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The Potionomics Blind Art/Fic Trade starts posting July 27th! A whole slew of art and fic—made by fans, for fans—will be landing in #potiontrade2026 all next week.

Whether you signed up or not, come watch the tag and shower our creators with love! A little fandom like ours runs on people showing up to reblog and cheer each other on.

Not just for the festivities and little gifts (but those sure don't hurt).

For the leverage.

He spends the whole week inventing traditions. Very official, very ancient, totally real shark customs that happen to require Sylvia to stay close and say nice things and not leave without giving him a kiss on the forehead first. He presents them with complete confidence and increasingly flimsy supporting shark-facts. She clocks every single one and plays along anyway because she loves him and she thinks it's funny and also because she knows what's actually happening underneath all the bits.

What's actually happening is: Finn's whole arc is a guy who keeps moving because slowing down and stopping feel dangerous. Mr. "it's not a feeling I'm used to, but it's growing on me." Of course he'll take an excuse to be mushy without looking like it:

No Turnin' Down the Shark — "Real bad juju to argue with a shark durin' Shark Palooza. Everybody knows that one." (This is a crucial one, as it prevents disagreement about the other totally made-up rules, lol.)

The Stillness Clause — "Sharks gotta keep swimmin' or we sink, everybody knows that. But the shark's allowed to get real cozy during Palooza. Long as you stay put with him."

Five More Minutes — "This time of year, shark can't start his laps till the sun's good and high. It's practically scripture, minnow. C'mere."

Dawn Aura Reading — "Gotta scan you first thing or my whole day's off. Electroreception, don'tcha know. Real serious." (He nuzzles up to her sleepy face for a while. That's the whole ritual.)

Sunset's Non-Negotiable — "Palooza tradition insists we gotta watch the sun go down together. No shop talk. Doctor's orders, and by doctor I mean the ocean."

The Smile Tithe — "A shark's grin only shines when his sweetheart says it does. Tide's honest truth. So... y'know. Say it."

Goodbye Kiss or Bust — "Bad luck to leave without kissin' the shark. Forehead's fine. I don't make the rules."

A New Anklet Every Year — "Gotta do somethin' with my discards, right? Endless supply and all." (A transparent excuse to sit close with her hands in his while he strings sharp jewelry.)

And at the end of the week Sylvia stretches like, "Whew, lot of traditions in the Palooza. Really put us through our paces, huh?" completely straight-faced.

Finn chuckles all, "Yeah. Real grueling stuff." But it's a little bit wistful, and Sylvia's already reaching for him.

The case that they'd likely be child-free (at least for a long while):

Sylvia's entire character arc is defined by career ambition and self-reliance. She moved to Rafta alone, inherited a failing shop, dug herself out of debt, and beat multiple competitors in high-stakes potion competitions. Her identity is deeply tied to her business; she tells Baptiste she's a "self-made woman" focused on "blazing a trail forward," and she repeatedly says the shop's needs take priority over personal luxuries. When Finn asks if she's spent her winnings on anything fun, she says every coin goes back into the business because she's "in a building phase." She's clearly not a witch planning to slow down anytime soon.

Finn, meanwhile, is coded as a restless, ego-driven hustler still figuring out what he even wants to do with his life. His entire relationship arc with Sylvia is about recovering from a devastating loss and searching for a new identity, and the resolution is finding a calling as a vendor advocate—essentially launching a brand-new career. He also describes himself as someone who is "always moving forward." His romantic confession is framed around the novelty of wanting to slow down for someone, which reads as a guy who's probably never seriously thought about the ultimate settling-down that is "kids."

Together, they frame their bond in terms of power and ambition. They're "apex predators," "unstoppable together," "better together." Their romance is built on mutual respect as scrappers, helping each other address their blind spots (purpose and deserving, respectively), and spurring each other on, not on any nesting instinct.

The case that children aren't off the table:

There's an undeniable tidbit that cuts against the child-free reading. During the TCG collecting hangout (romance variant, repeat visit), Finn jokes about keeping their collectible cards in mint condition and asks: "How else we gonna put our little guppies through college?" That's a casual but telling quip: he's projecting a future with Sylvia that includes kids, even if playfully framed through his usual fish metaphor. It's the only direct reference to the idea of them having children together in the game, and it's delivered as a joke (because sir you just met this woman, simmer down), but it's notable that the devs put it there at all. It suggests Finn at least entertains the idea.

