Anyways, have some made up landscapes, presented to you by today's lovely assistants Evergray and Lawrence!

Most of them are at least loosely inspired by the in-game Pandoria and whatever that place with the shattered stone structures is, some I've just made up entirely (and may or may not be going to recycle for my other purposes)

Here they are a little more up close, (with an earlier concept of the Inkwell that's just a big ol' hole in the ground so I can divide them into twos but they're very small so - understand them for the feeling, not so much the quality ^^":

I've added some markers to each of them through which you can plausibly discern the proximity of these to one another, but Pandoria doesn't really follow the laws of space as we know it, or at least it shouldn't. The fact time doesn't exist there is something that's really hard to grapple with when imagining it. The phrase "everything is calm, always in motion" comes to mind, a realm that is stagnant, but remains unfamiliar. It never changes, yet to the human mind it never looks the same, is always novel and strange. The explorers mapping the realm can probably recognise it in some aspect, but it's impossible to ever pass the same tree or the same rock and know that they've seen it before - in fact passing the same place probably feels like déja vu rather than being able to comprehend it's somewhere you've already been... Are we following? ^^"

i got asked about this earlier and only just remembered to, like, go get the necessary materials lmao but one of the xenoblade 2 localization's weirder decisions is them actively downplaying zeke and pandoria's romantic relationship in ways i genuinely don't see the point of. this is something i only know about because of twitter user feathermetsu posting about it years ago, but like. their account is private now lmao i just don't wanna go around pretending i'm the genius who found this out, it's someone else.

ANYWAY take a look at this post-battle conversation

Pandoria from Xenoblade Chronicles 2

"my special angel princess who is too silly and whimsical for this world. i like her so much and think she's super duper cuteness but i can also see that her design is a little bit of a mess. i want to chew her ears. she's also a living sword/weapongirl if that does anything for anyone :)"

My big sib got me the xc2 artbook for christmas!!!!! It got a little water damage probably during shipping but the actual images are still fine so it's okay! The first couple pages are just a little wavy

It's so cool seeing everyone together like this! Even if Pneuma and Brighid got eaten by the page folds rip

Beta designs are always so interesting to see. Pandoria seems to always have had electricity in mind, but more focused on wires and conductivity rather than lightbulbs. The bottom ones also have a witchy vibe going on.

The Addam ones are fun. I like the red armor, though I do think the white one he ended up with suits him more (and helps make him feel like he's of a completely different standing from Lora). It's a bit funny seeing all the different hairstyles on him. 1 makes me think of a grown up Alphinaud lol. Also, some of them have a crown hairclip which I think is cute

I find it a bit funny how completely different the energies between the 3 Milton concepts are. 2 feels like more of a serious and cynical kid, and 3 looks like a rich kid. Or a more sophisticated and composed kid at least. They might not have had Milton's personality completely figured out yet

Akhos' weapon is so cool! I wish we got to see more of it's form-shifting abilities. A bow that's also a shield that's also a scythe I mean what's not to love! (I love combo-weapons)

I don't really have anything to add I just love giant robots

Always nice to just see them hanging out with each other. Nia sleeping on Dromarch is super cute