From 95555ddc328cff30a4ec23b89449e5e5ee034d1e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: wassname <1103714+wassname@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:55:12 +0800 Subject: [PATCH] better md format --- nbs/mjc_001_download.ipynb | 3028 ++++++++++-------------------------- pyproject.toml | 2 + 2 files changed, 789 insertions(+), 2241 deletions(-) diff --git a/nbs/mjc_001_download.ipynb b/nbs/mjc_001_download.ipynb index 2ca0e826..9a2176fc 100644 --- a/nbs/mjc_001_download.ipynb +++ b/nbs/mjc_001_download.ipynb @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 1, + "execution_count": 18, "id": "198de680", "metadata": { "ExecuteTime": { @@ -20,17 +20,26 @@ "start_time": "2022-06-28T02:34:01.864103Z" } }, - "outputs": [], + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "The autoreload extension is already loaded. To reload it, use:\n", + " %reload_ext autoreload\n" + ] + } + ], "source": [ "# autoreload your package\n", "%load_ext autoreload\n", "%autoreload 2\n", - "import rrational\n" + "# import rrational\n" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 2, + "execution_count": 19, "id": "a372ed7c", "metadata": { "ExecuteTime": { @@ -42,10 +51,10 @@ { "data": { "text/plain": [ - "1" + "2" ] }, - "execution_count": 2, + "execution_count": 19, "metadata": {}, "output_type": "execute_result" } @@ -82,7 +91,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 3, + "execution_count": 20, "id": "a91f5c82", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -92,7 +101,7 @@ "True" ] }, - "execution_count": 3, + "execution_count": 20, "metadata": {}, "output_type": "execute_result" } @@ -106,18 +115,10 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 4, + "execution_count": 21, "id": "54a03c3a", "metadata": {}, - "outputs": [ - { - "name": "stderr", - "output_type": "stream", - "text": [ - "Version 7.7.1 of praw is outdated. Version 7.8.1 was released Friday October 25, 2024.\n" - ] - } - ], + "outputs": [], "source": [ "\n", "import praw\n", @@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 5, + "execution_count": 22, "id": "fc3cb5ba", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -143,7 +144,7 @@ "Subreddit(display_name='rational')" ] }, - "execution_count": 5, + "execution_count": 22, "metadata": {}, "output_type": "execute_result" } @@ -184,7 +185,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 6, + "execution_count": 23, "id": "874c72dd", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ "10492" ] }, - "execution_count": 6, + "execution_count": 23, "metadata": {}, "output_type": "execute_result" } @@ -223,7 +224,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 7, + "execution_count": 24, "id": "1d1601bb", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -273,7 +274,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 8, + "execution_count": 25, "id": "c8ac4023", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], @@ -304,7 +305,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 9, + "execution_count": 26, "id": "a9fe1659", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -329,7 +330,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 10, + "execution_count": 27, "id": "49fc099b", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], @@ -341,7 +342,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 11, + "execution_count": 28, "id": "5b4856f6", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -350,7 +351,7 @@ "output_type": "stream", "text": [ "10460\n", - "10262\n" + "10263\n" ] } ], @@ -365,7 +366,7 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 28, + "execution_count": 66, "id": "5d7d0214", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], @@ -380,24 +381,30 @@ " return f\" *{obj.author_flair_text}*\"\n", " return \"\"\n", "\n", + "import humanize\n", "\n", - "def format_comment(comment, depth=0, upvote_threshold=2):\n", + "def format_comment(comment, depth=0, upvote_threshold=2, t0=None):\n", " if comment.score < upvote_threshold:\n", " return \"\"\n", " \n", - " # TODO add hours ago from last comment\n", - " ts = pd.to_datetime(comment.created, unit='s').isoformat()\n", - "\n", - " # TODO add author_flair_text\n", + " ts = pd.to_datetime(comment.created, unit='s')\n", + " if t0 is not None:\n", + " delta = ts - t0\n", + " delta = humanize.naturaldelta(delta.total_seconds() )\n", + " else:\n", + " delta = \"\"\n", "\n", " indent = \">\" * (depth+1) + \" \"\n", - " author_line = f\"{indent}**u/{comment.author}** [{comment.score:+}] {format_flair(comment)}*\\n\"\n", - " dedented_body = textwrap.dedent(comment.body).strip().replace('\\n\\n', '\\n')\n", + " author_line = f\"{indent}**u/{comment.author}** [{comment.score:+}] {format_flair(comment)} ({delta} later)\\n\"\n", + " dedented_body = textwrap.dedent(comment.body)\n", + " # use re to replace multiple newlines with a single newline\n", + " \n", " indented_body = textwrap.indent(dedented_body, indent)\n", - " comment_block = f\"{indent}\\n{indented_body}\\n{indent}\\n\\n\"\n", + " indented_body = re.sub(r'\\n\\n+', f'\\n{indent}\\n', indented_body.strip())\n", + " comment_block = f\"{indent}\\n{indented_body}\\n\\n\"\n", " formatted = author_line + comment_block\n", " for reply in comment.replies:\n", - " formatted += format_comment(reply, depth + 1, upvote_threshold)\n", + " formatted += format_comment(reply, depth + 1, upvote_threshold, t0)\n", "\n", " return formatted\n", "\n", @@ -406,11 +413,11 @@ " post_content = []\n", " post_content.append(f\"## {post.title}\\n\\n\")\n", " if verbose:\n", - " ts = pd.to_datetime(post.created, unit='s').isoformat()\n", + " ts = pd.to_datetime(post.created, unit='s')\n", " post_content.append(f\"* Author: u/{post.author} {format_flair(post)}*\\n\")\n", " post_content.append(f\"* URL: {post.url}\\n\")\n", " post_content.append(f\"* Score: {post.score}\\n\\n\")\n", - " post_content.append(f\"* Created: {ts}\\n\\n\")\n", + " post_content.append(f\"* Created: {ts.isoformat()}\\n\\n\")\n", " post_content.append(\"### Post:\\n\\n\")\n", " if post.is_self:\n", " content = post.selftext\n", @@ -421,36 +428,248 @@ " post_content.append(\"### Comments:\\n\\n\")\n", " post.comments.replace_more(limit=None)\n", " for comment in post.comments:\n", - " post_content.append(format_comment(comment, upvote_threshold=comment_score_threshold))\n", + " post_content.append(format_comment(comment, upvote_threshold=comment_score_threshold, t0=ts))\n", " post_content.append(\"---\\n\\n\")\n", " return ''.join(post_content)\n", + " \n", "\n", - "\n" + "# m = submission_to_markdown(submission, -100, verbose=True)\n", + "# print(m)" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 49, + "execution_count": 74, + "id": "1695432e", + "metadata": {}, + "outputs": [ + { + "data": { + "text/plain": [ + "{'comment_limit': None,\n", + " 'comment_sort': 'confidence',\n", + " '_reddit': ,\n", + " 'approved_at_utc': None,\n", + " 'subreddit': Subreddit(display_name='rational'),\n", + " 'selftext': 'Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, \"rational\" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things \"belong\". Still, if you\\'re looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps [take a look at the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/wiki)?\\n\\nIf you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.\\n\\n[Previous automated recommendation threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/search?q=%22Monday+Request+and+Recommendation+Thread%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) \\n[Other recommendation threads](http://pastebin.com/SbME9sXy)',\n", + " 'author_fullname': 't2_6l4z3',\n", + " 'saved': False,\n", + " 'mod_reason_title': None,\n", + " 'gilded': 0,\n", + " 'clicked': False,\n", + " 'title': '[D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread',\n", + " 'link_flair_richtext': [],\n", + " 'subreddit_name_prefixed': 'r/rational',\n", + " 'hidden': False,\n", + " 'pwls': 6,\n", + " 'link_flair_css_class': None,\n", + " 'downs': 0,\n", + " 'thumbnail_height': None,\n", + " 'top_awarded_type': None,\n", + " 'hide_score': False,\n", + " 'name': 't3_1gzkrd4',\n", + " 'quarantine': False,\n", + " 'link_flair_text_color': 'dark',\n", + " 'upvote_ratio': 0.97,\n", + " 'author_flair_background_color': None,\n", + " 'subreddit_type': 'public',\n", + " 'ups': 31,\n", + " 'total_awards_received': 0,\n", + " 'media_embed': {},\n", + " 'thumbnail_width': None,\n", + " 'author_flair_template_id': None,\n", + " 'is_original_content': False,\n", + " 'user_reports': [],\n", + " 'secure_media': None,\n", + " 'is_reddit_media_domain': False,\n", + " 'is_meta': False,\n", + " 'category': None,\n", + " 'secure_media_embed': {},\n", + " 'link_flair_text': None,\n", + " 'can_mod_post': False,\n", + " 'score': 31,\n", + " 'approved_by': None,\n", + " 'is_created_from_ads_ui': False,\n", + " 'author_premium': True,\n", + " 'thumbnail': 'self',\n", + " 'edited': False,\n", + " 'author_flair_css_class': None,\n", + " 'author_flair_richtext': [],\n", + " 'gildings': {},\n", + " 'post_hint': 'self',\n", + " 'content_categories': None,\n", + " 'is_self': True,\n", + " 'mod_note': None,\n", + " 'created': 1732546813.0,\n", + " 'link_flair_type': 'text',\n", + " 'wls': 6,\n", + " 'removed_by_category': None,\n", + " 'banned_by': None,\n", + " 'author_flair_type': 'text',\n", + " 'domain': 'self.rational',\n", + " 'allow_live_comments': False,\n", + " 'selftext_html': '

Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, "rational" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things "belong". Still, if you're looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps take a look at the wiki?

\\n\\n

If you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.