It's also worth noting that in the Muktuk romance path, Muktuk explicitly observes that Sylvia is "good with children" during their art therapy hangouts, and his line about wanting to "collaborate on a great masterpiece—I want at least three" is a barely-veiled reference. And she doesn't balk at either line, so the game clearly isn't afraid to signal parenthood as a possibility for Sylvia.

My verdict:

With Finn specifically, I'd say they read as probably child-free for the foreseeable future, but not philosophically opposed to it. They're two ambitious, career-driven people who just found their footing—Sylvia with her shop, Finn with his new advocacy role. Neither shows any true urgency around family-building, and their relationship is rooted in active partnership and mutual respect. But Finn's "little guppies" line keeps the door cracked open as a someday possibility, and Sylvia's warmth with kids suggests she might not rule it out if life calmed down.

Pic featuring @ripowal 's original character Cordelia, the daughter of Sylvia and Boss Finn from Potionomics. I blame and thank Ripowal for making me obsessed with the idea of Papa Finn ❤️, I can't really get him out of my head. 🙈 I need to decide a definitive outfit for him, but I have already an idea. What was clear, is that I wanted him to permanently wear glasses now, as he needs them full-time and the hairstyle. ❤️

Cordelia is a character that I instantly fell in love with. Never thought of Finn and Sylvia having children and now it's so obvious to me as if it was canon. I'm sure this has to do with Ripowal's great writing talent. 😍

Hope you like it, my friend, because I see more in the future. 😁

This started out so innocuous. At work listenting to a podcast episode about goosebumps, and of course a small, unhelpful thought arrived and wouldn't leave: Finn doesn't get goosebumps.

Which is true, obviously, once you think about it for two seconds. Goosebumps are a fossil. A leftover reflex from a body that used to have fur, back when standing your hair on end actually made you look bigger and more threatening. We kept the reflex way after we lost the fur, so now it just fires uselessly whenever something gives us chills: fear, cold, a truly good chord change, the sense of standing somewhere revered. It's such a universal shorthand for the body reacting before the mind catches up that fiction leans on it constantly. Character feels the hair on their arms rise and you just know what that means.

Finn doesn't have a mammalian family tree though (at least in my imagining), which means no arrector pili muscles under the skin for raising fur. So… what does he get instead?

Merfolk shiver response ideas:

Lateral line prickle: A cold/electric tingle running down the sides of the body in the pressure sensory organ. (this one's nice because it uses a sense humans don't have at all, but it's more how the body detects the uncanny than the instinctive response to it)

Scale-lift: A variety of fish and reptiles can flare their scales in a defensive/display reflex. The the merfolk equivalent could be a faint ripple where the scales along the spine and forearms lift slightly, catching the light. (doesn't quite work for sharks, whose scales are so small)

Chromatophore flicker: Merfolk with color-shifting cells (like cuttlefish/octopi), a shiver moment could cause an involuntary flush of color across the skin. (again, not applicable for (most) sharks)

Gill flutter: A triggered flare or flutter—mirroring how a stressed shark's gilling changes—would be a nice, specifically un-hideable tell. (it works, I've used this already, but it doesn't feel quite like a goosebump-specific substitute to me for some reason?)

Fin-drop: As I've discussed before, sharks are all body language, and their threat response isn't subtle; it's agonistic display. So maybe whatever fin or webbing that runs along their arms/spine/tail snaps involuntarily into a display position: rigid, dropped, flared, etc. (this is solid, but it does lose the largely private aspect of goosebumps; most of the time, they're not obvious to someone else)

But maybe that's what makes the fin drop work so well! It flips the emotional geometry of the goosebump moment entirely. The shark-model version is involuntary, but it's outward-facing by design. It exists to be seen. Other merfolk would read fin-drop the way humans read a flinch or a widened eye—instantly, unconsciously, as part of an entire social grammar of body language most humans wouldn't even know they were missing.

I came into the Potionomics fandom as an AO3 creature first—writing fic, posting it, responding to comments. Which was wonderful! But there's something different about getting to just talk about a game. Ramble about headcanons, write up essays of character analysis, speculate about worldbuilding and fantastical biology, and post silly little ideas at midnight without needing it to be a polished piece of work first. Tumblr gave me that and I didn't know how much I wanted it until I had it.

