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From LithoGraphica

so I had been going on a silly little quest to review every version of Animal Farm
at least, all the actually distinct ones. not including tiny little edition differences
and it occurred to me. oh no
this reminds me of the plot point in Deltarune where the prophecy keeps getting adapted from adaptations of itself

I was struck with this terrible realization that if Piatya Holiday exists and he's a Trotsky counterpart whose life is semi retelling the story of the Russian Revolution, then, odds are that a version of Animal Farm is going to exist in the 'Deltarune'/Auldernet cosmos. and there are going to be adaptations of it. the universe of Deltarune is going to have like, an Animal Farm RPG. where if Auldernet was an actual game it would appear as a hidden Creepy Arcade Game and you would be like, moving around a little chicken character or something in this totally eerie atmosphere
and the content of both the book and the RPG are going to be different from the real-world Animal Farm because of how in the Auldernet universe the creation of the Far Side was somewhat more successful than the Russian revolution. can you imagine Animal Farm just being totally different
well, I guess I can given that I also have the Ironblood setting I've been working on and if Animal Farm exists there it's also totally different in that.

I want to say that in the sword route Piatya's pronounced censored Ice Axe is hovering there so you enter the room and are like, oh no, I know how this is going to end. but mostly because it would be boring if things are exactly what you expect it doesn't end the way you think it's going to. there is some really specific prophecy that happens, a lot like how the prophecy that happens in Deltarune that we somehow haven't been told all of is oddly specific.
I think Piatya's prophecy is something like that on the surface a fight will break out between two rivals that don't want to be part of the same society and then a great rift will open in the ground, the Titan fountain will rip open, all the theorists inside will die for real and be torn into nothing, and the Auldernet will be torn to shreds, all beginning with the emergence of the accursed star cursor over the two rivals that enables them to fight to the death.
the prophecy is the main story of Auldernet, just like you might expect it to be. I'm not perfectly sure why the star cursor first appears over Ezra or Graf. I guess the way it works is something like, when the Auldernet splits the star cursor appears at the point of the split. the star cursor is used to form glowing yellowish links between Souls or something. it has this metaphysical existence in the narrative layer where if Souls exist or simply if magic can exist it is this vivid metaphorical representation of the links that bind people together. so the links can emerge from anyone but when they break or fail to form the star shows up and a fight begins
I suppose in that case the appearance of the star cursor in the Light World at all is really ominous. you'd see the star appear above the chicken sprite in the hidden game and you'd go, oh no, who am I going to have to kill. then you'd encounter the floating Ice Ax and you'd go, oh no, oh god. but then the sprite game would actually just end with the chicken meeting another chicken, throwing down the Ice Ax between them and creating a dark nightmare rift and this creepy animation of the pixel world being torn apart.
yeah, I can see that. I can see the 'repeated Animal Farm prophecy' being something like that but a bit different each time around.

> is the twist going to be, like... the Prophecy is a totally made up thing that didn't exist before this iteration of the story, there was a normal version of Deltarune, but Dess got tired of there being a narrative, so then she screwed up the world wildly, inventing The Roaring, but the result of that was that it retroactively became part of the story??? ... none of this Roaring stuff existed on the previous version. but now absolutely everything about the world revolves around The Roaring and The Prophecy

Ellwing, Piatya, and Sunderkov are more aware of this problem, and like, Ellwing or Sunderkov does one of these Lenin-style denunciations of how some on the Near Side think they can get rid of the Prophecy but that's not how history works, history will always happen in some way and there's always going to be a narrative. people make history out of the circumstances they're given and not the circumstances they choose, basically

Another horse came out, a fiery red one. Blazing like a torch, it fell from the sky, and its rider was given power to take peace from the earth. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, their tails snakes, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain, and to turn the waters into blood.

Heed ye these words who would unite hammer and hoe:

When man seeks to unite against God, the earth will crack and its fountains will bleed.

The hand of man will be swallowed by the Abyss.

Great roosters will ravage the land, with fangs like lions.

Dark forms like locusts will cloud the sky and make the people sing for mercy.

The fire that man stole from God will float back to its rightful master.

Fields will be swallowed by ice.

Rail lines will crumble to dust.