\\n\\n

Previous automated recommendation threads
\\nOther recommendation threads

\\n
',\n", + " 'likes': None,\n", + " 'suggested_sort': None,\n", + " 'banned_at_utc': None,\n", + " 'view_count': None,\n", + " 'archived': False,\n", + " 'no_follow': False,\n", + " 'is_crosspostable': True,\n", + " 'pinned': False,\n", + " 'over_18': False,\n", + " 'preview': {'images': [{'source': {'url': 'https://external-preview.redd.it/P8lS0kk6BFe2IEo6TxCZd1LVwksc34IkzGTVx_SCc8w.jpg?auto=webp&s=b9f5c4e4867fbffb2c1ff45dd70aa338d1e3f40c',\n", + " 'width': 150,\n", + " 'height': 150},\n", + " 'resolutions': [{'url': 'https://external-preview.redd.it/P8lS0kk6BFe2IEo6TxCZd1LVwksc34IkzGTVx_SCc8w.jpg?width=108&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3d74dbe4f1d67cc8b587db9aa01762f26e269bcf',\n", + " 'width': 108,\n", + " 'height': 108}],\n", + " 'variants': {},\n", + " 'id': 'OgFzGCIRw1ZxjMOSkfV1OiH-_nQiZl8rzSonmOAuhGs'}],\n", + " 'enabled': False},\n", + " 'all_awardings': [],\n", + " 'awarders': [],\n", + " 'media_only': False,\n", + " 'can_gild': False,\n", + " 'spoiler': False,\n", + " 'locked': False,\n", + " 'author_flair_text': None,\n", + " 'treatment_tags': [],\n", + " 'visited': False,\n", + " 'removed_by': None,\n", + " 'num_reports': None,\n", + " 'distinguished': None,\n", + " 'subreddit_id': 't5_2rdak',\n", + " 'author_is_blocked': False,\n", + " 'mod_reason_by': None,\n", + " 'removal_reason': None,\n", + " 'link_flair_background_color': '',\n", + " 'id': '1gzkrd4',\n", + " 'is_robot_indexable': True,\n", + " 'report_reasons': None,\n", + " 'author': Redditor(name='AutoModerator'),\n", + " 'discussion_type': None,\n", + " 'num_comments': 67,\n", + " 'send_replies': False,\n", + " 'contest_mode': False,\n", + " 'mod_reports': [],\n", + " 'author_patreon_flair': False,\n", + " 'author_flair_text_color': None,\n", + " 'permalink': '/r/rational/comments/1gzkrd4/d_monday_request_and_recommendation_thread/',\n", + " 'stickied': False,\n", + " 'url': 'https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1gzkrd4/d_monday_request_and_recommendation_thread/',\n", + " 'subreddit_subscribers': 26213,\n", + " 'created_utc': 1732546813.0,\n", + " 'num_crossposts': 0,\n", + " 'media': None,\n", + " 'is_video': False,\n", + " '_fetched': True,\n", + " '_additional_fetch_params': {},\n", + " '_comments_by_id': {'t1_lywwuzg': Comment(id='lywwuzg'),\n", + " 't1_lywyz00': Comment(id='lywyz00'),\n", + " 't1_lyxfk6y': Comment(id='lyxfk6y'),\n", + " 't1_lyzjfer': Comment(id='lyzjfer'),\n", + " 't1_lz14liv': Comment(id='lz14liv'),\n", + " 't1_lzi7ua2': Comment(id='lzi7ua2'),\n", + " 't1_lzoj718': Comment(id='lzoj718'),\n", + " 't1_m04olfu': Comment(id='m04olfu'),\n", + " 't1_m06o6iy': Comment(id='m06o6iy'),\n", + " 't1_m08zbyx': Comment(id='m08zbyx'),\n", + " 't1_lyyqen0': Comment(id='lyyqen0'),\n", + " 't1_lzc388p': Comment(id='lzc388p'),\n", + " 't1_lzeagkk': Comment(id='lzeagkk'),\n", + " 't1_lzeazep': Comment(id='lzeazep'),\n", + " 't1_lzfsz3z': Comment(id='lzfsz3z'),\n", + " 't1_lywzkry': Comment(id='lywzkry'),\n", + " 't1_lyx6ej2': Comment(id='lyx6ej2'),\n", + " 't1_m1v01t0': Comment(id='m1v01t0'),\n", + " 't1_lyx59dk': Comment(id='lyx59dk'),\n", + " 't1_lyzwab9': Comment(id='lyzwab9'),\n", + " 't1_lz89juk': Comment(id='lz89juk'),\n", + " 't1_lyz7lj3': Comment(id='lyz7lj3'),\n", + " 't1_lyzc0zi': Comment(id='lyzc0zi'),\n", + " 't1_lzleff9': Comment(id='lzleff9'),\n", + " 't1_lyy9ze8': Comment(id='lyy9ze8'),\n", + " 't1_lz1p95j': Comment(id='lz1p95j'),\n", + " 't1_lyxbwg0': Comment(id='lyxbwg0'),\n", + " 't1_lyxzcfi': Comment(id='lyxzcfi'),\n", + " 't1_lz8uv26': Comment(id='lz8uv26'),\n", + " 't1_lzaklle': Comment(id='lzaklle'),\n", + " 't1_lzht3td': Comment(id='lzht3td'),\n", + " 't1_m10vi42': Comment(id='m10vi42'),\n", + " 't1_lyzdwx4': Comment(id='lyzdwx4'),\n", + " 't1_lz8ahfk': Comment(id='lz8ahfk'),\n", + " 't1_lz1pdzv': Comment(id='lz1pdzv'),\n", + " 't1_lyyh4b2': Comment(id='lyyh4b2'),\n", + " 't1_lyykg4u': Comment(id='lyykg4u'),\n", + " 't1_lyzm968': Comment(id='lyzm968'),\n", + " 't1_lz02ae9': Comment(id='lz02ae9'),\n", + " 't1_lyy56kf': Comment(id='lyy56kf'),\n", + " 't1_lyzhtis': Comment(id='lyzhtis'),\n", + " 't1_lyyikoa': Comment(id='lyyikoa'),\n", + " 't1_lzzmtut': Comment(id='lzzmtut'),\n", + " 't1_m00lftr': Comment(id='m00lftr'),\n", + " 't1_lyyawbp': Comment(id='lyyawbp'),\n", + " 't1_lzinw1l': Comment(id='lzinw1l'),\n", + " 't1_lyy7rpu': Comment(id='lyy7rpu'),\n", + " 't1_lz8wja2': Comment(id='lz8wja2'),\n", + " 't1_lz8x6dj': Comment(id='lz8x6dj'),\n", + " 't1_lz8z5hx': Comment(id='lz8z5hx'),\n", + " 't1_lyzoxmo': Comment(id='lyzoxmo'),\n", + " 't1_lz2ae57': Comment(id='lz2ae57'),\n", + " 't1_lz527vf': Comment(id='lz527vf'),\n", + " 't1_lz54evx': Comment(id='lz54evx'),\n", + " 't1_lz55q32': Comment(id='lz55q32'),\n", + " 't1_lz5829g': Comment(id='lz5829g'),\n", + " 't1_lz59zbc': Comment(id='lz59zbc'),\n", + " 't1_lz5cp7q': Comment(id='lz5cp7q'),\n", + " 't1_lz5l753': Comment(id='lz5l753'),\n", + " 't1_lz5o6ma': Comment(id='lz5o6ma'),\n", + " 't1_lyzrx5x': Comment(id='lyzrx5x'),\n", + " 't1_lz0zxas': Comment(id='lz0zxas'),\n", + " 't1_lzzn0ew': Comment(id='lzzn0ew'),\n", + " 't1_m01cvop': Comment(id='m01cvop'),\n", + " 't1_m010glc': Comment(id='m010glc'),\n", + " 't1_lz5p4bz': Comment(id='lz5p4bz')},\n", + " 'num_duplicates': 0,\n", + " '_comments': }" + ] + }, + "execution_count": 74, + "metadata": {}, + "output_type": "execute_result" + } + ], + "source": [ + "submission.__dict__" + ] + }, + { + "cell_type": "code", + "execution_count": 86, "id": "af0eb6bb", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], "source": [ "\n", - "post_fields = ('id', 'title', 'permalink', 'score', 'created_utc', 'num_comments', 'permalink', 'selftext', 'is_self', 'author_name', 'author_flair_text', 'upvote_ratio')\n", - "comment_fields = ('id', 'comment_author_name', 'score', 'created_utc', 'body', 'permalink', 'author_flair_text')\n", + "post_fields = ('id', 'title', 'permalink', 'score', 'created_utc', 'num_comments', 'permalink', 'selftext', 'is_self', 'author_flair_text', 'upvote_ratio')\n", + "comment_fields = ('id', 'score', 'created_utc', 'body', 'permalink', 'author_flair_text')\n", "\n", "def comment_to_json(comment):\n", - " return {k: v for k, v in comment.__dict__.items() if k in comment_fields}\n", + " d = {k: v for k, v in comment.__dict__.items() if k in comment_fields}\n", + " d['author'] = comment.author.name if comment.author is not None else None\n", + " return d\n", "\n", "def submission_to_json(submission):\n", " post_json = {k: v for k, v in submission.__dict__.items() if k in post_fields}\n", " post_json['comments'] = [comment_to_json(x) for x in submission.comments.list()]\n", + " post_json['author'] = submission.author.name if submission.author is not None else None\n", " return post_json\n" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 50, + "execution_count": 87, "id": "7b210872", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ @@ -460,7 +679,7 @@ "PosixPath('../data/cache2')" ] }, - "execution_count": 50, + "execution_count": 87, "metadata": {}, "output_type": "execute_result" } @@ -473,30 +692,30 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 51, + "execution_count": 88, "id": "e13fca40", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ { "data": { "text/plain": [ - "PosixPath('../data/json2')" + "PosixPath('../data/json3')" ] }, - "execution_count": 51, + "execution_count": 88, "metadata": {}, "output_type": "execute_result" } ], "source": [ - "jsondir = Path(\"../data/json2\")\n", + "jsondir = Path(\"../data/json3\")\n", "jsondir.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)\n", "jsondir" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 52, + "execution_count": 89, "id": "d0c1a164", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], @@ -538,14 +757,14 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": 56, + "execution_count": null, "id": "ea499486", "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ { "data": { "application/vnd.jupyter.widget-view+json": { - "model_id": "647f34f4016647bba9234588fc005a5b", + "model_id": "964cebcec7994430abb824467c124659", "version_major": 2, "version_minor": 0 }, @@ -560,2272 +779,599 @@ "name": "stdout", "output_type": "stream", "text": [ - "## Worth the Candle - Chapter 192 - Cooldown\n", + "## [D] Monday Request and Recommendation Thread\n", "\n", - "* Author: u/xamueljones *My arch-enemy is entropy**\n", - "* URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478249/chapters/55944202\n", - "* Score: 237\n", + "* Author: u/AutoModerator *\n", + "* URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1g3gg9n/d_monday_request_and_recommendation_thread/\n", + "* Score: 29\n", "\n", - "* Created: 2020-03-28T00:42:22\n", + "* Created: 2024-10-14T14:00:14\n", "\n", "### Post:\n", "\n", - "[Link to content](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478249/chapters/55944202)\n", + "Welcome to the Monday request and recommendation thread. Are you looking something to scratch an itch? Post a comment stating your request! Did you just read something that really hit the spot, \"rational\" or otherwise? Post a comment recommending it! Note that you are welcome (and encouraged) to post recommendations directly to the subreddit, so long as you think they more or less fit the criteria on the sidebar or your understanding of this community, but this thread is much more loose about whether or not things \"belong\". Still, if you're looking for beginner recommendations, perhaps [take a look at the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/wiki)?\n", + "\n", + "If you see someone making a top level post asking for recommendation, kindly direct them to the existence of these threads.\n", + "\n", + "[Previous automated recommendation threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/search?q=%22Monday+Request+and+Recommendation+Thread%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) \n", + "[Other recommendation threads](http://pastebin.com/SbME9sXy)\n", "\n", "### Comments:\n", "\n", - "> **u/alexanderwales** [+89] *Time flies like an arrow**\n", + "> **u/Nivirce** [+25] (a day later)\n", "> \n", - "> Note: this is a four chapter batch, so there are three other chapters aside from the one linked above. Also, [you can read this on RoyalRoad as well,](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25137/worth-the-candle/chapter/473773/cooldown) if that's your preference. Next set of chapters might be on the slower side: shelter-in-place order means that preschool is shut down, which means that I have about fifteen hours less per week that I can devote to writing.\n", + "> I am once again recommending **An Undertow of Sand** ([FFN](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13894611/1/An-Undertow-of-Sand) - [AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/works/32244394/chapters/79914832) - [SB](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/an-undertow-of-sand-percy-jackson-and-the-cthulhu-mythos.941042/) - [SV ](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/an-undertow-of-sand-percy-jackson-and-the-cthulhu-mythos.90629/)- [QQ](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/an-undertow-of-sand-percy-jackson-and-the-cthulhu-mythos.15568/)) by Shujin, A PJO/Cthulhu Mythos fusion that hadn't been updated for a year, until last week when we finally got a new update.\n", "> \n", + "> **Premisse**: In the Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraft implies that several of the Great Old Ones and Other Gods were worshipped through history by multiple cultures under different names. The Hook of Percy Jackson canon is the idea that the gods, heros and monsters of ancient myth really existed and not only that that they exist to this day and have influence that is hidden from common people. This story essentially joins these two ideas, with some adaptations: There are several types of gods, and only some of them are Lovecraftian (usually, but not always, protegenoi/primordial gods.\n", + "> \n", + "> Additionally, as the setting of the story is the mid-2000s, Lovecraft himself is a known author who influenced pop-culture, so the story takes the stance that the names that Lovecraft uses are just that: names that he uses, but that they are *not* names these beings would recognize, they are just words Lovecraft invented. So Cthulhu is not \"Cthulhu\", he is instead \"Pontus\"; Shub-Niggurath is not \"Shub-Niggurath\", she is \"Nyx\", and so on.\n", + "> \n", + "> The story follows Percy Steele, son of Dorian Steele — a New York lawyer — and the Elder God that greeks knew as Ananke, the primordial goddes of inevitability, compulsion and fate — and also the being Lovecraft called \"Nyarlathotep\". The Great Prophecy clearly states that \"A half-blood child of the Eldest Gods/ shall reach sixteen against all odds\" and so, when he is taken from the Mórrígan (who is, of course, just another of Nyarlathotep's masks) for a cross-pantheon violation and is thus deposited in Camp Half-Blood, he is imeditaly claimed and all at once everyone realises that there was no reason to believe that the Great Prophecy refered to the sons of Kronos when it mentioned the \"Eldest Gods\".\n", "\n", - ">> **u/xamueljones** [+22] *My arch-enemy is entropy**\n", + "> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+13] (an hour later)\n", + "> \n", + "> So, I've got to talk about [Sokaiseva](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/35293/sokaiseva), which was recommended here some time ago.\n", + "> \n", + "> Warning, this is more a vent and a critique than a recommendation.\n", + "> \n", + "> The normal summary would be the following.\n", + "> \n", + "> This is the story of a fucked up kid child soldier in the modern world where some fucked up people get powers. This isn't known to the general population. \n", + "> \n", + "> There are like 10 different types of powers. Some people are very strong from the beginning and some aren't. While you can get better at using them, especially if you're in this first group, you can't really get stronger. Combat between powered people is brutal and fast, in less than 10 seconds we have a winner and a dead loser.\n", + "> The MC is the strongest known hydrokinetic at 12 years old.\n", + "> \n", + "> If you want the actual essence of the story, it's Worm told by a Soviet veteran. Let me explain.\n", + "> \n", + "> Every single character we meet is a sad, broken person who tumbles through life because it's all they know. We're told of extremely intelligent and charismatic leaders, who make the most obvious mistakes constantly. \n", + "> \n", + "> Young parahuman soldiers follow the ideals and orders of their charismatic and hyper intelligent leaders, mostly in order to delay Armageddon, until they realize that these ideals are worthless and they're just murderers and torturers. Then, they follow orders because it's all they know and they somehow still have loyalty to their leader.\n", + "> \n", + "> And all this work is only a doomed race against extinction, because sooner or later the big red button will be pressed and billions of people will die.\n", + "> \n", + "> The story has some great beats and interesting themes.\n", + "> For example: (medium-big spoiler) >!The MC gets blind. She manages to, well, manage with the use of her powers, but unlike how it's done with worm or worm related fanfic this remains a constant disability she has to deal with, and both her and the readers are reminded of this constantly.!<\n", + "> \n", + "> However, the pacing is atrocious. It has around 1100 pages right now, and it could be at least half that without changing the story all that much. \n", + "> \n", + "> The chapters are meandering, repetitive, and it does manage to put you in the skin of these grey sad soldiers who repeat their actions because it's all they know, longing for the moment they finally die/the chapter ends.\n", + "> And this is by reading it all at once, if I read new chapters as they came out, once a month, I would have dropped it much earlier.\n", + "> \n", + "> For me, this story is in that spot where it has some very good stuff going on, but it's completely overshadowed by its flaws.\n", + "> \n", + "> If none of these sound like flaws to you, give it a try and let me know. \n", + "> \n", + "> I myself am looking for books with better pacing, where we have lots of words but it doesn't feel like it. \n", + "> So please do recommend stories where the pacing is fast and/or the number of pages is long but you wouldn't care if it was even longer. Right now I only have in mind Mother of learning as an example.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/cupicrackdelavidah** [+8] (11 hours later)\n", ">> \n", - ">> Sorry about that. I should have followed your preference of posting all 4 of the chapter titles in the post title.\n", - ">> For the future, would you have preferred it, if you were the one to have posted the chapter links to r/rational?\n", + ">> Thresholder on RR (by Alexander Wales) is relatively well known in here. It's about a guy who travels worlds, gets thrusted into conflict, and obtains powers along the way. The arcs seem to be independent from one another, with side characters constantly changing. Although that is something I personally think will change in the near future, with the way the story is developing.\n", ">> \n", + ">> Another one is String (by Sivam) on RR. This one is extremely underrated in my opinion. It's about superheroes, with a world similar to Worm. The superpower of the main character is to upgrade technology, which is a completely OP power. It's a struggle sometimes, MC makes some stupid decisions fairly often. But the his superpower makes it worth the read. The side characters and their motivations are done really well, and the antagonists are cool too. It's one of my favorites currently.\n", "\n", - ">>> **u/alexanderwales** [+28] *Time flies like an arrow**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Doesn't really matter to me, I just have a format that I follow. I do have a preference for RoyalRoad, for reasons outlined in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/fc4uyj/rtwip_worth_the_candle_ch_185191/fj8jo1a/?context=3). But it doesn't matter that much. (I'd also probably have marked this as the end of Book VIII, as I know some people only catch up when there's a defined stopping point.)