Genuinely did not expect this when I migrated over from AO3. I thought I'd just crosspost fic and call it a day. I figured I'd missed the "community" part by arriving so late.

One year later there's a Discord server. There's an art trade I get to host. There are people I'd genuinely call friends! People who showed up for every character on the roster and we all just get to be delighted about them together. Everyone with their faves and somehow that just makes it more fun.

And it's all over an indie potion shop game that released almost four years ago, with a playerbase that refuses to go quietly. And I think that's lovely, actually.

And the thing about Sylvia being slammed with business is that it's genuinely great news for her, which means everyone who misses her has to be happy for her while also being a little pathetic about it.

So anyway I wrote up quick exchanges for Finn, Roxanne and Mint missing Sylvia (complete with animation tags, woohoo):

How do you think the other characters would take it if they weren't getting enough flybys from their favorite local potion maker?

I feel like Saffron operates on such a different timescale that she might never notice/mention it, or if she did she'd be very chill about it

Theorizing Naven Nuknuk as the Bliss Ocean Leader: Motivations, Recruitment Strategies, and Overall Analysis

Based on the details from Epithet Erased (including Season 1 and Prison of Plastic), the Bliss Ocean leader remains officially unidentified as of 2025, with no new canon reveals in additional seasons or books (the series has been on hiatus since Prison of Plastic's 2022 release, though fan discussions and creator hints persist). However, strong implications point to Naven Nuknuk as the leader—his speech patterns match the leader's texting style (elegant, ellipsis-heavy, and motivational), he's deeply connected to Yoomtah Zing (a confirmed Bliss Ocean member who poses as his rotating chauffeurs), and his Mundie philosophy aligns perfectly with the group's anti-epithet ideology. I'll theorize here on why Naven would form and lead Bliss Ocean, how he recruited its key members (Zora Salazar, Yoomtah Zing, and Moot Tarbella), and why this fits his character arc. This draws from canon hints, fan theories (e.g., from Reddit and TV Tropes), and logical extensions based on the world's lore.

Why Would Naven Form Bliss Ocean? (Core Motivations)

Naven's backstory and personality scream "anti-epithet crusader disguised as a benevolent CEO." As a Mundie, he's built STEM—a massive conglomerate starting in agriculture but expanding into tech, entertainment, and more—through sheer intellect, hard work, and innovation. His company explicitly prioritizes hiring Mundies over Inscribed, emphasizing cultivated skills over "lucky" superpowers. This mirrors Bliss Ocean's goal: eliminating epithets to create a truly equal society where hard work matters, not random birthrights.

Personal Philosophy and Trauma: Naven embodies "Hard Work Hardly Works" inverted—he's proof that Mundies can succeed, but he's exhausted by Chronic Hero Syndrome (running himself ragged helping others, like funding the Blyndeffs or teaching speech classes). Epithets represent an unfair shortcut; as Zora puts it, a Mundie could train forever only to be outdone by someone born powerful. Naven, with his reclusive, sickly nature and green hair from Ocean Race ancestry (hinting at a family history of Mundie struggles), likely sees epithets as a societal cancer. Bliss Ocean is his "invention" of a better future—à la computer pioneer Alan Kay's famous quote, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Naven isn't just reacting; he's proactively engineering equality through terrorism, using STEM's resources (tech, funds, networks) to fund it covertly.

Broader Ideology: Bliss Ocean isn't just destructive; it's "nebulous" but idealistic. They target the Arsene Amulet to erase epithets globally, not for power, but for fairness. Naven's "nice guy" facade (helping Molly, calling child services on Martin) hides a darker side—his Dissonant Serenity when threatened (inviting Lorelai to kill him in Prison of Plastic) shows he's capable of cold calculation. As a Mundie leader of Inscribed/Mundie hybrids, he proves his point: smarts and strategy trump powers.

Why Now?: By Season 1's end, the amulet's chaos (Museum Arc, Western Arc) exposes epithet dangers. Naven, monitoring via Yoomtah, sees this as the tipping point. His "tiny hands" controlling fate (as he tells Molly) extends to Bliss Ocean—he's the puppet master fixing a broken world.

