardyn is justice-oriented to a point. Th problem is that what he thinks is just and fair is 'the eradication of human life and the end of the Lucian line'. But that's obviously right to him: he took on all the curses of the world, so it's only 'right' that he should unleash exactly that back on humankind for what was done to him. Justice to him is interchangeable with 'revenge', and Ardyn thinks revenge entirely the correct response if one should be wronged so severely.
no subject
Its true meaning, whatever that might be, will only come to be clear in time.