last batch of adoptables i'll be doing for a bit, $15 each. DM to purchase, you'll get an unwatermarked full res version

High Voltage has been discounted to $10.... poor guy

nothing beats a summer snack

Here's the next Post-Epilogue design for Jade! I struggled a lot with this one because a lot of his design has specific purpose so I was weighing function against aesthetic and had to make some trade offs. Anyways, the small satchel and wrist contraption is a prototype for strengthening fonic artes.

More details under the cut. !Lots of Spoilers as well under cut!

Re: military ranks, demotion is generally only on the table when a soldier has taken some kind of dishonorable action, so being demoted would almost certainly be treated as a scandal even if it's something that Jade requested. What's more likely to happen is he could a) retire honorably after a nearly 20-year-long military career, or b) be promoted to Brigadier General. The latter would move him into an exclusively administrative role - colonels are the highest-ranked officers that can be sent to the front lines, while generals have desk jobs.

What's a little more nebulous is what sort of duties that a promotion would entail day-to-day, especially during times of peace. It's not uncommon for military officers today to hold advanced degrees, but Auldrant is hovering right around a WWI level of tech and cultural advancement. Holding a doctorate alongside and officer's commission might be unusual in Malkuth, but the person who does hold both would probably be tapped to provide direction on national security. Crucially, NatSec can include domestic security as well as international, and it's something that could easily include assisting Replicas as they integrate into society.

Other than that, I like this design! The 'quick-draw' artes device is a neat touch.

Thank you for all the info on military ranks!

I considered a promotion as well but I wasn't sure how that panned out in terms of what duties he'd have, I see from your explanation that at the rank of General, it'd be totally possible to not have to be out in the field which is great to know! I based my understanding of the rank on General Frings who was also out on the field so I wasn't really sure about it (although this is fantasy anime world while a war was happening already so maybe it's specific to this world). I did feel that from a socio-political standpoint a promotion would make it even more difficult for Jade to be considered a neutral entity for his research. He can probably get a pass being one of the 'Heroes' who saved Auldrant but at the end of the day he's still a Malkuthian and his close ties with the Emperor (plus his sister being the Keterberg Governor) will probably get scrutinized as him having strong sentiments and loyalties to Malkuth. (Which he does. Although I do think that would be an interesting challenge for Jade to deal with and he'd be up to the challenge.)

Full retirement (or a similar type of honourable discharge) would probably be the most ideal for his circumstances if being further removed from the Malkuth centre of power is the most important factor here. But I didn't want to take that away from him and I didn't touch on it but I think the Curtiss family (if any of them are still around) would put up a fuss.

I considered demotion mainly because I think it'd be a chaotic and hilarious alternative to retirement while also in some ways distancing him from Malkuth. Jade shows up to an official audience with the emperor with his resignation letter and Peony flat out refusing it, Jade pulls out a list of his crimes, now there are witnesses, you have to fire me now. He gets demoted but no one gets to know the real reason he was demoted. Inside of Malkuth, he's the gossip news of the year (is he a traitor, has Peony lost his mind, has Jade lost his mind?? who knows!!). Outside of Malkuth, everyone is shocked and questioning why they would treat one of their heroes like this. Jade's friends are just like: oh jeez, Jade, everyone is talking about you, what did you do now. And then every time a stranger asks him about it, it would probably go something like: Researchers: *meeting him for the first time* so how did you get demoted? Jade: *smiles but doesn't answer* Researchers: ..............*nervous*

I think the confusion about how Brigadier Generals work on Auldrant stems from a couple of different things:

As for the Order of Lorelei, I don't really get it either. There's clearly a ranking system for the church hierarchy and one for the military hierarchy, but I have no idea how the church hierarchy works.

Your points all make sense. I do also think that Frings and Cecille's roles in the game were portrayed differently than other military officials (Kimlascan and Malkuthian) who we see in the game but do not appear on or near the battlefields. Perhaps they were given more roles/tasks that normally wouldn't fall to them to simplify the amount of characters involved.