\n", + ">> **u/LaziIy** [+5] (3 hours later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Just a heads up, your spoiler isn't a spoiler. The markdown for spoiler is >! TEXT !<, just without any spaces between the text and the ! such as: >!TEXT!<\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+2] (3 hours later)\n", ">>> \n", + ">>> Thanks!\n", "\n", - ">>>> **u/nytelios** [+21] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Can you mod flair it as End of Book 8?\n", + ">>>> **u/steelong** [+2] (20 hours later)\n", ">>>> \n", + ">>>> Your spoiler tag still does not work on desktop. You need to remove the space between the first exclamation point and the start of your text.\n", "\n", - ">>>>> **u/alexanderwales** [+37] *Time flies like an arrow**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Sure, seems like only a very minor abuse of mod power. :)\n", + ">>>>> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+1] (20 hours later)\n", ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> Damn, this spoiler stuff is pretty annoying. Give me a sec.\n", + ">>>>> Edit: It works for me? Might be an old reddit issue?\n", "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+14] *We are the Empire.**\n", + ">>>>>> **u/EdLincoln6** [+2] (a day later)\n", ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Two years later: That's when it all went downhill...\n", + ">>>>>> I'm on desktop and it works for me.\n", ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> And I really don't think the issue is the \"space\". Everyone parrots that, but I've run into problems where I knew there was no space. I think it's a bit of tech support advice that applied several Reddit upgrades ago.\n", "\n", - ">>>> **u/GrizzlyTrees** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I admit to being one of those, I like getting the notifications for new chapters and thinking \"I'm saving this for a rainy (or Corona) day\", but now that I see end of book, I'm more tempted to cash it in. \n", - ">>>> (to be honest, I thought we're on book 4 or 5, so maybe it's time for a reread)\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/sicutumbo** [+75] *\n", - "> \n", - "> > I had no idea what ‘jumping a broom’ meant, except from context, but wasn’t really in the mood for a lesson on Aerb idioms.\n", - "> Not an Aerb idiom btw. I think AW made a similar joke like this before, though I forget where\n", - "> > “‘This too shall pass’,” said Amaryllis. The Bible stuff made me uncomfortable, and I felt like there had been more of it lately.\n", - "> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_too_shall_pass?wprov=sfla1\n", - "> Not a Bible quote.\n", - "> I'm glad I caught two of these on my first pass, usually I miss the more subtle jokes like this until someone else points them out.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/x3as** [+39] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> There's a woodworking reference Fenn makes the chapter after Juniper gets rid of his woodworking skill, and Joon dismisses it as Aerb stuff.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/thefran** [+48] *Tile the Universe in Countryballs**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Amaryllis says \"being fucked by a swan\" and Fenn brings up Ledah, which Juniper just dismisses as some Aerb joke. This one hurts in retrospect because it's Greek mythology which she studied to understand him better.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Anderkent** [+39] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Yeah I love those small touches that betray Juniper's ... bias, let' say, in cultural education :P\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+15] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I does make the early \"Know 2 was bullshit\" comment all the funnier.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/LazarusRises** [+4] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Eh?\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+5] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> It's in the first 5 chapters or so when he rants about having drunk deep from wikpedia I think I've done too many re-reads this year.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+4] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> It's also an interesting reversal because he spent the fist few books as the only one with earth knowledge, cracking jokes and making references only he understood. Now they're doing it to him\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/dcb720** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> It sounded like a reference to Heinlein's Glory Road but there it was jumping a sword that was part of a marriage ceremony.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/burnerpower** [+69] *\n", - "> \n", - "> God damn. I feel like I'm repeating myself every chapter release, but it blows me away how you consistently write such excellent chapters.\n", - "> Cooldown:\n", - "> The conversation with Raven was very interesting. I don't think Juniper was in the wrong with his bloodthirstiness. I do like how Raven approached the conversation though. (Mostly. There is something to be said about her disrespecting his wishes for downtime, but I can understand why she wouldn't want it to fester.) Even if I don't think he did anything particularly wrong, it was worth talking about. I'm actually getting a little worried about Raven. I had wondered why she never put in the time to master a magic besides library magic, but to hear that she had and it had just been stripped from her is rough. I know loyalty is a bad metric and that she is an ell, but its also a little concerning how low her loyalty still is. I do think Juniper is making a genuine effort to connect with her, but most of the time it's just been a little off. That's the vibe I get.\n", - "> I have less to say about Grak and Amaryllis. Juniper and Amaryllis continue to get along really well. It's interesting to see how they are meeting each other halfway. Juniper is putting more effort into being a better person and she is putting in the effort to be more empathetic and understanding. Good stuff. Grak is becoming scarily powerful. I'm not even sure how you'd counter him if you had too. (Short of something that's explicitly bs like Shia or a dragon.) A little worrying to see him question Juniper's sincerity these days. Its unfortunate that loyalty is always there in the background poisoning the well. In Grak's defense they almost certainly would have never become friends without it.\n", - "> Coda I:\n", - "> Well. What a way to bait us before leading in to the upcoming horror. Honestly, I don't feel bad for Hyacinth. She brought every bad thing that happened to her on herself. Maybe there was an alternate path that would have prevented all of this, but I find it hard to believe. If she actually cared about Larkspur, then that path was ruined by him trying to actively hunt down and murder Amaryllis through brazenly illegal methods. Even worse they had abandoned Anglecynn with no plans to come back. Hyacinth actively dragged Amaryllis to Anglecynn then has the fucking gall to act like what happened is somehow their fault? Yarrow and Zinnia committed the greatest taboo on Aerb in an act of unprovoked aggression. Hells, Amaryllis tried to work out a deal with her. If Onion runs black sites like the one Juniper was put it is clear that he is just as guilty as the rest of them. I'd buy that he cares about his family, but it doesn't give him a pass for being so immoral. No. She gets some small amount of pity for the baby and that is it. If she hadn't been so brazenly self centered maybe she could have pulled her head out of her ass long enough to realize she is the architect of her own doom. (Not a knock on the writing, just my reasons why her guilt trip didn't work on me.)\n", - "> And then Shia LaBeouf out of nowhere, but not actually because his existence was very cleverly reminded to the reader in the previous scene. Juniper handled him very well, its just a shame about the dragon who was also carefully foreshadowed. What a great way to end the chapter. The dread was palpable.\n", - "> Coda II: I gotta say, the mental image of Shia with his arm buried in a gold dragon's eye was not one I expected to have today. Watching everyone pull out the big guns to fight him and seeing him just shrug it off was excellent. This story has a gift for engaging action scenes and its truly incredible how varied they can be. I'm surprised that the GM hasn't smacked down Juniper for unicorn bones yet. I know it is a limited resource, but its bailed him out of a lot of fights at this point. I'm expecting them to run out of bones, try and kill a unicorn for more then get it excluded. Either that or more opponents like Shia who have some ability to counter it. \n", - "> Family: Damn. I liked Pallida. Rough for her to be gone so suddenly. (Of course she's not actually gone, but for the purposes of the time scales the story works with she is.) Not terribly emotional about Gemma for similar reasons that Juniper laid out. I think I covered my opinion on Hyacinth relatively well earlier. Good on them for killing Rosemallow. I'm worried about Amaryllis's emotional state, but Rosemallow always seemed like a dangerous ally. In retrospect meeting with her at all was a huge mistake from a loss of life perspective. From a personal power perspective I think this is probably one of the best possible outcomes for the group. Amaryllis's new virtue is bonkers. It is the perfect bonus for her and to some extent seems to be the DM accommodating the group's general distaste for politicking. I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here, and I wonder what tricks Blue in the Bottle has up his sleeve. (Assuming they still do that quest.) Probably some truly degenerate necromantic effects beyond even what we've already heard about him for it to be exclusion worthy.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+31] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> > The conversation with Raven was very interesting\n", - ">> It has a lot of parallels to [the conversation we see between Juniper and Tiffany in flashback](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478249/chapters/26687037) where she's talking about him taking Arthur's death as an excuse to be self destructive and lash out. \n", - ">> > “I worry that you,” she stopped and bit her lip, “I worry there’s a part of you that’s sinking into it. It’s … well, my uncle, he has a CCW license, and the way he talks about maybe having to use it one day it’s like you know that he’s just high on this fantasy of getting to shoot someone to death.”\n", - ">> > \n", - ">> > “You think I wanted Arthur to,” die, but I couldn’t get the word out. The words were coming out monotone anyway, devoid of the anger that I should have been putting behind them.\n", - ">> > \n", - ">> > “No,” said Tiff. “No, no no no, it’s, the thing I’m trying to say is that it’s like you’re waiting to show people how much you’re hurt. And I get that. I want to scream at them too, to ask how they can just keep carrying on when he’s,” dead, she couldn’t say it either, “gone. And I know that I was this, interloper, I wasn’t his best friend, I know it’s harder for you.” She was quiet for a while as she blinked back a fresh round of tears. “I’m worried that you’re hurting, and there’s something alluring about the pain, because it’s a righteous, meaningful pain. I,” another sigh and a deep, steadying breath, “don’t want you to keep going down this dark path.”\n", - ">> > \n", - ">> But in that case he dismissed her as not understanding, but with Raven he's more open to it, which shows a degree of character development. \n", - ">> Good to see the companions noticing/calling him out on his behaviour. Interesting none made the connection to him manipulating his Spirit to remove pain that was discussed in the thread for the last set of chapters. Actually, did he ever tell them he did that?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/burnerpower** [+9] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> He told Pallida and Solace so I imagine it made its way back to the rest of the group.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/None** [+55] *\n", - "> \n", - "> [deleted]\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+25] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> My read would be that she considered the first stages of their conflict to be part of the standard \"game\" that the nobles play. Which has implicit rules on how much it is okay to escalate. \n", - "\n", - ">> But Onion escalated it by kidnapping Juniper et al, (which she either wasn't part of planning, and Onion did it because he's a sociopath who considers \"the game\" beneath him. Or she considers it acceptable to use violence agaisnt a nobles minions, not them directly). \n", - ">> After that, from her perspective, June and Amy escalated by moving from a legal battle to a trial by combat that killed Onion with a figleaf of legality. Then they poisoned her and Phlox to cement their power. (Again escalation outside the accepted bounds) So she responded with the only weapon she had that matched that level\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+15] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I disagree. I think Hyacinth is fairly representative of reactionaries throughout History, because she doesn't generalize ethics. I think the defining line for her character was, \"we never would have done what we did if we'd known what you were.\" The only thing that her side ever respected was power. They'd have tried to kidnap, mindfuck, and kill without remorse. Power is something that is used against the less powerful, and it's better to destroy everyone than give it up. The other side is evil because they're the the other side, and thus anything is acceptable to destroy them.\n", - ">>> Her side was already grossly violating the rules well before the group went back to Anglecynn. Onion already was using trial by combat against other people before she was even born. Larkspur was making deals with Doris Finch, which the text seems to imply she knew about. Her side sent paramilitary agents after Amaryllis, and she never shows having the slightest second thoughts after she found out about this.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/wren42** [+5] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I think she was earnest from the beginning that killing lackspur was an emotional blow. It's possible amy is projecting her own lack of emotions and attachment and hyacinth was never manipulative. From her perspective they were fugitives that killed her husband and poisoned her unborn child\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/nohat** [+3] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I mean she tried to assassinate Mary multiple times, and was clearly in on the kidnapping attempt. Frankly its surprising more people don't retaliate with the Cannibal.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/UPBOAT_FORTRESS_2** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> How many of those assassination attempts can be cleanly laid on Hyacinth? Given that Rosemallow clearly only views her relationships instrumentally, and Mary's death could've been an effective bludgeon or scapegoat for all kinds of things.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/wren42** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Agreed. I had a suspicion early on that rosemallow was manipulating the whole conflict to bring Mary back in the fold. Hyacinth might have had very little agency in the end\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Bowbreaker** [+18] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I would still have liked to know what her actual value metrics looked like. How much of her excuses were genuine to herself and how much was just selfish power grabbing that she either lied to herself about, or just to everyone else.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+26] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Similarly I wish we'd seen Rosemallow's values when Juniper was using soul magic on her. Its still unclear whether she actually cared about Amy and believed her reasoning that it was for the greater good. (Though I imagine narratively that was deliberate on the part of the author)\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+36] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> She was also drugged up by Rosemallow and potentially just a catspaw.\n", - ">> Notably Rosemallow had the ability to poison her family members at will and a cloning entad.\n", - ">> I would guess the \"real\" story is Onion vs. Rosemallow, the classic direct leadership w/ swordman vs political realist manipulator. Juniper and Company just took the Rosemallow route to the end and then killed her.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/UPBOAT_FORTRESS_2** [+6] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Yeah - if we have any more Anglecynn, I hope we get some more details about Rosemallow. She heavily influenced Mary, who has been our central POV into the political machinations of the Lost King's Court.\n", - ">>> Was Mary raised by the worst spider to perceive the world as a spider? The text repeatedly implies that Mary is over-cynical, seeing everything as a calculated act of manipulation. How many moments of \"is this just an act?\", and then reflexive self-doubt \"why am I thinking it's just an act?\", have we had?\n", - ">>> Hyacinth claims that Onion and Larkspur had straightforward, authentic relationships. There's very little \"playing the game\" in personal interactions that gets revealed in the Anglecynn chapters. She's growing warmer to Joon, and I wonder if that's going to extend to her remaining cousins, too.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/aeschenkarnos** [+11] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> She is an obvious narcissist, which seems to run in the Penndraig family.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/sibswagl** [+47] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Man, I feel for Amy here. I think she ultimately made all the right plays against Hyacinth, but you can *feel* the optimal path just out of view. At what point was this course irreversible? Could they have avoided killing Larkspur? Larkspur was after them from the start, this wasn't just a case of murderhoboing, but it still feels bad.