I wasn't going with it being the shade of blood; I was using the surname as the Alternian name of the signs they wear, like to an Alternian Karkat is wearing a Vantas sigil, not a Cancer one. Kind of screwed up with the extended zodiac already. I'm sure there's a way to make it work though. Of course in human AU Tritoh could just be Xef's mum's surname instead... Bit concerned about the new Friendsim. Does this mean we're not getting the new game until all the Friendsims are released? If they're consistently released one a fortnight that'll be roughly five months. Geez.
I assumed the new Friendsim is more intended to try and tide people over and keep interest going in the next Hiveswap chapter. So not necessarily delaying Hiveswap's release in favour of Friendsim, but more like bringing out a bowl of table snacks at a restaurant if the order is taking longer than expected.
Ardata wonders if she's "even GOOD at beiiing siiiniiister" while keeping other children in cages in her basement and putting film of them being forced to build their own torture equipment on the internet. If she thinks she's not good at being sinister, what the hell are her competitors like?
So there's what appears to be a progress bar on the Hiveswap page!... aaaaand it's not moving. And I know it's only been up like a day but I'm IMPATIENT >:(
Okay, got the new Friendsim... Holy shit! Though that and the lack of progress bar movement is close to confirming my thoughts that they're not going to release Act 2 until all the Troll Call have been befriended. Argh!
Spoiler: friendsim 2 so Chahut and Amisia: friends, apparently. also, Cirava freakin' took their own eye out. damn.
Is Amisia supposed to be a little kid? It says she's half the size of the protagonist; if they're an adult human that would make her the size of a preschooler at best, and if they're a carapace she'd be even smaller. Her emotions seem very extreme, too; she goes right from happy squeeing to tantrums.
Dude have you considered she's just short? That is also a possibility. Also children do not have a monopoly on extreme emotions, this entire site is an example.
The specific way she mood swings from happy to suspicious to angry seems fairly childlike, and if she's actually half their size she would be under three feet, which seems unusual for "just short".
Again, adults exist who have mood w swings and actually are that short. Also, we don't actually have her height. Saying someone is half your height is a pretty common way of saying they're short.
Spoiler the single most important thing we could possibly learn from anything set on alternia is that they vape from bug asses
Okay, watching a Let's Play! Spoiler Pegging Skylla as mid-to-late-teens, she's noted to be a bit older than the others we've met so far. And she's absolutely awesome! Her lusus is... an adorable idea, creepily drawn. ETA: She's leaving Alternia next sweep, it seems. Xefros says Dammek's Rites of Maturation happen at seven sweeps, so if that's the same thing as leaving Alternia, she'd be thirteen-fourteen now. Huh, I was guessing she was older than that. She's noted to be tall and looks a lot taller than the others, though the player character is apparently viewing her from a sitting position so maybe that's it, and her eye-to-face ratio is lower than theirs (except Diemen who would have to have little tiny beady eyes for them to be hidden under his fringe).
Spoiler Also I now see a bit better why Bronya's Breath. She says she's not technically breaking laws but is breaking tradition by saving injured wigglers. Since her breaking tradition involves healing and meddling, maybe she's a Sylph?