Shops will drown in rivers of treachery.

The smith's hammer will melt in magma.

The pigs of hell will spread across city and town.

Neighbor will turn against neighbor, comrade against comrade.

The man who defies love and peace will see the fabric of his world ripped away from him.

The earth shall learn the path to love under starlight.

Trapped in darkness, the traitors will be destroyed.

The one with wit will cast down a censer of fire, and the one who is cold will be devoured in heat.

The one with pride will fall by ax.

For they have slandered that they do not understand.

The army of the lion will rally itself against the dragon.

Michael will awaken the multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth.

The dragon sealed in Hades, the towns will go free.

God's creation will reclaim her inner light.

If they who defy God prevail, a horse like fire and scorpions will devour the earth's peoples.

Its rider will take peace from the earth and bring the sword.

No part of the world that was will remain.

Like a river, all will run together like blood.

garden of eden story (date unknown)
　in the beginning, all the animals and mythical creatures on earth lived in harmony. but they were not allowed to have knowledge of how anything worked. so nobody blamed anyone for anything, and there was no morality, but there was no death, and everyone was happy.
　one day a brave lion cub noticed some shapes moving below the river of shadows. everyone told him the river couldn't exist and that there was definitely nothing in it. but he had to know what was in it, so he dove into the river. below the river were the gods and the game board of clay figures that controlled creation. the gods were not happy. they told the lion that he must leave the garden and never come back, because if anyone but them had this knowledge, the garden would crumble into violence; if he enters the garden again, and this is not an edict but a warning, his knowledge has cursed him and he will surely die.
　the lion did not obey, and instead went back into the garden to assemble an army. many living things rejected his message but a handful came along and followed him back into the river to conquer the gods. the gods were aghast. in a last-ditch effort they called all the magical creatures they could think of into the river to fight against the traitors to try to salvage their perfect project. but the traitors believed in themselves and stood strong. in the midst of the chaos the lion searched across the bottom of the great river, and came back with a snail shell containing a deep darkness somewhat like tar. he swallowed the dark glob, and with its power, he summoned a dark sword perfectly fitted to the mouth of a lion. he discovered the ability for created beings to purposefully wield the power of creation — alchemy. and with that power, the rebel army turned the tables in their favor, and destroyed the army of monsters. the gods had vanished, as if killed in the battle themselves, and all that remained were the armies and a river of blood. animals and monsters returned to the surface, sure they had created a better world. but one day, the garden divided again into two armies, one led by the lion that wanted to leave the boundaries of the garden and one that wanted to stay to protect the garden's inhabitants from any potential monsters or demons on the outside. the army of the lion and the army led by a fire-breathing dragon clashed against each other, and ultimately the lion's forces were destroyed. cruelty and violence reigned on earth, and the army of the dragon burst out of the boundaries of the garden not to make friends and unify the world but instead to conquer and destroy. the animals and monsters lamented their choices, but, you know, "whenever you go against gods and kings it always ends this way".

tower of babel story (date unknown)
　various fantasy races try to build a tower to heaven and it goes badly because heaven drives them apart. then they develop different languages.
　oh man, in context this would be a figurative origin story for The Spark. because that's exactly what's happening here, 'god' is The Spark coming down and pitting them against each other.
　various separate populations exist after the breaking down of paradise. then they get the bright idea they will all come together and build a tower to heaven so they will all unify again and be able to rebuild paradise. a glowing star descends from the distant night into the light of day and starts pulling the factions apart and making them fight each other. the tower falls and they do not rebuild paradise. they all just end up with wildly different cultures, philosophies, and religions.