In short, Naven's "why" is egalitarian revolution born from Mundie resentment and innovative ambition. It's not villainy for villainy's sake; it's a twisted extension of his heroism, where ends (equality) justify means (terrorism).

How Did Naven Recruit the Members? (Strategies and Methods)

Bliss Ocean's "Elite Four" Corps Officers (Zora as #3, Yoomtah, Moot, and presumably Naven as #1/leader) are a mix of Mundies and Inscribed who hate epithets. Recruitment seems targeted: seek out disillusioned talents, demonstrate Mundie superiority, and offer purpose/equality. Naven, as a charismatic Social Expert (reading people flawlessly), uses psychology, tech, and one-on-one confrontations. Here's how it likely went for each:

Zora Salazar (Inscribed, Epithet: Sundial):

How: Canon confirms the leader "sought out" Zora, a bounty-hunting cowgirl orphaned young (parents killed by Banzai Blasters over an artifact). She was a "gun for hire," murdering Banzais in revenge, but her overpowered epithet made life boring (Victory Is Boring). Naven challenged her to a duel she calls "one-sided"—he won decisively, despite being Mundie. How? Likely using STEM tech (gadgets to counter time manipulation, like time-dilation devices or Yoomtah's electric assistance) or pure strategy (exploiting her Logical Weaknesses, e.g., non-linear processes). This humbled her, proving Mundies can triumph through prep and wits.

Why She Joined: Naven appealed to her hypocrisy—she's a Boomerang Bigot hating epithets but relying on hers. He offered "equals" to fight (Bliss Ocean peers) and a cause aligning with her trauma: end the "unfair" powers that let Banzais kill her parents. The extended "Great at Cowboy" lyrics describe this as a turning point; she joined for thrill, revenge, and ideology.

Timeline: Post her forest survival phase, pre-Season 1. Naven tracked her via bounty networks.

Yoomtah Zing (Mundie, "Robot Girl" with electric powers—likely cybernetic enhancements):

How: Yoomtah's recruitment is the most direct, as she's "all but stated" to be Naven's creation or close ally. As STEM's CEO, Naven has access to advanced tech (the company dipped into "technology development"). Yoomtah, with her Shock and Awe abilities, Exotic Eye Designs, and sleepless nature, seems engineered—perhaps a prototype Mundie-enhancement project to level the playing field against Inscribed. She poses as his chauffeurs (rotating disguises to fuel "Casanova" rumors), acting as bodyguard and spy. Recruitment was likely "internal": Naven built/recruited her early, making her an errand girl/scout (e.g., infiltrating the museum in Season 1).

Why She Joined: As a "mundie" (per her glitched card in Prison of Plastic), she embodies Naven's vision—Mundies boosted by tech, not epithets. Her giggly, chaotic personality (Giggling Villain, Drives Like Crazy) fits Naven's whimsical side; she gets freedom to cause mayhem while advancing equality. Their bond is personal— she's his "driver" literally and figuratively.

Timeline: Earliest member, pre-Season 1. Hints in Prison of Plastic strengthen their connection, with Yoomtah's presence tying Naven to Bliss Ocean.

Moot Tarbella (Inscribed, Epithet: Moot; Indus's sister):

How: Least detailed in canon (she's the hooded figure in Season 1's finale, debuting in the upcoming book Sweet Escape). As Indus's trans woman sibling, she's calm/collected (Sibling Yin-Yang to his bombast), with Cool Shades and aggression underneath. Naven likely recruited via family leverage—Indus is a Banzai Blaster (antithetical to Bliss Ocean), so Moot may resent epithets for family rifts or personal reasons (e.g., her epithet "Moot" implying irrelevance, fueling bitterness). Method: Similar to Zora, a targeted approach—Naven tracks her via STEM's networks (perhaps through Indus's museum ties), confronts her, and wins her over with ideology/demo of Mundie power.

Why She Joined: To contrast Indus's loyalty to Mera (an epithet abuser), Moot seeks purpose in anti-epithet extremism. Naven offers belonging in an "Elite Four," appealing to her hidden aggression. As a trans character (adapted from Anime Campaign), themes of identity and "unfair birth" (like epithets) might resonate—epithets as another unchosen trait to erase.

Timeline: Post-Zora, pre-Season 1 finale. Creator confirms her role in Sweet Escape, likely expanding recruitment details.

