alright certain fact0rs can stop harassing me during my gaming time. aspect slander pt. 6 - Breath breath is a tricky 0ne, by its nature it sits as the most g0 with the flow, d0 whatever aspect. it's a bit of an afterth0ught aspect i suspect, but not in the inc0mplete and laughingstock way 0f rage, but rather one f0r those wh0m exhibit nothing s0 extreme skaia can toss an0ther easy label their way. not everyb0dy's going tw0 have an extreme psychosis f0r the blue parasite t0 prey upon. s0 apol0gies in advance that my analysis here is a lot m0re unstructured and rambling than usual. very fitting. breath is in many ways s0 straightforward there's n0thing two talk ab0ut. it deals with the wind. they can't all be as sinister as time or light i supp0se. it is also 'change.' a term s0 obscenely generic it b0rders on meaningless. life is change. doing anything at a given m0ment creates change. i suppose in a meta sense this creates a similar c0nundrum for the breath player as mind. decisi0n paralysis. whereas with mind you're given t0 much informati0n, with breath you get fuck all n0thing. a wildcard of s0rts. we've g0t some extraordinarily differing examples tw0 work 0ff here. i'm really not sure h0w go0d of even an example either can make. page is a very strange edge case in just about any regard, and egbert... well. i 0nly know m0st things, not everything. bl0od and breath are paired as 0pposites. n0w that whole system isn't terribly fleshed 0ut. who the fuck kn0ws why do0m and life are on 0pposite ends c0nsidering the whole thing bitched 0ut on making d0om have any actual p0wers related two death. but i digress, we'll get t0 them at a later point. it d0es offer a little insight intw0 breath though. bl0od as established is c0nnection t0 others, 0ften powered by a str0ng sense of self 0r force 0f personality. breath g0es the opp0site way. actual, ultimate freedom requires n0 attachments. and so y0u are nudged down a path 0f absolute is0lation if y0u buy to0 far intwo aspect shit. y0u'll also n0t be beholden t0 your 0wn self. malleable and adaptive, sure. but at the cost 0f being unable two stay the same, n0 longer true tw0 yourself. drifting and fl0wing along with whatever skaia desires. pr0mising you can be whatever y0u want without helping craft a healthy idea 0f what that actually is is a very sinister kind of manipulati0n. we are mortal creatures, and meant tw0 be. infinity isn't a concept any0ne can actually grasp. infinite time, infinite choices, infinite freed0m, doesn't matter. maybe in this way breath encapsulates skaia best 0f all. a vague promise 0f everything, with a substance of n0thing. it sh0uldn't come as a surprise t0 anyone wh0 actually played it that sgrub is programmed like shit. it's part 0f what fuels my theory that it isn't a c0mpletely neutral actor and m0re resembles a living thing. breath as freedom, actual freed0m, goes against everything the game stands f0r. which is trapping you in a hell game with self-serving rules and extremely few, p0ssibly only 0ne, accepted sequence of events f0r victory. that's why 'change' is pr0bably the more p0werful force in the aspect. a purp0sefully created 'wildcard' prone t0 pushing and pulling the game's levers and keeping everything in m0tion. y0u are 'free' in exactly the same way the average lowbl0od is, free tw0 do what is expected 0f you that sees the g0als of y0ur betters through. maybe that's why tv g0t stuck with it. the expectations placed up0n nitram and the degree they'd have needed t0 change in order tw0 reach them is monstr0us even by my standards. he wanted to be s0mething else, sure. and skaia dangled the prospect 0f 'change' in front 0f his scent nub until he chased it right off a cliff. as f0r egbert, well. i don't think any0ne can properly grasp the kind 0f price they paid for the p0wer they got. it's entering cherub tier there, which sh0uld be warning enough.