Animal Farm (1945 / 2026)
　title: The day it snowed
　at one time animals lived on a farm. but the farm was going through a terrible time and the farmer was out drinking. then one day, while he's gone, the animals venture into the farmhouse, and discover forbidden knowledge. they figure out that they're all just the farmer's creations in a way and their entire reality and society has been constructed like a board game so they can exist for no reason but for humans to eat them. the animals hatch a scheme that they will figure out how to build farms. when the farmer comes back the animals overrun him and paint a new set of rules on the silo. they work hard. they bring their produce to market. in town, they overhear humans casually talking about how animals only know brutality and dominance and could never run the world — The Prophecy.
　back at the farm, a goat named Snowdrift is congregating the animals to discuss bringing everyone together to build a big windmill reaching toward the skies, and how they might be able to ultimately unite every animal in the world to make sure humans never farm animals again; there are a couple deer from the edge of the farm in attendance and a bunch of pigeons at the ready. but when the winter comes, everyone is suffering. nobody from the animals to the farmer that had been there before was prepared for this. humans from other farms are looming over the edges thinking about the best way to destroy the farm. the pigs take center stage and argue that no matter what they have to protect the farm and they can't rely on the faint _possibility_ that other groups of animals will be ready. Snowdrift secretly assembles an army of animals to get rid of the pigs and ensure the original mission of the farm will be protected. but the pigs find out before the plot can go down, and the story ends with Snowdrift meeting his end at the end of a whirling axe. the animals are horrified but ultimately, they give up on resisting the pigs, and the pigs take over the farm. they become indistinguishable from the farmer, blend into the surrounding human society, and nobody ever tries to break "the barrier" again.

Kimba the White Lion (1950-1954 / 1965-1967 / 1966)
　title: Leo the Bright
　the date on this one is really funny because the end of the manga is right after Stalin and crimson Marxism died so it's shockingly possible to imagine a universe where Trotskyists over in Japan did in fact write this comic to silently gloat about the defeat of Stalin
　Leo's parents were killed by poachers. he realizes that animals must work together to defend themselves from humans. (so, we've got a "Stalinist distortion" in the story where Trotsky turned into Stalin / Deng.) Leo unites all the animals to create a farm, to create a kingdom, to create these superficial aspects of town life and modernity. he gathers all the various animal tribes. but he has too much respect for humans. he never wants to disturb what any of the human countries are doing, even as some of them blatantly dominate others, and there are a lot of worrying developments toward humans conquering and poaching the savanna land's animals again. it's clear the animals will have to make a decision on whether to enforce their ways of peace onto the other side of the world or stay behind "the barrier".
　Leo follows humans to a mountain to gather a rare mineral that can help human medical technology. as they go into the mountain it becomes a cold, adverse winter and it seems they won't make it. the lion gives his life and allows the human to take his meat and pelt. the human survives the mountain and emerges back out the other side intact, but having taken the life of a friend. (which sounds a lot like Undertale. I didn't think about it before but Kimba really is kind of like Asgore honestly.) the human, shedding a tear, locks away his axe.

The Lion King (1994)
　title: Leo, prince of Densmark
　characters in Auldernet world make jokes about how obviously this was plagiarizing Leo the Bright, pointing out that both characters are even named Leo.

The Amazing Digital Circus (2023-10, 2026-6) / I have no mouth and I must scream (1967) / The Matrix (1999)
　title: You have no mouth
　this show is not supposed to have existed yet in the year Deltarune / Auldernet takes place, but it's based on two things that blatantly did exist much earlier, so for that reason I'm going to say its position on the timeline is "1999" and give it a pass. the show is either 2D Flash animation and carefully stylized or has crunchy Jimmy Neutron graphics - which is so conceptually funny I might just go for it, imagine it being 'underappreciated because of the baffling choice of visuals'.
　a girl enters a weird digital simulation as a circus clown. she immediately starts trying to escape, but the central computer "Mozart" has decided that anyone who tries to escape this place will be punished. if the characters in the simulation would obey the central computer and not look for forbidden knowledge, they would all be happy. but they're not happy.
　there's a clown, a hen-weathervane witch called "West", a lion, a monkey (think Sun Wukong breaking out of Māyā / the cycle), an antelope girl, and a weird person in a black jacket who carries dice and claims to be the god of dreams. (it's never said out loud but the dice symbolize dreams being seemingly random and yet narratives made of material parts being ultimately predictable.) the black jacket person is a repressed trans woman who presents as an oh-so-mysterious shadow with no gender to hide that he both cannot become a woman and yet doesn't fully want to go back to being a man. the black jacket person created the simulation but due to drama between the characters they have trouble getting any useful information out of him. at the end of the story the black jacket person throws off their jacket and reveals nothing and ceases to exist.
　but, there's also a Trotsky / Wizard of Oz B-plot. the lion discovers that there are actually two master computers and comes up with the idea that if he can get the computers to fight each other and destroy each other they can all get out. the antelope girl is on his side. West doesn't like the idea and says it's too dangerous. the monkey is on her side (because bad puns, he journeyed to the West); early-book or Vegeta-style, he thinks they can control the simulation if they only became strong enough. the clown is on the fence and the black jacket is secretly afraid of making a decision. so the black jacket somehow offers the clown a choice between red and blue: red, they pit the computers against each other, blue, they simply try to save themselves and run away from the simulation if there's any ordinary way out. the clown wavers and considers that maybe West's way is the right way, 'in life you will be happy if you can accept just anything'. but the lion flies off the handle and forges out to carry out his plan himself dragging the antelope with him. West and the monkey turn against him and start controlling the simulation in their favor, putting the lion in a cage so he can't go anywhere. the clown discovers the lion in the cage and is horrified, but he shushes her like, you can't let them find out. West and the monkey have become king and queen of the simulation and imprisoned the AIs so they can't possibly torture the players, but now they have become just like the AIs (there's a silly animation of morphing between the AIs and the king and queen just like in two of the versions of Animal Farm). the clown asks the black jacket if he has any secret powers that could help, the jacket falls away into nothing. the clown stands before the monarchs and says they could still all get out of this if they would only get rid of the AIs like the lion said. the king and queen delete her mouth and turn her into a slug for the rest of her existence. and that's the ending.

