End of the Year Tag: Story Edition // Age of ArcanaiSince I don’t really regularly post legacy/famil

End of the Year Tag: Story Edition // Age of ArcanaiSince I don’t really regularly post legacy/family content anymore, I decided to change this edition to “story”. Though the finale of On Sunlit Tides spread into January, I’m just going to do this about Age of Arcanai to keep it consistent. I wanted to pick my favorite story screenshots, as well as my favorite moments, but they don’t always line up and I don’t have enough picture slots, so I’ll write my favorite moments down below. 1.1 - The First EpisodeThe opening scene is still probably one of my favorite moments, with some of my most loved screenshots of the entire story. I adore opening a story with wildness and it was absolutely the most overt way of introducing Yehl’s character. It showed exactly the kind of person he was at that point in his life; the worst of the worst. Arrogant and snobby, materialistic and cruel. I’d never written a character with so many blatantly awful traits, and even though it was difficult to attach myself to him at first, and hard to deal with a lot of times, in retrospect I appreciate that part of him a lot more, now. Ideally, when I first imagined him, I specifically intended him to have a Zuko-style redemption arc, and I think it’s really this scene that shows just how far he developed and grew by the end of his story.2.1 - “They were beautiful.”The scenes following the destruction of Taryn’s wings have some of my favorite dialogue. The moment Yehl admits that there was anything at all he liked about Taryn was an important one, and maybe the first time he ever showed an emotion that wasn’t pure resentment towards him. I also like it because having finished the prose, this scene is the precursor to the very last scene of the novel.2.7 - The Bridge SceneThe entire sequence on the bridge was so much fun to write and to shoot. I really loved how the pictures turned out; it gave me that high fantasy feeling I really wanted to hit with the story. But the conversation they have was the most revealing at that point in time, as it began to showcase how lonely Yehl really was, and how much Taryn knew it. 3.10 - FableLinaea and Taryn’s short friendship was actually one of my favorite ships of the series. She was the first elf Taryn actually truly respected and he was forever grateful for her, long after she’d died. It isn’t really shown because I wasn’t doing prose for the first act, but he took her death very hard. For his entire life he sees her as one the few purely good creatures he’d ever encountered.4.6 - The WaterwaysI like the entire waterway sequence, but this post in particular was my favorite purely because of what it showed in that Yehl trusted Taryn already and was willing to help him.5.4 - The Council The moment when Taryn heard Yehl stand up in defense of his clan was a pretty big thing to him. It didn’t seem like much at the time, since no one knew who or what Taryn was, or the way he viewed himself. That moment of strength in Yehl reminded him of all the things he hadn’t had the will to do personally. It was the first moment Taryn ever truly respected Yehl and the final exchange where Yehl orders him to defend him is the culmination of that respect, and the power Yehl had over him. 5.6 - The First VowThough I still firmly believe Taryn couldn’t have loved Yehl fully as he was, this scene shows the extent of what he did feel for him, which was a budding loyalty and respect for his strength to do what he could not. His promise to help Yehl achieve his goal and his demonstrable admiration for him was an incredibly personal moment for Taryn, and probably one of his biggest showings of emotion throughout the course of the story. It also foreshadows their eventual future, as Taryn expresses a lot of his love through loyalty and servitude. He later swears himself fully to Yehl when he becomes the Celaedian, and he spends the rest of his life upholding that vow <35.19 - “I want to be horrible with you.”There’s so much dialogue I loved in this whole sequence, the scenes directly before this post and the ones after are probably my number one highlight from the entire story. The “I want to be horrible with you” line is single-handedly my favorite in the story, because of how accurate it is to Yehl and Taryn as individuals. Of all their differences, the thing they shared most was a deep-seeded self-loathing, and it was through their relationship that they were able to learn to accept their flaws and grow passed them. Even though, for the most part, the early romantic scenes were largely meaningless, they were important for pushing Yehl into that emotional hole that fuels his decisions at the end of his life.6.16 - The Rescue Scene The revelation of who Elsera was to Taryn was important, but honestly this scene is my favorite because I got to have that good kush anime rescue.7.6 - Vaia’s Funeral FlashbackThe exchange young Yehl has with Judine is so emotional for me. It shows exactly the sort of person and brother Judine was and why Yehl had so much respect and admiration for him. It’s also a huge precursor to their future relationship. 