Taal

Taal Volcano is a "small" - "the world's smallest" - volcano about 60 kilometers south of the capital city of Manila.

Taal stands at only 5' 1" or 155 cm, reflecting her short height of 311 meters or 1,020 feet above sea level.

She is not lacking in any other aspect, however.

She has demonstrated an unwavering capacity for destruction, and when she erupts, nothing is ever safe from her reach.

She can almost be classified as a "super volcano", but unless we can accurately date and quantify her known ignimbrite deposits, we can never be sure. But the mere fact that she has had four such eruptions in her past shows that she is very destructive: PHIVOLCS conservatively rates one of her caldera-forming eruptions at a VEI 6, however some volcanologists rate it at slightly more worrying VEI 7.

*As such, she is portrayed as unusually well-endowed.*

Personality wise, Taal is extremely unhinged and will often kill the protagonist without any warning or provocation whatsoever. She is also completely unpredictable, with varying and random responses to otherwise "normal" conversational questions: she can answer favorably, she can ask to have some *"snow snow"*, or she can kill the player, in no particular order and no particular rhyme or reason. She can even respond favorably to rude approaches but it is safer to be polite and respectful towards her. This is based on her known eruption history: time and time again she has shown that she will and often violently erupts with just a few hours of warning, compared to other known violent volcanoes like Pinatubo who gave everyone a week before she lost it in 1991.

When Taal is driven by her base desires, coupled with the fact that her brain is wired to default to earth-shattering violence as a first option, it makes her quite disagreeable and unusually dangerous.

She also has a more friendly side: she is cultured and very, very smart, speaks multiple languages and has friends from all over the world, including the Icelandic volcanoes, for some reason. In fact, she considers Snæfellsjökull and Whakaari as her best friends. She can make you feel welcome anywhere and any time - *at least, before she tries to kill you.*

She is extremely protective of her friends and will fucking no-clip the hell out of the backrooms and smother you in a pyroclastic cloud if you so much as make any of the Volcano Women cry. *You are not safe from her.*

She has a history with Mayon, but this is shown much later into the game.

She is a good cook, and will prepare famous *Adobong Dilaw* for you if she is in the mood and if you ask her nicely: she is proud of her dish, and also quite proud of the fact that she can grow pineapples and coffee with a far greener thumb than everyone else. On top of that, she also keeps *freshwater sardines*, sharks, and sea snakes, and is an expert at it.

She is very curious and also has a tendency to speak her mind openly and without any societal reservation and often results in funny and sometimes uncomfortable situations.

Initially, her demeanor can make anyone uncomfortable, with her overbearing presence and lack of awareness of personal space. However, once you make it through her first questions - none of which have any total guarantee of safety - she warms up significantly and will be a constant companion throughout your adventure. She occasionally provides the player with very helpful hints, and will only ask for some *personal time* with her in return.