Overall Recruitment Pattern: Naven uses "David vs. Goliath" demos (Mundie beating Inscribed), psychological reads (exploiting traumas like Zora's orphanhood or Moot's family dynamics), and promises of equality/thrills. STEM provides logistics (tech for fights, surveillance for scouting). He recruits outliers—powerful but disillusioned—to build a small, elite force over mass membership.

Overall Analysis: Why This Fits Naven (À La Alan Kay-Style Innovation)

If this is what you meant by "Alan Kay analysis," it ties in beautifully—Alan Kay, the computing visionary, championed user-empowering tech (e.g., object-oriented programming, Dynabook concept) with the ethos of inventing solutions to systemic problems. Naven is his narrative parallel: a Mundie "inventor" using STEM to "prototype" a post-epithet world. Bliss Ocean isn't chaotic evil; it's engineered disruption, predicting (and forcing) a fair future by removing epithets' "software bugs" in society. Why recruit this way? Efficiency—small team, high impact, proving his thesis.

His sleep talking is mostly nonsense. Fragments of conversations that didn't happen, business negotiations with no one, the occasional strong opinion about something that doesn't make sense, indiscernible syllables. And if Sylvia's awake for it she cannot resist engaging. Just quietly asking follow-up questions in the dark to see where it goes. "Oh really?" "And then what happened?" "What was that?" And Finn will mutter something completely nonsensical and she's lying there biting her pillow trying not to laugh and wake him up.

Now complete with names and effects!

So: a boss card for every carded character, including Sylvia herself, flipping their core card philosophy to work against you.

Sylvia — The driving force under her story is one goal: sell potions for as much as possible and win the competition to claw herself out of her uncle's debt. Her multi-faceted haggling turning against you crushes the perceived value of your potion compared to her own.

Owl — He's the mentor whose whole card pool is knowledge-as-options, and he turns that around to bury you under them instead. (the name is a debate tactic: drown your opponent in so many arguments at once they can't even hope to respond.)

Quinn — An inversion of Plant the Seed, where interest compounds in the background. Roast compounds stress instead, doubling until it's all you feel; no one delivers a drier burn than Quinn.

Mint — The rookie hero who never gives up; relentlessness with the optimism scraped off. She just. Keeps. Coming. Grinding you down until your guard is gone.

Baptiste — His game is emotional intelligence and charm. A man of connections who reads the room for a big payoff. Here, the noble who shows you how to open doors shuts them in your face.\

Muktuk — His gift to you is Enthusiasm; love of the craft and boundless support making every card you play land harder. Keep the volume and intensity of opinion, reverse the positivity, and he tears down every single thing you do.

Saffron — The self-sufficient hermit, master of calm and tranquility, whose cards are all about letting go. Disregard takes that serenity and rots it to apathy. No one NEEDS your potions with all those bells whistles.

Xid — Her musical cards form the engine of some of the best decks in the game. But Earworm is the song that won't leave, an anxious tune stuck in your head until you take the time to stop and perform it.

Salt & Pepper — The pirate duo, the package deal who love giving you choices. They always come as a pair, and that loveable pair becomes a vice, a pincer that corners you between two equally bad options.

Luna — Her risky deck dares you to ride the high of stress. Her whole pitch is "lean into the buzz, it pays off," but this is the buzz with no payout, the influencer's hook, all spiral and crash and no high.

And a fresh face on the existing bosses who Sylvia wins over, because why not? We even have the benefit of knowing how they approach competition on top of their haggling cards.

Roxanne — She's white-knuckling her way toward respectable businesswoman, but her deck relies on reading and exploiting weakness on sight. Her smack talk brims with contempt, and she doles out aesthetic judgment in spades to get under your skin and in your head.

Corsac — The adaptable survivalist whose entire philosophy is "stay ready, stay protected," strips every layer of your defense and forces you to stand exposed in the reality of your opposition to his ecological passion. No cover, no excuses.

Boss Finn — His card pool is all about striking when the time is right, mastering your tempo for maximum payoff. Peeled back to the predator with all the teeth, he peppers you with casual threats (is he actually going to chomp you?!) until you lock up. He bypasses the stress meter to torpedo your tempo directly.

tl;dr: the people who taught you how to haggle would be genuinely terrifying on the other side of the podium.