a fanlisting

A fanlisting is a group of people who like something: i.e. a group of people who like wolves. All a fanlisting is is a list of fans to do with that particular person, item, or object; it joins together people with similar interests.

fire emblem: awakening

Awakening (or Kakusei) is the thirteenth installment of the Fire Emblem franchise and its saving grace. Whilst Fire Emblem always had a niche, it was Awakening and its roaring success that propelled the long going series into the spotlight.

Awakening takes a lot of what made previous Fire Emblem titles great and revamps these concepts for a new generation and audience - there's a second generation, plenty of supports, advanced reclassing, and the return of the map. With the addition of Robin, Awakening was an excellent starting point - whilst insert tacticians are not new, this was the first time they were truly involved in the plot and part of the action.

The game is set in Ylisse, which is the Akanea continent from Shadow Dragon but several thousand years in the future. Chrom, the prince of Ylisse, literally stumbles upon Robin in a field - suffering from amnesia and without a clue to their origins, the only thing Robin does recollect is tactics. Proving themselves, Chrom takes them under their wing and slowly becomes part of his counsel. Together, they set out to quell the threat of war from the neighbouring kingdom of Plegia, or so they think - there's a darker figure behind the metaphorical curtain.

One night, the Risen appear, along with the mysterious masked figure known only as 'Marth', with a warning in regard to the fell dragon, Grima...

fire emblem fates

Fates, known in Japan simply as if, is the fourteenth installment of the Fire Emblem franchise. It was first released in Japan in 2015, and later internationally in 2016. Fates builds upon the surprise success of Awakening; the art style remains the same, and several popular characters return, having crossed worlds to Fates' continent. (These disguises are not good, but amusing.) The game plays similarly in which you control an avatar, designed by you, through a journey to save the world.

That's where the fates angle comes in. There are actually three routes, in which the protagonist, Corrin, sides with different entities; it's possible to end up fighting against units you really care about, for instance, and though I found the path choice set-up a little lackluster, I certainly felt it when it came time to watching characters I loved perish. In Revelation we're all going to be a happy family and nothing bad will ever, ever happen. Still, some units join you regardless of your decision, and some again will only side with you on a specific route.

The plot of Fates, on the surface, is two countries at war, but it's more than that. The 'more' part is something that is only touched upon, briefly, in Conquest, and only delved into in Revelation. You'll likely end up playing at least two of the three routes before you have your questions to what's really going on answered.

severa / selena

Severa is the daughter of Cordelia, and part of the second generation of Awakening's characters - she follows Lucina and the rest back in time to fix the past to make way for a brighter future. Like the rest of the child characters, Severa's hair colour is inherited from her father - for me she was a ginger brat, thanks to Gaius. Severa will only join the army after her respective Paralogue, Ambivalence, is completed. Even talking to her on the field doesn't work; she and Holland must survive before she concedes and reveals her identity to her mother.

In light of Cordelia's legacy and the shadow it cast, Severa has an inferiority complex a mile wide, which resulted in her brattish and harsh personality. Everything came easy for Cordelia - indeed, she has natural skill in whatever she turns to - and Severa feels she is not fit to be her daughter because she could not live up to her expectations, self imposed or not. She needs a lot of assurance when it comes to her self worth, with almost a desperation to be wanted and loved. Secretly, Severa wanted, and still wants, to be just like her.

Severa's approach to her parents is to keep them at a distance whilst she finishes her task, with an adamant refusal to get to know them - at least at first. She is terrified of getting to know them and of getting too attached and ultimately losing them, be it to war or by the completion of her mission, and she chooses to protect her heart by not letting them in whatsoever... which is what she does with everything, truthfully. Severa is a great actor at insistently pretending she is above everything, even her own feelings.

In order to distance herself from her own imperfections, Severa chose to become a mercenary instead of a pegasus knight, which is her starting class in both of her appearences (in Fates, she can use a heart seal to reclass to sky knight). Amusingly she gets her chance to stand out by being the the first default female merc in the series, and can promote to hero or bow knight - she gets a unique palette in both. In Awakening, I kept reclassing her to Hero as Galeforce made her an actual beast, but in Fates, I found dipping briefly into Hero for Sol and then reclassing to Bow Knight works better with her strengths - Laslow better fits the mercenary role.

Severa returns in Fates, going by the alias of Selena. Alongside Inigo (Laslow) and Owain (Odin), and following the defeat of Grima, the trio crossed over to this new continent and were eventually drafted into the employ of Nohrian royalty as one of their retainers. Selena serves Camilla alongside Beruka, whom she exhibits a much softer personality towards - she drills herself with a strong work-ethic and falls into her role with ease. Which is unsurprising, given that Camilla is not the first liege Severa has served (and not the first she would lay down her life for. Looking at Future Past and Lucina here). Though her personality has softened somewhat, she is still as cocky and competetive as ever. Cordelia, of course, remains her greatest rival in her quest for being the best.

She is the person most likely to squander the most amount of money in the Shepherds or the Nohrian army, and her birthday is 21st January.

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