Carmen and Atugia

[Grainy]

I am interested in the godswar and by extension the characters you meet from that era, particularly Carmen. Things I have picked up:

-From Atugia we know both she and Carmen were alive during that period

-While being older than she looks, Evergreen tells us she was not alive during the time of the Godswar (being a few generations removed in fact). But Carmen says at some point both she and Evergreen trained under Komari before they all had a fallout due to idealistic differences. (Atugia should already be in her service during this period)

-Carmen frequently alludes to something that happend that causes her to take an inactive approach to all conflict.

Because Evergreen is likely no older than 50, and I assume the event that scarred Carmen into becoming an inactive hermit happend AFTER their training under Komari; the event must have taken place sometime in between the 50 year time period (because tanuki's mature quickly Evergreen could feasibly started training with them at a real early age).

What confuses me is Atugia should have been around for pre hermit Carmen, for her stint with the Kitsune and history with Evergreen, but it doesn't seem like she knows about any of that.

Please let me know if there a detail I have gotten incorrect, or misremembering.

 

[Animefan666]

While being older than she looks, Evergreen tells us she was not alive during the time of the Godswar (being a few generations removed in fact). But Carmen says at some point both she and Evergreen trained under Komari before they all had a fallout due to idealistic differences. (Atugia should already be in her service during this period)

When asking Atugia about her arrival, she mentions that once Carmen took her in, she started receiving training from her. It's highly unlikely that Carmen was both training under Komari and training Atugia during the same period. Likely, Atugia arrived after Carmen's fallout with Komari and Evergreen.

 

[Grainy]

When asking Atugia about her arrival, she mentions that once Carmen took her in, she started receiving training from her. It's highly unlikely that Carmen was both training under Komari and training Atugia during the same period. Likely, Atugia arrived after Carmen's fallout with Komari and Evergreen.

I recall dialogue with Atugia suggesting she has been with Carmen for the better part of 200 years, am I misremembering? I am pretty certain Evergreen says she is a few generations removed from the godswar so if Atugia has been with Carmen for 200 years she had to be around when Carmen trained with Evergreen.

 

[WolframL]

Evergreen is lying

 

[Grainy]

Evergreen is lying

Oh so she was around for Godswar?

I suppose that would answer something else I wondered, when Evergreen said she learned everything from her mother as her mother learned from the granmother, only to find out Evergreen was training under Komari.

Although even if Evergreen was that old, Komari 200 year prior to the story was still young, a junior to a 4 tailed Kiyoko. Atugia comes under Carmen around that same time.

 

[Animefan666]

Another hole in this is that Atugia never mentions Evergreen or Komari, whatsoever. You'd think if she were telling you about the person that gave her a home, job and education that she'd mention the two people her patron spent so much time with and grew to dislike to the point of severing all contact with.

 

[zagzig]

Another thing is that Atugia, at least in content Gardeford wrote for her, is extremely reluctant to give up Carmen's secrets. (This is a bit different whenever Atugia comes up in floof content where suddenly she can't shut up about how Carmen regularly drains energy from her.) So it's also possible that Atugia knows a lot about Carmen's history with Evergreen and Komari but isn't spilling the beans.

There's also an interesting interaction with Komari that can happen if you're a kitsune champ, have Atugia in your party, and ask about the tree.

"For all that they expressed interest in the ways of my craft, Carmen and Oxana never understood the fundamentals behind the stewardship of living things, especially the latter. They imagined that I was forcing the sacred tree to grow and twist itself into shapes according to my desires and contrary to its nature, which could be nothing further from the truth. A garden has the touch of artifice to it, yet it works best when it behaves in accord the nature of the things that grow with. Letting it run rampant without guidance produces no useful results, and yet forcing it to be what it is not makes the effort so much more tiresome, if not outright impossible. Simply allowing a river to run the course it really wants to is a lot easier than damming and diverting its flow.

"In the end, it did not matter. Once I got wind of what the two of them were up to and what they truly intended, I threw them out from my midst. Carmen I may have regretted a little in doing so, but Oxana... nothing good has come out of that witch and the many so-called daughters she has."

"You can't blame Carmen for what she was doing," Atugia says sullenly from across the room. "She was just trying to —"

"Protect everyone, I know. And in order to do that, she had to live longer than what her body would allow by its nature, which was why she had a particular interest in both the curse I was under and the hunger we foxes suffer as a people. Protect her subjects from Oxana's depredations and worse, in exchange for a small tithe of chi from each one of them. Wholly reasonable."

"Then you ain't supposed to speak of her like she's some kind of criminal or somethin'."

"I appreciate you speaking up for your mistress, but from all accounts she is beginning to realise that maybe this may not have been the best idea, after all. Outliving everyone and everything you care for takes its toll on the mind... residing alone in a dreary old stone castle with only her faithful long-lived retainers, never showing her face amongst the people she rules for fear of beginning to care for them... at least it is more wisdom than Oxana ever had."

 

[Animefan666]

It seems to me that in this instance, it sounds like Atugia is speaking more from Carmen's accounting of events as opposed to having been there herself. I would argue that Carmen hired Atugia BECAUSE of the falling out with Komari and Oxana.