\n", - "> And then the one-two punch of Rosemallow. Just oof.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Jarwain** [+69] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I feel like a big issue is that she doesn't take the emotions of other Penndraig's seriously, likely because of how she was raised and her interactions with Rosemallow.\n", - ">> She never took Hyacinth's emotions seriously, and believed that she was acting. She was skeptical about the pregnancy and was ultimately biased against sincerity from Hyacinth.\n", - ">> Of course, Rosemallow's background machinations were the other half of the issue, and not one easily discovered\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+48] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I don't think it's just with other penndraigs, not taking into account people's emotions is a recurring issue. See with Esuan (tuung mother) being upset about the loss of culture even after the discussion, trust problems with Fallateher, and even her early actions with Juniper. On a party level it's an issue that Joon always defers to her about people stuff when him or another party member might be better\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/newgan** [+12] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Even until the very end she was not taking Hyacinth seriously. I felt really bad for Hyacinth in this batch, the way she was explaining it Mary and Juniper really seemed like the villians\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/MadMozgus** [+41] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I didn't take Hyacinth seriously either. The bitch was hostile to them from the start. It's hard to feel sympathy for the idiot that keeps poking a sleeping bear and then feels affronted when she ends up getting mauled.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+30] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> [deleted]\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/Bowbreaker** [+2] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Just going by the facts I can't think of any Penndraig who didn't deserve what they suffered through when they became a target of the Council of Arches. Keeping in mind that the number of those were only 7 (I'm not counting Shia's many victims).\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/i6i** [+10] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Going by which facts? We don't actually know anything about these peoples real motives and circumstances which is very much by design. It'd be entirely unsurprising that Amarilys getting pulled back into Anglysh politics was a play by Rosemallow for which Hyacinth served as a useful patsy and that from their perspective Onion's faction was always facing steep odds fighting both against world ending threats and a corrupt aristocracy on the verge of staging a coup. \n", - ">>>>>>> That was kinda the point of these characters that they're what Juniper and his merry band of co-conspirators look like form the outside.\n", + ">>>>>>> **u/Tirear** [+3] (a day later)\n", ">>>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>>> Spaces still consistently cause problems on old reddit. When other features have wired issues on old reddit (*glares at numbered lists*) I don't see a problem telling people to (temporarily) switch to another version or deal with the improperly displayed output, but spoiler tags are unique in that once you see the tags aren't working it is too late to switch.\n", "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/okokok4js** [+8] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Lisi (whose status is unknown and whose parting words with Reimer was a classic deathflag) probably didn't deserve whatever suffering she got.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>> **u/Bowbreaker** [+4] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>> True. Forgot about her. But she wasn't really their target and, as I said, I'm not really counting Shia's victims in my statement. Other than Shia, what bad things happened to her?\n", + ">>>>>>>> **u/EdLincoln6** [+2] (2 days later)\n", ">>>>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>>>> Perhaps...but I KNOW that a lot of the times people say they can't see the spoilers, there were no spaces.  I've checked that a thousand times.\n", "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/None** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Hyacinth being a naive waif out of depth would be far more convincing if she hadn't routinely lied to Amaryllis, including when she was emotional.\n", + ">>>>>> **u/grekhaus** [+1] (22 hours later)\n", ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> Still not working. The space is still there.\n", "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> As I said [in another comment,](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/fq9t4q/worth_the_candle_chapter_192_cooldown/flqohkv/) Hyacinth seems to be seperating the acceptable power plays between nobles from \"serious\" conflict where you try and kill eachother\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+12] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> ... but they did try to murder Mary. They tried really hard.\n", - ">>>>>> They even sent *special forces* to her trial, tasked with killing her *and* all witnesses. Twice.\n", - ">>>>>> As some point, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+40] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I don't. She and hers repeatedly sought out the conflict, she doesn't get to paint herself as a martyr no matter how much she loved her little cabal.\n", - ">>>> Yes, Mary didn't take her grief seriously and it turned out to be real. Her grief was also something she used to distract Mary while her forces abducted and tortured Mary's allies.\n", - ">>>> So she can't really complain about having what little humanity she has ignored - she was weaponizing it.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Bowbreaker** [+24] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> It was Hyacinth that made Amaryllis come back in the first place, which makes any justification about how Amy is trying to grab power and must be stopped ring hollow. Hyacinth wanted her stuff, escalated without stopping, and got surprised when her victm's power proved boundless. It was her machinations that put the Kingdom up as collateral, and now she lost.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+30] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Not just her stuff, but to *force her into sterilization*. Literally mutilating someone for your own political gain. And people think they should have gone full shonen and devoted all of their time and energy to making nice with this kind of enemy?\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/nohat** [+19] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> The optimal path against Hyacinth was assassinating her long ago. She had gone after them so many times with absolutely no provocation on their part, sicked dragons on them, ambushed a peace negotiation, plotted to have them kidnapped, tortured, soul screwed. There was no possible basis to work with her, and leaving her alive was leaving a dagger at their back -- a Surprise dagger as it turned out (a capability they knew she had). After fighting so long to keep Hyacinth alive for no real benefit, and massive downsides, Amaryllis suddenly kills Rosemallow despite it being much more practical for Rosemallow to stay alive and help them. I'm really not sure what that's supposed to mean about Amaryllis's character growth. Did she learn her lesson from Hyacinth? Does she just love her mom a lot more than she lets on to herself?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/burnerpower** [+33] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Rosemallow was inherently untrustworthy. Her background machinations helped escalate the conflict far beyond what the party was comfortable with and is the reason Hyacinth went off the deep end. Killing her was the smartest play considering Rosemallow murdered Amaryllis's mother who was her ally at the time.\n", - ">>> That said I do agree that they should have assassinated Hyacinth. For all the moralizing certain members of the party did about Juniper's bloodthirstiness, it turned out one strategic murder would have saved a lot more lives. Though to be fair thats only easy to see in hindsight. I think considering the knowledge they had they made the best decisions they could.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Bowbreaker** [+19] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I mean they really couldn't have seen the Shia Surprise coming. Evil and murderous political enemies only rarely end up strapping on a suicide vest when things don't go their way.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+26] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Especially since they had critical information missing.\n", - ">>>>> From their perspective, Onion agreed to a trial by combat, and died after trying to kill them. He knew the risks when he went in; Hyacinth would have known that, and wouldn't have killed herself over it (even if she hated Mary and Joon for the rest of her life).\n", - ">>>>> What pushed her over the edge was her unborn child being killed. She told them about it, but Mary and Joon didn't take it seriously because *they're not the ones who did it*, and it just didn't occur to them that someone else could have poisoned Hyacinth until it was too late.\n", - ">>>>> From their perspective, they played completely fair, and they won. From Hyacinth's perspective, they killed her unborn child out of sheer pettiness after killing everyone else she cared about.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/t3tsubo** [+8] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> If they took her emotions seriously and at face value, they could have realized that grieving enemies with nothing to lose often do put on suicide vests.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+13] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> It seems Hyacinth was following her faction course: it's the next logical escalation step after a chain of kidnapping & soulfucking facilitated by deploying an indescriminate death effect, deploying the greatest swords-mas in the world and him getting destroyed, and the relative decapitation of the faction and its future leadership (the most direct line candidate being aborted cements Mary's line's power).\n", - ">>>>>> I do think Mary was making a good play recommending counseling and i don't see much better rotes, assassinating Hyacinth was more pragmatic, but there are enough slippery slopes already in play.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Mountebank** [+12] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Except Zinnia did the exact same thing just a few days ago with that death-duplicating creature that she released. June was punished in that instance for hesitating to resort to violence immediately, and then they were punished again with Hyacinth. By the rule of three, Rosemallow presented the exact same situation but this time the lesson was learned and the GM rewarded them for it. They learned whatever lesson the GM wanted them to learn, but I wouldn't be surprised if the GM then stabs them in the back during the next adventure for doing the exact same thing.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/Bowbreaker** [+11] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Zinnia released a dirty bomb. She didn't actually put herself in the blast range.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/Revlar** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> They absolutely did not learn any intended lesson because there was no intended lesson. The GM is permissive and plays ball, meets expectations. He gives them a reward because they fulfilled the companion quest, even if not in a way he would've intended or even enjoyed.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/nohat** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Oh, I agree about killing Rosemallow, but they could have probably left her in position, learned her secrets, and tied up Anglecynne in a bow, their supposed goal. That was never an reasonable option with Hyacinth. Rosemallow is a schemer, but she's never actually acted against the party (not counting Mary's mother). She also has really good reason to be careful, and history of being cautious. As for Hyacinth, I've been advocating her for murderhoboing for a while -- it was clear that going in to negotiate with her was never going to work out.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+23] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> > Rosemallow is a schemer, but she's never actually acted against the party (not counting Mary's mother). She also has really good reason to be careful, and history of being cautious. \n", - ">>>>> Her reaction to being told \"Give up power, or we kill you\" was to answer \"Not going to do it, you need me too much\".\n", - ">>>>> I'm reminded of that Twig quote that goes \"when you have an institution that's designed to breed cutthroats, every now and then you end up with someone who just can't stop cutting\".\n", - ">>>>> The pattern with the Penndraigs so far has been that they just can't stop themselves from backstabbing people, even when it's really damn clear it's going to get them killed.\n", - ">>>>> Yarrow's reaction to being told by someone he knew had killed a kaiju (sitting next to one of Uther's knights) that they would kill him if he used his entad was to go \"Meh, you don't go anywhere in life by listening to threats\" and use the entad anyway.\n", - ">>>>> I'm pretty sure if they'd let Rosemallow go, she would have been exactly the same. She would have kept pulling shortsighted, sociopathic grabs for power, no many matter how many times she got caught, no matter how much Joon threatened her, because in her mind *consequences are something that happens to other people*.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/nohat** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> I think you are correct about Anglecynne, but I don't think Rosemallow is short sighted. She is very long sighted. She is the opposite of Hyacinth because she only backstabs with careful consideration of the long term consequences, whereas Hyacinth does it over and over, trying to salvage the failure of the last betrayal with an even higher stakes betrayal. Fully giving up the reigns would be giving up the game, something that Rosemallow apparently believes would lead to disaster. She believes that rationally Amaryllis knows she is worth way more alive than dead. Knows that she can prove her (medium term) good intentions / behavior to this uber soul mage, and figures that Amaryllis is negotiating. Amaryllis says \"the offer on the table is...\" Rosemallow refuses, and makes a counter offer. Amaryllis responds by killing her. I think Rosemallow didn't take Amaryllis's emotions regarding her mother into account, because Amaryllis should be very logical and optimal like Rosemallow is, like Rosemallow trained her to be. So I suspect Rosemallow would have been the perfect ally, while very carefully building a lot of contingencies to betray them, that might or might not have ever been triggered.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/None** [+6] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Amaryllis was logical and optimal, its why she killed Rosemallow once Rosemallow declared herself \"too important to be killed or removed from power\".\n", - ">>>>>>> Rosemallow killed her way to the top and manipulated a whole lot of Anglecynn from behind the scenes, either Amarylllis kills her or she surrenders Anglecynn to the woman who killed her mom and raised her as a optimizing machine.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>> **u/CronoDAS** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>> There's a rule of corporate management/politics that I once read: if anyone ever becomes absolutely irreplaceable and nobody else could possibly do their job, fire them immediately. Someone like that is too dangerous to have around.\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/i6i** [+18] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> >but she's never actually acted against the party\n", - ">>>>> more accurately she never got caught\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/nohat** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Fair enough, though presumably any peaceful arrangement would have involved Juniper verifying that she hadn't sabotaged them before, or planted any waiting bombs.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+14] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Rosemallow was the one who deserved the suspicion and attention, she was effectively Amaryllis's mother (by killing her mom) and raised her to be an effective tool in politics.\n", - ">>> Having reached a point where Rosemallow says pretty clearly \"yeah I'm staging the 2nd Reformation and you're the tool for the job!\" along with \"oh yeah I killed your mother, our political rivals and also spent immense effort to arranging everything\" you kinda have to stab the mastermind before they do mastermind things.\n", - ">>> Amaryllis got clowned on when Rosemallow said to her face \"lol im not retiring you dumbass, i'm your mother (cuz i killed her) and you need me!\" and then Amaryllis killed her. Either they kill Rosemallow or surrender the kingdom to Rosemallow the entrenched operative who thinks she's too valuable to kill.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/tarkalak** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Or was that Rosemallow at all? There was no defeated message and they admitted that it was very likely that.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> It was almost certainly a clone.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Irhien** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I don't think these were their only options.