7.9 - Taryn’s AdmissionThis scene was the one small insight we got into how Taryn honestly felt about Yehl. It shows him slowly coming to understand that there was “something” about Yehl, and him admitting that he’d had any impact on him was a big moment for him. I also just love that it’s a quiet conversation between Taryn and Joen. They’re very different people, but they actually work well together and I enjoyed their dynamic. 8.15 - Taryn’s ReleaseWhen I outlined the story, there were a lot of unknowns, but this scene I’d had since the beginning. It was always planned that Yehl would release Taryn’s collar willingly, and that Taryn would choose to remain his faithful servant regardless. They both wanted the same things, and beyond that, they were both fairly loyal to each other. It was also the last time Taryn ever sees Yehl alive in that form.8.24 - Yehl’s DeathThe penultimate moment of Yehl’s character arc and the truest statement of  growth he’d had over the course of the story. It seems like a lot of people forget the way Yehl was at the end of his life, which is strange and saddening to me because of how much the story revolved around that development, and how many good strides he’d made to becoming a more mature, more balanced person, even before his rebirth. In my eyes, the “original Yehl” as people keep saying, was already a thing of his past and that was the point. We don’t stay the same throughout our lives, and I’m sure we won’t recognize ourselves in another five or ten years. Yehl had a lot of growing to do. Sacrificing himself to free Celesta was that moment where he finally put others in front of himself. He was an incredibly broken person from years of emotional abuse, and that had manifested in so many negative qualities. But at the very end, he was much more capable of love and forgiveness, and all he really wanted was to see things go back to the way they were. To see his family and friends safe and he paid the ultimate price to bring about that peace. That is who Yehl was. And that is who he stays as Celaedian, because despite the fact that they have differences, they are still very much the same character. Which is why I honestly do get very tired and bitter to hear this whole “miss the old Yehl/it’s not the same” sentiment get played out as if he was only ever his snobby/arrogant qualities, or as if he’s so much different as Celaedian (plot twist: he’s not)(double plot twist: I can promise you Yehl still shops at Gucci even as the Celaedian). And I know I had a hand in this in the way I stated certain things I’ve since recanted or learned better of having spent more time with the story in prose format. But the bottom line is: Yehl grew as much as we all do in our own personal lives, that is the person he is as Celaedian. 8.31 - Taryn’s Plea The scene where Taryn begs his mother to give Yehl back to him is the moment that changes the course of their world forever. This single moment has incredible and, sometimes, catastrophic consequences for the rest of the story. Of course, I also love it because it shows just how far Taryn was willing to go (or fall, I guess) to get what he really wanted, which in this case was (very selfishly) Yehl’s love. The juxtaposition of Yehl’s best moment against Taryn’s worst is just poetic to me. 8.32 - The Birth of the CelaedianProbably is, and probably will always be, the most controversial moment for me as a sim story writer, and as much stress, annoyance, and hurt it caused me, I still don’t regret it and stand by everything I felt towards it initially, if not more so. Especially now that I’ve finished the prose version of AoA and am in the process of writing out the sequel. I honestly still feel like there is a lot of wrong thinking surrounding it, and it makes me sad, but also whatever. Regardless, it was still the scene I most looked forward to in all of AoA (except maybe Yeryn’s first kiss lmao). Looking back on it, I can see just how many threads started in this one instant. The creation of the Celaedian contributes so much to Taryn’s eventual character arc, and opens up themes I’d only dipped my toes into at the start. Yehl as the Celaedian experiences emotions on such an incredible level, and it really tested me as a writer and made me love the craft again. I love the person Yehl becomes, and the place Yehl and Taryn finally get to is probably one of the more pure and powerful romances I’ve written, and it all began in that instant, even if, in the context of the story, it is probably their darkest hour. But ya know, like Celine says, BEAUTY COMES OUT OF ASHES. Anyways, thanks for reading if you did, I always appreciate it. Sorry that this is so damn long again lol, take it as my new AoA: Story Reflections. I deleted the first one because I hated everything about it and so much shit in it was just flat wrong lmao. I really hope in 2021 I can do something in sims storytelling that makes me feel as happy and as accomplished as I did with this story. But certainly if there was any damn thing in this year that wasn’t completely awful for me, it was this ♥ -- source link

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