The Adventures of Peaches, Part Sixteen

[rynling]

So there are these people(?) or creatures(?) in Elden Ring called Godskin Apostles. Their deal is that they wear robes made out of human(?) skin. I’m not sure what this is about, but both the Apostles and their clothing are creepy as fuck. If you can manage to defeat one of the Apostles at the bottom of a secret dungeon in the Caelid region, you can wear their human skin robes as well.

What the shit Elden Ring! But I guess that’s on brand. This game is constantly finding new ways to surprise me. At this point cannibalism doesn’t phase me at all. If I see some random person enjoying a tasty snack by the side of the road, I wish them a good day and ride on by. There are worse things.

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I think the secret of Windmill Village (where I wanted to go early in the game but couldn’t get to for a good long while) is that its inhabitants are contracted to perform the people-skinning for the Godskin Apostles. These ladies skin their victims and then burn the flayed bodies at stake while laughing and dancing around them with flower crowns. It’s very creepy! If you kill enough Windmill Villagers, there’s a chance that one of them will drop a flower crown. This flower crown is actually a decent helmet, and it happens to be what Peaches is wearing right now. Based on the specificity of its stats, I’m fairly certain there’s human skin in that flower crown somewhere, but I try not to think about it.

I wish Elden Ring weren’t so punishing, but I think its difficulty is a blessing in a way. If nothing else, it seems to repel the sort of extremely online children who create asinine discourse about Steven Universe and Owl House. Can you even imagine that sort of discourse being applied to Elden Ring. Like: It is extremely problematic for the Godskin Apostles to bleach the flayed skin they use to make their robes! They are literally whitewashing diversity! DNI if you value defense stats over unbleached skin!

Comments

[lassarina]

....thanks, I had to peel myself off the ceiling after that imagined bit of discourse. You're alarmingly correct about it.

It's fascinating to me the specific ways in which Elden Ring chooses to be dark, and the things it avoids (based on what you've said before.) It's a fascinating sort of indictment about how many things choose to launch their horror. (I think here of Bioware, and specifically the Deep Roads section in Origins - it's so absolutely terrifying and repellent in ways that I really don't think the writers understood.)

[rynling]

I think here of Bioware, and specifically the Deep Roads section in Origins - it's so absolutely terrifying and repellent in ways that I really don't think the writers understood.

I don't know anything about Dragon Age, but I'm super curious! Please don't feel as though you need to explain this to me, but if you happen to have a link to anything to read (or watch) - or even just a suggestion for search terms that would point me in a good direction - I would love to learn more about what's going on here.

[lassarina]

The quest is "A Paragon of her Kind," and the specific characters you want information on are Branka, Laryn, and Hespith. Content warnings: cannibalism, forced pregnancy/birth, etc. A lot of the information is on the Dragon Age wiki, but that's....less impactful than actually playing through it (which may or may not be a benefit to you.)