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+13] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Generally entering a partnership with a woman who poisons her coworkers and \"friends\" on a regular basis is a very bad plan. If you don't need spontaneous poison woman you're better off without her.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+10] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> I really don't think there was any other option.\n", - ">>>>> The word \"sociopath\" gets used a lot in these kinds of story, but I think it's accurate here. Rosemallow was convinced she would never get caught, that she would never face consequences for her actions.\n", - ">>>>> She kept thinking that *even after she got caught* and Mary told her to her face \"Accept our terms or we kill you\".\n", - ">>>>> Juniper had the right idea. If it had looked like she was cooperating (and it didn't), that'd just have meant she was preparing another backstab.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+4] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> What alternative do you propose, without using the clone power?\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/xachariah** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Soul Magic solves every problem. Well, as long as you also have spirit magic to make it permanent.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+7] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> I see this sentiment a lot but it's not that simple. The Lost King's Court has invested enormous amounts of effort into counters for Soul Magic. Even if you ignore the morality brazenly soul fucking everyone you come across isn't practical. On top of that if they fuck up once they get caught and the entire Empire goes after them.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+4] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> If teenage or mid twenties operatives in the lost kings court can defy soul magic I doubt the head of a faction doesn't have countermeasures in place.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>> And that countermeasure was easily defeated by Spirit, a magic that virtually no one knows about.\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>> **u/AnimaLepton** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>> It's not been confirmed that Spirit is immune to detection by Anolia abilities. The other poster already mentioned entads. But from a narrative perspective, there's no point to giving someone effectively unlimited resources and no social obstacles when we're maybe ~60% into the story. Just because no one we see knows about the magic doesn't mean that there aren't ways to defend against it just as a knock-on effect of defending against soul magic. Not to mention the host of torch-it-to-the-ground contingencies, ranging from treaties and allies to memes.\n", - ">>>>>>>>> I personally don't feel that way with the unicorn bones, but someone else posted in this thread about how the unicorn bones are starting to feel like a constant bailout.\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>>> **u/ArcFurnace** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>>> I *am* starting to wonder how many of those bones he has left. They're explicitly a limited resource, but *how* limited?\n", - ">>>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>> And if the countermeasure is instead ented based, a trusted inspector , or an organization? These are all reasonable safety measures to take even at the price of curtailing one's own autonomy in a world where someone soul fucking the head of your conspiracy is a known thing. Kinda like murdering the diplomancer in the two year emperor. \n", - ">>>>>>>>> In a past career I worked on nuclear power plants, and around strategic weapons. Part of making sure bad things don't happen is making sure you don't have single points of failure, if one thing fails you still have plans that work around it and procedures to bypass it, or alternate sources. Onion and the Aunt are almost single points of failure for their competing systems (As an aside I'm really looking forward to finding out what thier fundamental disagreement is or if the are just allusions to our own tribal politics hard power/soft power dichotomy) and Mary has shown us the while corrupt and a nest of vipers the lost kings court is a mostly competent bureaucracy, so I don't expect soul hacking someone would be much more effective than a humint source, those are very damaging but are also something that is actively worked against.\n", - ">>>>>>>>> TLDR I think even if you make the modifications permanent Soulraping is too much of a known quantity for the lost kings court not to have active measures in place. They'd inevitably get caught. Besides from a general transhumanist perspective: it's mindcrime.\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Revlar** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I'm fairly certain this is the complete opposite of the real path the narrative hints at. I'm fairly certain the \"optimal path\" for all of Amaryllis quest required both her and Joon to be very different than how they are. The whole quest line seems built on the idea of long term investment in the characters within it, which Joon and Amaryllis are completely incapable of at this point.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/AnimaLepton** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Right, it seems unlikely that the \"lesson\" here is \"murderhobo everyone in your path before they can hurt you.\"\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Accord_** [+2] *Chaos Legion**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> After soul-searching and clearly finding out she murdered Mary's mother my guess is Rosemallow would never trust them not to eventually kill her after she's served her practical purpose and thus she would immediately start planning against them. It seems terribly unwise to have such a powerful opponent and let them prepare against yourself while fooling yourself that she has practical purpose.\n", - ">>> Hyacinth didn't seem to be such a big threat in comparison and they couldn't have possibly known it would escalate in this manor so it makes sense not to outright kill her.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/nohat** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I mean Hyacinth might not seem like a threat because she's failed so far, but when someone repeatedly tries to kill you, backstabs you during negotiations, and is generally utterly untrustable, you know its going to end poorly. They totally could have anticipated the Cannibal. They knew he was narratively likely to show up eventually, and they knew she had that capability (and the lost kings court is generally the primary risk factor for Shia Surprises). Sure they wouldn't expect her to sacrifice herself, but it was definitely a possibility, and it was a given that she would escalate, likely using some unknown and terrifying capability (like that snake bomb monster dropped on them in ambush that no one but Raven even knew existed, and could have killed them with no warning or defense).\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Reply_or_Not** [+21] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> > At what point was this course irreversible?\n", - ">> My guess is that it was the interaction where Hyacinth was begging June and Amy to say why they killed her husband.\n", - ">> Remember how June asked Amy why she played that interaction so cold and Amy only tried to “figure out her angle” never once imagining that her grief was real and that Hyacinth had no alternative motives\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/nohat** [+25] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Remember she refused to admit to going after them, despite their offer of a quid-pro-quo in the supposedly private room. She was also using her supposed grief to lure them into ambush both times. So even if her grief was genuine she was using it to backstab them.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/burnerpower** [+21] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Did this happen? The only scene I can recall is in the mirror room chapter when Hyacinth demands that Amaryllis confess to murdering Larkspur and Juniper wasn't there. Obviously even if Hyacinth had no ulterior motives confessing would be lunacy. Especially since Hyacinth was arguing in bad faith and her people were attacking Juniper as she had this conversation. She even rushed a deal so that Amaryllis couldn't figure out what she had done before making it. I'm pretty sure they were already past the point of no return with Hyacinth the moment she sicked the dragons on them.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+9] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Makes me wonder what Onion's and Phlox's goals and view of the Kingdom were, and if Amaryllis and Co. were on the wrong side the whole time\\^\\^\n", - ">> Edit: wrong\\*er side, if that were a word...\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+16] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Onion seemed to veiw the normal actions of the Court with contempt, and think the military was what mattered\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+13] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I can't see any indication that they wanted to make things any better, only improve and secure their positions within the awful system.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/westward101** [+7] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> >At what point was this course irreversible?\n", - ">> I'm not sure irreversible is the right term, but it's pretty clear that Hyacinth was truly grieving over Larkspur's death and wanted the simple truth about his death from Amyarillis in the Mirror Room ( Chapter 185). After A. refuses to acknowledge her part in it, H. leaves to sic Yarrow and Zinnia on Joon, Raven, and Pallida in the Prince's Room (Chapter 180).\n", - ">> Additionally, if Amyarillis and Joon had spoken earnestly after the trial (Chapter 193), somewhere private as she asked, perhaps Hyacinth wouldn't have unleashed ACSLB.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/burnerpower** [+24] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I think you got your timeline wrong. Hyacinth sicked Zinnia and Yarrow on the group before ever stepping foot in the Mirror Room. When she left she found out that it had gone disastrously wrong which is why she rushed back in the room to make a hasty deal. It's also why she desperately argued to prevent Amaryllis leaving the room to find out what she had done. The whole \"deal\" fiasco was done in bad faith by her the entire time.\n", - ">>> Also she was blatantly trying to lure them to a killzone where she would summon the Cannibal. Her emotions may have been genuine but she was trying to use them to manipulate Juniper and Amaryllis.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/westward101** [+6] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I'm pretty sure my timeline is correct. The text isn't chronological, it splits for a few chapters to show different perspectives. Plus things didn't go disastrously wrong for H, they went (almost) as planned. \n", - ">>>> While it works emotionally, there in Chapter 185:\n", - ">>>> \" If Raven was here, now, walking into the Hotel Delzora, then when had the enemy action in the Prince’s Room happened? It must have been during the meeting, but when? The obvious answer was that it had happened when Hyacinth had stepped out, or been precipitated by something she’d said to someone on the outside, but that meant that she’d made a contract in a hurry because they had been trying to kill Juniper in the other room\"\n", - ">>>> Hyancinth's emotional state after the trial is similar to that in the Mirror Room. More bitter obviously, but I think there was still a chance at that point of straight dealing with her and avoiding the nuclear cannibal.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+7] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> I'm pretty sure framing a full scale magical fight in Uther's castle with a skent being released and Yarrow catatonic as things going almost right is a bit generous. I do admit that the quoted passage is some evidence for your interpretation. That said this was just a guess from Amaryllis after the fact and the timeline is never 100% confirmed. In the dumbest entad chapter the party waits five sentences before Yarrow/Zinnia show up. In the Mirror Room chapter: \"Hyacinth arrived in the Mirror Room after not too much time had passed, late, but only fashionably so.\" This to me indicates Yarrow/Zinnia were already in the room with Juniper's group before Hyacinth ever entered the Mirror Room. To my mind Hyacinth never really cared about making a deal and the whole thing was just a pretense to soulfuck the party and turn them on Amaryllis while she was away from them. She just wanted a confession so she could feel better about all the aggression she was about to unleash on Amaryllis.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+4] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Yarrow had that earplug the whole time, and Zinna confirmed (after being soulfucked) that they were not supposed to attack them if the meeting went well. So Hyacinth went out of the room to order the attack.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Ah. Forgot about Zinnia confirming the timeline. Sending a message via earpiece does explain how that could work. I will concede that I was wrong and that at this point there was still a chance for a better outcome with Hyacinth. I do still think that using the meeting to set up such a possibility does still constitute an element of bad faith dealing.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>> Both sides did bad faith dealing. I don't think there was a realistic way to deal with Onion's side peacefully. Not while they were convinced that Mary and co. were Rosemallow's loyal minions.\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>> When did Juniper and Co deal in bad faith? The closest they ever came to that was when Amaryllis said she would consider Hyacinth's ridiculous deal then went to talk to Rosemallow. Besides comparing sides will quickly reveal that Hyacinth's side initiated every hostility. Trying to equate the two is incredibly disingenuous.\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/westward101** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> I can't discount an actual in-story character's framing of the timeline in favor of counting sentences. That's not how fiction works for me. To me, the author is literally telling the reader in case it wasn't clear from the H's actions.\n", - ">>>>>> It's possible that Hyacinth is pure evil and Team Juniper didn't err in handling her. I think the evidence favors another side, but regardless, as long as it's unclear, I find Evil Hyacinth and Good Team Juniper a more boring story than one in which Team Juniper made a terrible, disastrous mistake.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> That's an understandable interpretation. That said, this story has a history of unreliable narration so I'm not going to place too much stock in Amaryllis's immediate guess about what happened when she still wasn't even sure what had happened. I actually agree that Team Juniper made a disastrous mistake. I just disagree about when and where it happened. I think Hyacinth had this image in her head of them all being patsies of Rosemallow and treated them as such. It's why when Amaryllis appeared to accept her deal it caught her off guard as much as it did. Then when the party went and met with Rosemallow it to Hyacinth confirmed all the awful assumptions she had about them. At that point she decided to go full hostile and created a meeting in bad faith because in her opinion Team Juniper were already bad faith actors as well.\n", - ">>>>>>> With all that said, I still think Hyacinth is a self centered fool. Her life would have been so much easier and better if she had never intentionally dragged the party back into a country they wanted nothing to do with. I don't have much pity for her even if she had some misguided ideas about what kind of people she was dealing with.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Nic_Cage_DM** [+10] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I remember thinking that killing larkspur might have been a mistake the instant it happened. There was never any solid proof he was trying to kill them and the last thing he said was \"wait\", before juniper killed him looking for that level up high.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/burnerpower** [+36] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Umm... He actively brought five helicoptors and a small army to hunt them down. You think he had some other objective besides killing the party? He was just desperately trying to plead for his life but didn't get the chance. I suppose your interpretation is possible but its a pretty radical reading of the text in my opinion.\n", - ">>> Edit: Oh with foreknowledge now I bet he was trying to summon the Cannibal. He was doomed anyway.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/westward101** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Larkspur was trying to lure the Cannibal? What? Pushing a giant fucking red button, which won't save his life, to kill his wife's teenage cousin and some punk kid? That's not right.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/nohat** [+12] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Well it would get instant revenge, and get his beloved wife a great deal of entads plus safety from Amaryllis. He'll die anyway. Really the main argument against it is that no one would be around to bottle his soul. I wonder if that has prevented a lot of people from using whatever nuclear self destruct button they have.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+8] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Well, *someone* sent special forces after Mary during the trial by combat.\n", - ">>> Given that the guys trying to kill Mary then were Color Riot, and the guys he took with him during his helicopter raid were *also* Color Riot, it... kinda paints a picture.