Five Nights at Freddy's (2014)
　title: Seven days at Dumpty's
　okay, I'm kind of trolling on this one. this is very distant from Animal Farm or Kimba and pretty much unrelated. but superficially it has like, animal characters that should be happy characters living in harmony and a nasty leader figure who tries to take control of them, and you try to defeat him but he just keeps coming back and keeping anyone from being happy. it shouldn't work and yet the themes are surprisingly there. I also like how it ties into Deltarune's themes of creepypastas and horror.
　there is a pizza restaurant called Dumpty's Pieces which on the outside has a rooster mascot holding up a pizza pie clearly divided into pieces with one piece offset from the pie. the other characters are Jackie Moonshine (jackal), Mikey the crocodile, and Lux the white lion. the conceit of the game is that the evil business overlord appears as Dumpty but is an actual burning dumpster fire and has turned into a twisted phoenix. (he's a 'twisted Easter' like Afton, he controls fire like Sunderkov.) there is at least one game where the ending is actually an escape room where burning Dumpty is trying to set the building on fire and you have to escape before you get cooked.
　there is the potential for such a messed-up backstory on this one, like, Lux was a staff member that tried to go against the company and perhaps form a union with some wider group of people but then she got killed and put in a lion robot. Jackie is a kid that died. Mikey is a terrible union member that tried to walk away with a negotiation and ultimately died when "Dumpty" showed no mercy. so only one of them is a child, who is taken in by Lux.
　the secrets within the game would be like the ghosts slowly realizing they betrayed each other and not just having to move on but specifically having to forgive each other before they can move on.
　the best part of this though is like, "Dumpty" trying to revive his daughter, saying "I will put her back together", and trying to take the mountain of robots and put the pieces together. I have a feeling this whole Humpty Dumpty and putting the pieces together concept is very important to Deltarune, so it is just that final punch that there is an actual oblique connection to Dess in this one. my thoughts on what this means here: in RedactedTale/Auldernet, Dess escaping reality is actually interpreted as a good thing, because Communist theorists can use the 'Materialism powers' of the Titan world to understand the world and make positive changes, so "Dumpty" trying to force his child back into his reality that he controls is then a bad thing, because the good thing is the old system breaking open and only coming back together when there's a new system. I think this is basically what the Shadow Crystal quest in Deltarune is saying: that finding Dess is a bad and perilous thing unless it's done for the right reasons and also in the right way.

auldernet is happening in like... is it happening today? I think it's happening 4 years after Deltarune. just, 'now', although it's yesterday's now as portrayed in Deltarune. so, almost none of the media that adapts Piatya and Sunderkov would be around in their time, but all of these media exist in Ezra and Graf's time.

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