In addition, the split escort event to Chesedonia comes to mind where both Frings and Cecille show up while skirmishes are taking place, and while I don't think they were directly involved in the skirmishes or at the front lines but perhaps the limitations to how they portrayed them appearing in the event made it appear to me that they were more hands on/working in the field. Granted this is during unprecedented events in the game (fall of the Outer Land) so it may be unusual circumstances as well.

I'm not too clear on how well-versed the scenario writer is in military ranks but I do know that for the Order of Lorelei, their military ranks in the Japanese version are fictional titles that use prefixes related to sounds (following the fonon/phoneme sound theme) and interestingly the God-Generals don't all have the same rank despite all of them leading a division.

Here's the next Post-Epilogue design for Jade! I struggled a lot with this one because a lot of his design has specific purpose so I was weighing function against aesthetic and had to make some trade offs. Anyways, the small satchel and wrist contraption is a prototype for strengthening fonic artes.

More details under the cut. !Lots of Spoilers as well under cut!

Re: military ranks, demotion is generally only on the table when a soldier has taken some kind of dishonorable action, so being demoted would almost certainly be treated as a scandal even if it's something that Jade requested. What's more likely to happen is he could a) retire honorably after a nearly 20-year-long military career, or b) be promoted to Brigadier General. The latter would move him into an exclusively administrative role - colonels are the highest-ranked officers that can be sent to the front lines, while generals have desk jobs.

What's a little more nebulous is what sort of duties that a promotion would entail day-to-day, especially during times of peace. It's not uncommon for military officers today to hold advanced degrees, but Auldrant is hovering right around a WWI level of tech and cultural advancement. Holding a doctorate alongside and officer's commission might be unusual in Malkuth, but the person who does hold both would probably be tapped to provide direction on national security. Crucially, NatSec can include domestic security as well as international, and it's something that could easily include assisting Replicas as they integrate into society.

Other than that, I like this design! The 'quick-draw' artes device is a neat touch.

Thank you for all the info on military ranks!

I considered a promotion as well but I wasn't sure how that panned out in terms of what duties he'd have, I see from your explanation that at the rank of General, it'd be totally possible to not have to be out in the field which is great to know! I based my understanding of the rank on General Frings who was also out on the field so I wasn't really sure about it (although this is fantasy anime world while a war was happening already so maybe it's specific to this world). I did feel that from a socio-political standpoint a promotion would make it even more difficult for Jade to be considered a neutral entity for his research. He can probably get a pass being one of the 'Heroes' who saved Auldrant but at the end of the day he's still a Malkuthian and his close ties with the Emperor (plus his sister being the Keterberg Governor) will probably get scrutinized as him having strong sentiments and loyalties to Malkuth. (Which he does. Although I do think that would be an interesting challenge for Jade to deal with and he'd be up to the challenge.)

Full retirement (or a similar type of honourable discharge) would probably be the most ideal for his circumstances if being further removed from the Malkuth centre of power is the most important factor here. But I didn't want to take that away from him and I didn't touch on it but I think the Curtiss family (if any of them are still around) would put up a fuss.

I considered demotion mainly because I think it'd be a chaotic and hilarious alternative to retirement while also in some ways distancing him from Malkuth. Jade shows up to an official audience with the emperor with his resignation letter and Peony flat out refusing it, Jade pulls out a list of his crimes, now there are witnesses, you have to fire me now. He gets demoted but no one gets to know the real reason he was demoted. Inside of Malkuth, he's the gossip news of the year (is he a traitor, has Peony lost his mind, has Jade lost his mind?? who knows!!). Outside of Malkuth, everyone is shocked and questioning why they would treat one of their heroes like this. Jade's friends are just like: oh jeez, Jade, everyone is talking about you, what did you do now. And then every time a stranger asks him about it, it would probably go something like: Researchers: *meeting him for the first time* so how did you get demoted? Jade: *smiles but doesn't answer* Researchers: ..............*nervous*