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/sibswagl** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> To play Devil's advocate, he was working with a Doris Finch. That alone escalates the conflict to kill-or-be-killed, considering it's an executable offense.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+3] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Amaryllis stabbed his face so he couldn't talk during that fight, its more on her (though Juniper would've totally killed him).\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Mary has always known escalating to the cannibal was an option and fought accordingly.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Shia hadn't been mentioned yet in story, talking to Larkspur would've led to a potential Onion route on Anglecynn.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+3] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> I guess we are looking at it from two different perspectives: i.e. did AW plan shia as a weapon in the Anglecynn armory before he mentioned it or not? The only other foreshadowing you can really see for it is gagging people dropped into the risen land, but you have to squint really hard for that one.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> It was planned I'm sure. Before they kill Larkspur, Amaryllis makes veiled references to information that it isn't safe for her to tell the group.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/morgf** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> When Hyacinth first came into Bethel and threatened Amy, I thought the thing to do was to make her disappear. The kind of threats Hyacinth made were serious enough that it was prudent and right to just end her.\n", - ">> And darned if my thought did not turn out to be correct. Look how many lives would have been saved (probably).\n", - ">> But then the plot would have been short-circuited and there would be a lot less hand-wringing.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/AnimaLepton** [+1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> If they murdered her willy-nilly when there were effectively witnesses and contingencies, Onion could've come with the might of Anglecynn and crushed them, or the dragons who were anyway there with her as allies who would've been happy to burn the island out of spite.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/morgf** [+1] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> No, they would make her disappear. No witnesses. And the other stuff does not matter. Don't be a coward.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/AnimaLepton** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Larkspur is explicitly mentioned early on by the people trying to kill Amaryllis in the Risen Lands, but they don't meet Larkspur until Chapter 38, immediately after going to Cranberry Bay. It's possible that a different path of action early on could have avoided him, or other quests could've come first, which could've changed the nature of the conflict. In Chapter 37, to address the Rat Rot and Soul Magic concern, they were also considering heading to Quills and Blood or Caledwich- Larkspur could've still tracked them down due to Doris Finch/the elf reserve, but maybe Caledwich would've meant standing for trial rather than getting into a firefight. Somethings would've gotten worse, others would've gotten better.\n", - ">> Furthermore, that's just for meeting him. There are a good dozen chapters between when they meet him and when they kill him, including the chapter where they come up with exclusion zones and potential quests. Because Juniper keeps pushing it off, I'm always curious as to what quests/storylines would've been in play if they'd done 'They Say You Can’t Go Home Again' or 'Straddling Worlds' early since they were seemingly earlygame quests. Assuming rat rot and boneitis are constants, once Amaryllis' rat rot was cleared, there were a lot of chain of events that could've led to picking up soul magic. 43 is when they get a bunch of quests, including Kuum Doona. 57 is the start of the next major quest after Larkspur, breaking Fallatehr out, but breaking him out early would've changed things, let alone being able to come to a temporary agreement with him.\n", - ">> For the point of no return, I think handling the final conversation better (with empathy) would've helped, and even summoning the Cannibal someplace secluded might've actually been better for Joon and Mary. It's the little things that add up. More realistically, it was probably when Rosemallow killed Hyacinth's unborn child.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Revlar** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> The optimal path is impossible for Amaryllis as she's set up, which is suspicious if intentional.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/xachariah** [+77] *\n", + "> **u/RandomIsocahedron** [+14] (12 hours later)\n", "> \n", - "> Pack it up boys, we've got the best line of the entire story.\n", - "> >!Shia LaBeouf was on fire and punching a gold dragon in the face.!<\n", + "> I'm looking for stories with state-building or national leadership as a focus, with protagonists who either lead polities or hold powerful / influential positions. Some examples would be *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* and some of the *Foundation* books. *A Practical Guide to Evil* seems to be in the same vein, although I didn't finish it because it started feeling like a slog a little over halfway through. Any recommendations?\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/GlueBoy** [+8] *anti-skub* (2 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Leadership: \n", + ">> \n", + ">> * Shogun - I read it as a teenager and it's still among my favourite novels ever. the deuteragonist Yoshii Toronaga is a fictional expy of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third and final great unifier of japan, and one of the best iterations of the \"Magnificent Bastard\" trope imo. \n", + ">> * The Folding Knife - Another \"magnificent bastard\", this time the protagonist\n", + ">> * Goblin Emperor \n", + ">> * The Traitor Baru Cormorant\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Nation-building + leadership: \n", + ">> \n", + ">> * Ash & Sand' trilogy by Richard Nell - One of the two protagonists storyline is basically purely nation building. My favourite indie book/trilogy by far, it's a shame how little attention its received.\n", + ">> * Tree of Aeons - The writing can be rough, but the kingdom building aspect is well developed. \n", + ">> * Ar’Kendrithyst \n", + ">> * The Mars trilogy \n", + ">> * Destiny's Crucible by Olan Thorensen - also uplift\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/RandomIsocahedron** [+2] (2 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Great list, thank you so much!\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/DomesticatedDungeon** [+4] (3 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [*House of Cards*](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/HouseOfCardsUS) (1st season)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` seconding [*Tree of Aeons*](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/20568/tree-of-aeons-an-isekai-story/)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `~` [*Release That Witch*](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/ReleaseThatWitch)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `?` [*Purple Days*](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/PurpleDays)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `?` [*The Masquerade Series*](https://www.goodreads.com/series/199001-the-masquerade)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `?` [*The Merchant Princes*](https://www.goodreads.com/series/40515-the-merchant-princes) Series\n", + ">> \n", + ">> ---\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [*Young Woman's Political Record, A*](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13002064) \n", + ">> \n", + ">> `?` [*Young Girl's Game of Thrones, A*](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-young-girls-game-of-thrones.1095557/#post-92896145)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `~` [*The Safehold Series*](https://www.goodreads.com/series/58713-safehold)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `~` [*The Empire Trilogy*](https://www.goodreads.com/series/44298-the-empire-trilogy)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> -\n", + ">> \n", + ">> see also: [this earlier request](https://old.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1ekoil8/d_monday_request_and_recommendation_thread/lgmfa5w/) \n", + ">> \n", + ">> [*\\(annot.\\)*](https://old.reddit.com/user/DomesticatedDungeon/comments/1g67akb/annotation_for_recommendations/)\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/thomas_m_k** [+3] (4 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Seconding *A Young Woman's Political Record*. It probably helps to have a passing familiarity with Yōjo Senki. The investment of watching a bit of Yōjo Senki will surely pay off because there's so much Yōjo Senki fiction.\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/chiruochiba** [+2] (4 days later)\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> For a more efficient time investment, I recommend reading the manga over watching the anime. https://mangadex.org/title/d773c8be-8e82-4ff1-a4e9-46171395319b/youjo-senki\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/Brilliant-North-1693** [+2] (4 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Can you expand a bit on why you liked Safehold? I looked into it and it seems like a man out of time uplift scenario, with majority forces opposing the protagonist. \n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> These kinds of stories are ones I enjoy, but is there anything in particular that made you single it out, beyond its sci-fi progressive themes?\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/DomesticatedDungeon** [+1] (4 days later)\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> It isn't rational, and the later books drop in quality.\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> However, it may be a match for this request depending on how \"state-building or national leadership as a focus, with protagonists who either lead polities or hold powerful / influential positions\" is interpreted. It features themes of social engineering that rarely become such a prominent focus in a story (less so a whole series).\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> In comparison to other uplift stories, I'd say this one has a stronger focus on the main characters themselves holding (and keeping) power, rather than the process / progression of uplift itself (no matter who'll end up working towards it or benefitting from it more).\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> Another thing is that I have rarely met stories that would be featuring themes described in the OP-comment *and* have plot quality at least as good as what *Safehold* manages to offer. So I think it's better to mention it with a warning for the caveats (it's nearly at the bottom of [the rec list\\)](https://old.reddit.com/user/DomesticatedDungeon/comments/1g67akb/annotation_for_recommendations/) than not at all.\n", + "\n", + ">>>>> **u/electricsashimi** [+2] (5 days later)\n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> I agree with Safehold. Enjoyed the first couple books, but later the author gets REALLY preachy about Christianity. There is the overall theme about religion and being anti-technology puritans but the author inserts Christianity way too much for a scifi story\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/fassina2** [+4] *Progressive Overload* (a day later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> This may or may not be helpful but Frostpunk 2 is kind of what you're looking for. There's a senate and to pass laws you need a certain number of votes. Each faction has a certain number of delegates based on the percentage of the population they represent. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> On high difficulties people are less likely to vote for what you want so you have to make deals to pass the laws you desire. You make deals by making promises, they vote for this law and in exchange you'll pass some other law they want, or you build something they want, or you pay them, there are several more options for deals and it's random what they'll want.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> It gets interesting in bad times, when nobody is particularly happy, there are protests on the streets. Then you get into this strings of promises and commitments to try to salvage the situation and save the country from itself. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> To end the protest on your hothouses you need to pass some law, but it's a very divisive law that only that specific faction wants. But you have no choice otherwise people will starve without food. So you cave in, but to pass this law you need to make a deal with another faction and they want to pick the law for the next vote, \"that's fine\" you think \"they'll probably not pass something that bad\". Next thing you know you're on the brink of civil war..\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/RandomIsocahedron** [+1] (a day later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Interesting... I did actually enjoy Frostpunk 1 for this reason! I saw the mixed reviews for 2 and decided to wait a bit, but with a recommendation from this sub I might go for it sooner.\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/aaannnnnnooo** [+3] (3 days later)\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> If you're into video game recommendations, I'd highly recommend Suzerain. It's an incredible game that's remarkable poignant even with being 95% just text. You play as the president of a Turkey-equivalent in the 1960s and have to direct the country out of a recession with hostile countries on your borders and world-wide tension regarding capitalism/communism.\n", + "\n", + "> **u/GaBeRockKing** [+12] *Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857* (2 days later)\n", "> \n", + "> **Recommendations**\n", + "> \n", + "> [When I Win the World Ends - Bavitz](https://archiveofourown.org/works/57689716/chapters/146811931)\n", + "> \n", + "> Pokemon, completed.\n", + "> \n", + "> > Once a year, the world's best trainers compete for the title of World Champion. Toril, the favorite, has dedicated her life to battling. Aracely, the underdog, has not. In fact, she barely knows the rules. She didn't even build her own team. She's a mockery of the sacred bond between trainers and Pokémon, one Toril swears to eliminate.\n", + "> \n", + "> > But Aracely makes plays that shouldn't be possible. She reads opponents as though reading their minds, predicts exactly what they'll do. And now, she's made another prediction, one far more unsettling: \"When I win, the world ends.\"\n", + "> \n", + "> I admit-- I already recommended this literally 2 weeks ago, but I'm recommending it again now that it's complete. Fucking PHENOMENAL work. Ambitious, intelligent characters-- and a surprisingly literary style of writing for a pokemon fanfic.\n", + "> \n", + "> [Long Term Nuclear Waste Warning Messages](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2532754)\n", + "> \n", + "> Rewrite of the first few maximum ride novels by someone who isn't doing coke with their ghostwriters. Everything I loved about the Maximum Ride books minus everything I hated about James Patterson.\n", "\n", - ">> **u/Executioner404** [+45] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I prefer the prequel:\n", - ">> >*It was a crisp and clear day, \n", - ">> the visibility impeccable, \n", - ">> and then Shia LaBeouf punched me in the face.*\n", - ">> - Poem by Juniper Smith Penndraig\n", - ">> \n", + "> **u/GaBeRockKing** [+7] *Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857* (2 days later)\n", + "> \n", + "> **REQUEST:**\n", + "> \n", + "> There's a lot of small fandoms that fly completely under my radar. So I'm going to make a general request for truly excellent fanfiction from *small* fandoms. Let's put a hard cap on 500 fics or fewer. (Which is fairly mid-sized, but whatever.)\n", + "> \n", + "> Things I enjoy:\n", + "> \n", + "> Action, Adventure, Self-insert, Sci-fi, Fantasy, aggressively over-examined worldbuilding, intelligent antagonists\n", + "> \n", + "> Things I actively avoid:\n", + "> \n", + "> Hurt/Comfort, Smut, Romance-focused works, Fluff, Coffee shop AUs (and variants), 2nd person, blatant wish fulfilment\n", + "> \n", + "> Please only supply fics that are complete or have updated in the last three months. I'll happily read oneshots, but preferably only if they don't require knowledge of the source material. (Assuming I don't know the source material in the first place.)\n", + "> \n", + "> Feel free to peruse my [goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/82954187?shelf=read), [Myanimelist](https://myanimelist.net/profile/GaBeRockKing), and [imdb](https://www.imdb.com/user/ur113395328/ratings/) profiles if you want to make a tailored recommendation... or just snoop on what I've been watching and reading.\n", "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+28] *We are the Empire.**\n", + ">> **u/TheAnt88** [+5] (2 days later)\n", ">> \n", - ">> > I spotted him from the corner of my eye, a fully naked man walking down the hallway. He had a thick beard and a serious expression. He was just walking, but still moving fast, the kind of way you do when you’re in a hurry to get somewhere, or just about to break out into a run.\n", - ">> That's pretty clearly a reference to the song's lyrics.\n", + ">> Interesting request. These are the ones with smallest fandoms I could find\n", ">> \n", + ">> Daria in Morrowind - A fusion fic of Daria and Morrowind that describes her life and the characters if they lived in Morrowind with daily drama, boredom, and episodes changed to better fit things. Short fic as it ends with a big canon event from Morrowind and only uses a few episodes of Daria for inspiration. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> You Know You Have a Permanent Piece of My Medium-Sized American Heart - A Martian media fanfiction oneshot that describes how the internet and media react to Mark Watney's logs being released overtime and how the world treats them like a reality show/survival story. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> DoofQuest- a Disney Villains Victorious CK2-Style Quest - Details the campy and funny villain of Phineas and Ferb in a world where all the Disney villains won and he actually did manage to take over the local area and his efforts to find meaning and evolve in a world that is much more dangerous, chaotic, and wild that his old show. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> Pound the Table- An Xmen SI mixed with Law and Order on spacebattles that uniquely focuses on a mutant lawyer and the various legal issues that pop up in the marvel universe and how her presence is starting to slowly change things. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> Springbreaker - a new quest on sufficient velocity that takes place in Forever Winter, a game that hasn't been released yet where the players control a AI that tries to fix the nightmarish scavenger world eternally in a horrific war.\n", "\n", - ">> **u/Mountebank** [+12] *\n", + ">> **u/TheJungleDragon** [+3] (2 days later)\n", ">> \n", - ">> I wonder what Shia would think if he heard of this.\n", + ">> I'm gonna make a self-rec here, since it fits your outlined request, but with the caveat that it is a self-rec. Only other caveat is that it is formatted as a chatfic, though more along the lines of Microsoft teams than a whatsapp group chat.\n", ">> \n", + ">> [Drawn Quarterly (one shot, 10k words)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/57379984) is a Lancer RPG fic documenting the design and creation of the Caliban mech, a chassis meant to solve a financial issue with ship-to-ship combat by efficiently murdering hostile crews with minimal resource expenditure. It specifically follows the Development Direction team as they agonise over various annoyances like super-governmental watchdogs, shit-stirrers, and the nature of working for a corporate state. Hope you enjoy it :)\n", "\n", - ">>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+17] *We are the Empire.**\n", + ">> **u/Searching_42** [+3] (3 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Seconding this request!\n", + ">> It's always great to find fics from fandoms I've never interacted with before, and sometimes there's fics that are compelling enough that they end up creating tropes in their fandom.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> So in line with that I'm gonna recommend \n", + ">> The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea\n", + ">> https://archiveofourown.org/works/10222295/chapters/22682429\n", + ">> \n", + ">> The Alex Rider fandom is a bit bigger (3k) but like half that is recursive from this fic (and the other half is porn)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Also not a tiny fandom but The Stone Gryphon from Narnia is quite good\n", + ">> https://archiveofourown.org/series/15017\n", + ">> \n", + ">> It's got a lot of the religious undertones from Narnia which might put ppl off & does assume some knowledge of the source material but I really enjoyed the second fic in the series which is about Susan as a British spy in America in WW2. Early spycraft is kinda wild\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/GaBeRockKing** [+2] *Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857* (3 days later)\n", ">>> \n", - ">>> Probably not much more than he thought about the song when they invited him to play in the clip.\n", + ">>> These fics look like absolute monsters lmao. I'm either going to drop them within the first chapter or lose the next two weeks of my life.\n", ">>> \n", + ">>> I decided to go through every 3 star+ book on my goodreads to check out their fandoms. I've gotten through all the <5000 word oneshots in the <100 work fandoms and about half of the <5000 the oneshots from the <100 work fandoms. I have a LOT of fandoms and a LOT of fics left to go through, so eventually I'll post a full reckoning. Here's the cream of the crop so far:\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> [Interesting Facts About the London Zoo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/346142) -- **Leviathan.**\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> > Dr. Barlow wonders when science became the thing she does when her time permits.\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> [Fireteam](https://archiveofourown.org/works/33858397) -- **Worth the Candle**\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> > A Uniquities fireteam infiltrates a fortified cultist compound. Things do not go as planned.\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> [A Mundane Thing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38187844) -- **Takopi's Original Sin**\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Takopi's Original Sin is a manga about an alien from a children's cartoon planet coming to earth to find friends... and discovering a little girl who's being brutally bullied. The source material is FANTASTIC. Read that then read this.\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> [Halting Problem](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55592827) -- **There is No Antimemetics Division**\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Captures the feel of possibly one of the best SCP foundation stories of all time.\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> [Wall to Wall Carpeting](https://archiveofourown.org/works/36514573) -- **Feed**\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> A short, introspective piece written in [Feed's](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/169756.Feed) peculiar style\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> [Campanology for Beginners](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55826038) -- **Anathem**\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> I never thought I'd see someone exactly manage to match the tone of the original work, but this hits it on the dot.\n", "\n", - ">>> **u/sibswagl** [+3] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I wonder if Shia knows about the game? He knows about the meme, obviously, but does he realize how far people took it?\n", - ">>> \n", + ">> **u/thomas_m_k** [+3] (4 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Fandom: Sekirei, fic: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8078340/1/Postnuptial-Disagreements (complete)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Skirts the \"no romance\" rule though. But the romance, if you can even call it that, plays a minor role.\n", "\n", - ">>>> **u/KJ6BWB** [+2] *\n", + ">> **u/DomesticatedDungeon** [+2] (3 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [Let the Right One In] [*Let Me In 2*;](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7423061/1/Let-Me-In-2)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [Terminator] [*Branches on the Tree of Time*;](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9658524/1/Branches-on-the-Tree-of-Time)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect] [*Casino Odyssey in Cyberspace, A*;](https://web.archive.org/web/20190429235942/https://localroger.com/casodycs.html) \n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [SCP] [*There Is No Antimemetics Division*;](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/ThereIsNoAntimemeticsDivision)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `◦•` [SCP] [*Confinement*.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r544qDgP5qE)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [The Thing] [*The Things*;](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `~𐄂` [Dungeon Keeper / Sailor Moon] ] [*Dungeon Keeper Ami*](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/threadmarks) — mismatch on the \"complete or have updated in the last three months\" part;\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `~𐄂` [Truman's Show] [*Truman's Map*](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13556120/1/Truman-s-Map) — mismatch on the \"complete or have updated in the last three months\" part.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> ---\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [Prototype] [*Variant Strain*](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/variant-strain-spiderman-marvel-prototype.236144/);\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `◦~` [Prototype] [*Biomass Effect*](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10602465/1/) — unfinished, but with excellent prose and ~350K WL.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `~𐄂` [Good Omens] *[Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20177950/chapters/47807593)* — likely a mismatch on the \"Hurt/Comfort, romance-focused works, Fluff, Coffee shop AUs\";\n", + ">> \n", + ">> `•` [Ben10] [*Rewind*](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4307536/1/). \n", + ">> \n", + ">> [*\\(annot.\\)*](https://old.reddit.com/user/DomesticatedDungeon/comments/1g67akb/annotation_for_recommendations/)\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/BavarianBarbarian_** [+1] (4 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> > Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach \n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> I second this one on general principles, but the fandom has some 70k fics lol\n", + "\n", + "> **u/college-apps-sad** [+6] (4 days later)\n", + "> \n", + "> Posting this a bit late in the week so idk if anyone will see this, but does anyone have recommendations for a story where the main character has to suddenly take on a position of leadership that they aren't prepared for due to everyone above them dying off or being incompetent in some way? \n", + "> \n", + "> Some examples that I like are [\"The Lost Fleet\" ](https://www.goodreads.com/series/41101-the-lost-fleet)and [\"16 ways to defend a walled city\"](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37946419-sixteen-ways-to-defend-a-walled-city). The first is military scifi - the protagonist was presumed dead fighting off the first attack in a 100 year long war. His government, desperate for any bright spots in the war that they had been blindsided by, makes him a mythical hero. On the way to a covert attack on the enemy's capital, his escape pod is discovered, with him being still alive in stasis. Unfortunately, it was a trap and all of the senior commanders are killed or taken captive while surrendering, and he is the seniormost captain left because he was promoted a century ago. It's not exactly rational, but I really like the way that he has to take command and use actual tactics, and the impact of 100 years of war on the two civilizations. \n", + "> \n", + "> The latter is about a colonel in the engineering brigades of an imperial army, who is the highest ranking soldier left in the capital which has suddenly come under siege. KJ Parker's books in general are kind of like hard fantasy in that they aren't full of handwavey magic or anything, though again, not necessarily rational. He's intelligent and willing to try lots of things to save his city. \n", + "> \n", + "> I love this trope, but don't think I've explicitly seen it in rational fiction before.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/megazver** [+3] (5 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Might want to re-ask this the day after tomorrow, when the fresh Monday thread is posted.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> But try https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouAreInCommandNow\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/ahasuerus_isfdb** [+1] (4 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Robinson Crusoe-derived stories are often like that. For example, in Robert Heinlein's *Tunnel in the Sky* a group of teenagers is stranded on a remote planet and some of them have to develop into leaders in a hurry. It's even more pronounced in S. M. Stirling's [Island in the Sea of Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_in_the_Sea_of_Time) trilogy and Eric Flint's [1632](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series) series since the number of displaced people is much greater.\n", + "\n", + "> **u/ObsceneGoat** [+11] (20 hours later)\n", + "> \n", + "> I've been sifting through QQ trying to find gems for a while now, like the degenerate gambler I am. Most of the site is really fucking badly written pornography, but here are two that I heartily recommend: \n", + "> \n", + "> * [Duellist ](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/duellist-worm.10756/)- Greg Veder gets a combat simulation power. The one thing this fic does incredibly well is characters using powers in clever and interesting ways; every action scene is a puzzle that gets solved in a satisfying way. I highly recommend it for that reason alone; in my opinion it matches the original Worm in this aspect, maybe even bests it at times (due to circumstances allowed by the conceit), which is saying something. The story does include smut, and I think the start is especially weak for this, but the story just keeps getting better as it gathers steam; I especially enjoy the characterizations for Greg, Taylor, and Sophia. One caveat I'll mention is that if you're very sensitive to written depictions of violence, or get squeamish about the moral qualms of fictional characters, then this is best avoided.\n", + "> * Why it fits this subreddit: exploiting superpowers, puzzle-like combat, just downright good.\n", + "> * [Polyhistor Academy ](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/polyhistor-academy-original-setting-survival-quest.614/)- How do you raise your class rank at this world-class magical school? Well, you kill everyone with better grades than you, of course! Polyhistor Academy is an anything-goes institution isolated from the outside world. This might strike you as an absurd premise, but it's executed incredibly well. The story reads like a high-stakes thriller at times, and the setting clearly has a lot of work put into it (I would call it rational), with a unique and iconic magic system. The downside (there's always one) is that this is a Quest that's been running for about a decade now, with readers directing the main character's actions. This definitely adds some strange directions to the story, but it did not overmuch bother me. Notably, the author is not afraid to dish out real consequences to the protagonist, which keeps the tension high throughout.\n", + "> * Why it fits this subreddit: well-crafted setting, rational \"[simulationist fiction](https://alexanderwales.com/narrativism-vs-simulationism/)\" vibe, just downright good.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/CatInAPot** [+4] (2 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Checked out Polyhistor based on this recommendation. I will say that the combo of dice rolls and user direction causes some annoying inconsistencies in characterization for our MC, and the formatting of the story is straight up weird (it's like a summary, and then details in the next post). \n", + ">> \n", + ">> The story is quite engaging and I had a good time regardless, so thanks for the recc!\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/Naitra** [+5] (4 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> I've finished reading Duellist, and was not expecting it to be that good. If you have any other diamonds in the rough in QQ, please let me know as I don't mind smut as long as the story itself is good.\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/ahasuerus_isfdb** [+3] (4 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> My rated lists of [Worm fan fics](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6_Gk2FBBCKPlpXfCBCbUk7SCsCCOKiECLShDA_Pz_0/edit?tab=t.0) include a [NSFW sub-list](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GQX6FWcWs21Oc0FDslBfQ9NugyTQjL-fPmVQwVr8mJQ/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.gzmg479efmr7), which may be of interest. (In case you use Firefox, note that it may take it a long time to load large Google docs.)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Note, however, that many of them are not like *Duellist*. Some, like *The Neuroqueen of Brockton Bay*, deal with mind control and are basically horror. Some, like *The XV Days of Christmas*, are NSFW-adjacent semi-crack. Some, like *How Many Swords Could a Swordchuck Chuck?* and *Shaper's Plot Bunny Farm*, are snippets of varying quality.\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> *God Game 100* may be the closest you'll be able to get to *Duellist* if you limit yourself to the top section of the sub-list.\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/Yeongua** [+1] (11 days later)\n", ">>>> \n", - ">>>> What game?\n", + ">>>> >God Game 100\n", ">>>> \n", + ">>>> An excellent taste sir! Usually it's me who's recommending this fic here and there. Do you happen to know any similar fics? Not picky with fandoms.\n", + ">>>> By similar I mean:\n", + ">>>> Rational behaving MC, interesting plot, perfect combination of actions scenes, slice of life part, and extremely well written realistic smut.\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> I happened to read some works with nice combo of well written nsfw parts and kinda slice of life, but their focus was mostly romance and characters relations, with little to none plot progression\n", "\n", - ">>>>> **u/sibswagl** [+4] *\n", + ">>>>> **u/ahasuerus_isfdb** [+2] (12 days later)\n", ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> The Actual Cannibal game.\n", + ">>>>> I am afraid I haven't seen much traditionally published fiction with all of the elements that you are looking for. Once the US Supreme Court made it much harder to prosecute pornography in 1967-1968, there were attempts to publish \"high brow SF porn\", but they were not commercially successful and quickly collapsed. [Essex House](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubs_not_in_series.cgi?18317) is the best known example and Philip Jose Farmer's contributions, especially *A Feast Unknown* and *The Image of the Beast*, were the best of what they published.\n", ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> *A Feast Unknown* (1969) was probably the closest to what this subreddit is interested in, specifically \"genre tropes [Tarzan and Doc Savage] are re-imagined in a more realistic manner.\" However, the sex scenes were as gory as the rest of the novel, so it may not be quite what you are after. (The [sequels](https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?12099) were published by normal publishers and were more traditional action/adventure stories with no explicit sex scenes.)\n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> On the fanfiction side, you are probably familiar with ShaperV's [Time Braid](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5193644/1/Time-Braid). In case you are not, it's a \"time looping Sakura\" Naruto fanfic with decent munchkinry, but the sex scenes are not particularly realistic. Some mind control aspects can also be off-putting depending on the reader's preferences.\n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> As far as original Web-published fiction goes, I found Andrews S. Ball's popular [Dream Drive Compendium](https://www.reddit.com/r/noveltranslations/comments/3nomvp/ennsfw_dream_drive_volume_1_chapters_110/) to be a mixed bag. Some sections were well-written and exciting, others were a chore to get through.\n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> [Reversion](https://web.archive.org/web/20160306024558/https://www.asstr.org/~kellis/varkel/rev/chaps.htm) was moderately popular about 20 years ago and included some decent munckinry, but the erotic side was overblown and not particularly interesting. It almost felt like the authors were compelled to add it in order to expand their audience. The writing was also fairly amateurish.\n", "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/KJ6BWB** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> If he doesn't know about it then his agent is not doing their job properly.\n", + ">>>>>> **u/Yeongua** [+2] (12 days later)\n", ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> Ty. Comment added to saved, will check\n", "\n", - ">> **u/TMGleep** [+7] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I laughed out loud for 2 minutes straight after reading this line.\n", - ">> The last two updates have been outstanding, and worth the wait :)\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/archpawn** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> One of the craziest things I've seen happen in a serious story. Though it still doesn't beat in >!(Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality)!< where >!Hermione being brought back to life as an alicorn princess!<.\n", - ">> Edit: Changed the spoiler.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/XxChronOblivionxX** [+5] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> It is usually better to say what story you're about the spoil, and then put the spoiler itself in the spoiler tags, so only people who already know the spoiler will click. Because otherwise people have no idea what story this is spoiling until it is too late. And wow, please do that here.\n", + ">>> **u/ObsceneGoat** [+1] (7 days later)\n", ">>> \n", + ">>> Dropped some more [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1g8qdip/comment/lt4nqds/)!\n", "\n", - "> **u/ALowVerus** [+39] *Chaos Legion**\n", + ">> **u/AssadTheImpaler** [+5] (2 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> I can second Duellist. Some of the best work on that site and that's not an exaggeration.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> [Challenger](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/challenger-mha-worm.26341/) (an NSFW MHA fic) was directly inspired by Duellist, so if you like one you'll probably like the other. Same warnings also apply.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Another (SFW) QQ fic I recommend is [Understanding Does Not Presage Peace](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/understanding-does-not-presage-peace-naruto-insert.20479/). It's a Rational-adjacent Naruto fic about an intelligent non-shinobi protagonist whose intelligence is heavily leveraged. It has a few annoying non-canon changes, and some melodrama I don't really care for, but overall an enjoyable read.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> The last (NSFW) QQ fic I tentatively recommend is [Abusing Tropes In A Generic Anime World For Maximum Bullshit](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/abusing-tropes-in-a-generic-anime-world-for-maximum-bullshit.24179/). I really didn't like the writing, especially at the beginning but it was absolutely worth it for the way the plot developed. Exactly what it says on the tin, a story about a guy using and abusing anime tropes, in a world built on them, to survive and thrive.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/thomas_m_k** [+1] (5 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> >One caveat I'll mention is that if you're very sensitive to written depictions of violence, or get squeamish about the moral qualms of fictional characters, then this is best avoided. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> I wish the author had made it clearer in the story that the simulated people are *less* than real people. But especially that long conversation with Tattletale just gave the impression that the simulation is detailed to such an extent that the simulated people are basically real people.\n", + "\n", + "> **u/Complete_Spring_5994** [+4] (14 hours later)\n", "> \n", - "> >...split herself into multiple independent clones, with each clone taking eight hours each to create, though this takes no real effort on her part... No more than thirty clones at a time can be created in this way.\n", - "> Does this mean Joon has a harem now?\n", + "> Archetype book one has been completed. \n", "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Reply_or_Not** [+36] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Yes but also no\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Executioner404** [+26] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> (**Spoilers** for WTC 192-195) \n", - ">> Paging u/Memes_Of_Production aka \"the harem guy\"! \n", - ">> >!I told you it was the start of a fucked up pattern, and oh my god I can't wait to see this play out.!<\n", - ">> >!My bet is 90% of Joon's romantic progression with Amaryllis ONLY HAPPENS WITH DOOMED CLONES, so by the end of it their relationship is extremely one-sided and unbalanced. But you were also right, this is some crazy-ass Harem Bullshit™!<\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Memes_Of_Production** [+38] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I swear to Takahashi that if Joon ever has sex with a clone, or god forbid has a *threesome with a clone and PriMarylis*, I am gonna slap WtC together as a doujinshi and sell it at Comiket. You are building this up AW, lets see you deliver!\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/xartab** [+5] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Although WtC should already have both h and non-h doujinshi to its name... If I had the means I would commission some.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+6] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> I haven't really thought of this before, and I might have a few florins to add. Do you have any resources or links that might point to organized markets, for researching prices?\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/xartab** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Oh well... is this going to become a thing? Because I would be totally on board. The first option that comes to mind is Fiverr, but I suppose five minutes of googling could bring out more.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Dunno, maybe, I wouldnt want to hurt the viability of WTC getting published so probably long after I have a hardback WTC. I've been reading WTC a lot lately and copyclans are a topic that fascinate me. In my experience you don't really get puerile material on copyclans or any of the fun forking type thing, without the story involving something skeezy regarding consent or autonomy, so I'm tempted to ignore, Mary's Zinda like origins (Zinda from The Causaul Angel) but I don't want to have to stalk errant mangaka's profiles on deviantart to find someone worth commissioning.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+10] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Or the twist is that the supposedly doomed clones weren't\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+7] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Depends on if Mary wants to make clones to send for that task and if June can stomach someone just accepting him. I don't see it happening.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+4] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Does the \"no magic\" limit on the clones apply to entads? If not, since she just acquired a ton of entads bound to her, she now has the power to create very powerful disposable clone soldiers she can send into battle\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/reilwin** [+23] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> This comment has been edited in support of the protests against the upcoming Reddit API changes.\n", - ">>> Reddit's late announcement of the details API changes, the comically little time provided for developers to adjust to those changes and the handling of the matter afterwards (including the outright libel against the Apollo developer) has been very disappointing to me.\n", - ">>> Given their repeated bad faith behaviour, I do not have any confidence that they will deliver (or maintain!) on the few promises they have made regarding accessibility apps.\n", - ">>> I cannot support or continue to use such an organization and will be moving elsewhere (probably Lemmy).\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/adgnatum** [+25] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> >Hail Mary\n", - ">>>> \\*groan\\* \n", - ">>>> 😉\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> If they ever do the Hail Mary scenario, they should put a fake Charlie Chaplin moustache on all of them.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+8] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> oh yeah, forgot about that, pretty good anti exploit measure. Though there might be some that have indirect applications that don't trigger combat rolls\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Mountebank** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> No matter how bad in combat they are, they'd still be useful as suicide bombers just like what Hyacinth just did, though I doubt Mary would ever risk the Cannibal possibly breaking containment. Also, is there an SCP that similar to Shia?\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/reilwin** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> This comment has been edited in support of the protests against the upcoming Reddit API changes.\n", - ">>>>> Reddit's late announcement of the details API changes, the comically little time provided for developers to adjust to those changes and the handling of the matter afterwards (including the outright libel against the Apollo developer) has been very disappointing to me.\n", - ">>>>> Given their repeated bad faith behaviour, I do not have any confidence that they will deliver (or maintain!) on the few promises they have made regarding accessibility apps.\n", - ">>>>> I cannot support or continue to use such an organization and will be moving elsewhere (probably Lemmy).\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/CronoDAS** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Put the bombs on a dead man's switch, set the clones in position, then kill one to trigger all the bombs at once?\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/TempAccountIgnorePls** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> [096](http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-096) and [2521](http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2521) come to mind\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/archpawn** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> It would be interesting if they could somehow cheese it so 0 is good. For one thing, that's including modifiers. Which means that if she fights in some horrible environment where everyone gets -30 on all attack rolls, she's still getting 0.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Don't use attack roles and don't use magic, that leaves crew operated mecha and strategic/political roles. Mary is now one of the fastest news/intelligence services if she distributes her clones to major population centers. All great for munchkining, but probably overshadowed by the main quest sequence.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> > with each clone taking eight hours each to create,\n", - ">> Does this mean one clone every 8 hours, or is she having to do 8 hours of conscious effort?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Marand23** [+8] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> > with each clone taking eight hours each to create, though this takes no real effort on her part\n", - ">>> She can probably do other things while she is creating one. The wording makes it seem like \"decide to make a clone, wait 8 hours without going unconcious and it's done\".\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/AnimaLepton** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Is Mary now a Doris Finch-lite?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+1] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> That wasn't the first thing that came mind...\n", - ">> But it was pretty close to the first thing that came to mind.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Peragot** [+74] *\n", - "> \n", - "> > I had an amulet around my neck (short-range bug manipulation) \n", - "> Nice Worm reference :-)\n", + "> It follows a young man trying to rationally and morally explore steadily gaining more superhuman power. 146k words. \n", "> \n", + "> https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/84799/archetype-slowburn-superhuman-progression\n", "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+31] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I thought it might be the \"ant control\" (singular) entad mentioned in the dumbest entad game\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/archpawn** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Now I'm thinking about how you could use that. A single fire ant can still do a lot of damage. Also, the drones (males) can fly. Maybe you could find some way to cover it with neurotoxin in a way that doesn't immediately kill it.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/cantaloupelion** [+1] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> or you know single ant waltzes while killing time somewhere\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Jokey665** [+56] *Worth the Candle**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Pack it in, Fel Seed hasn't got a chance.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Gooey-** [+31] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> \\*memetic E S C A L A T I O N intensifies\\*\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Executioner404** [+26] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> The short-range makes me think it's basically a glorified bug-repellent.\n", - ">> And even if he *does* control bugs now, Meh, Fel Seed can take him...\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Halinn** [+28] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I mean yeah, what can bugs do against someone functionally invulnerable...\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/tangerineskickass** [+15] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> worm tldr\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Mr-Mister** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> What if Fel Seed is taxonomically a bug?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/narfanator** [+14] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Given that the Chekov's Gun of Actual Cannibal fired, this is gonna do something. \n", - "\n", - ">> What other unfired narrative guns are there?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Bowbreaker** [+14] *Solitary Locust**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> It was borrowed and done so through Rosemallow. So I think this might just be a reference and not a Chekov's Gun.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Xtraordinaire** [+1] *Team Glimglam**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> And grooves could be a MoL reference.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Jokey665** [+70] *Worth the Candle**\n", - "> \n", - "> >“I have a policy of never moving to a second location,” I said.\n", - "> god i love this so much\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+16] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Reminds me of when he tells the librarian \"You know, where I come from, when people accidentally lead you to the wrong street, they're usually trying to steal all your possessions and leave you for dead with multiple stab wounds\".\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/AurelianoTampa** [+15] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Street smarts!\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/ketura** [+64] *Organizer**\n", - "> \n", - "> I just...this...this is like my favorite thing.\n", - "> \"you cut an Onion and made her cry\"\n", - "> >!\"Shia was a meme, so I figured an antimeme would work\" !<\n", - "> Don't ever stop, AW. You're a fuggin legend.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/nytelios** [+29] *\n", - "> \n", - "> [A while back](https://old.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/dnp2ne/rt_worth_the_candle_ch_172176/f5zhygw/), I thought Mary had taken to the bible because of endings and beginnings, alphas and omegas, but really biblical themes pervade the entire overarching narrative: creation, the problem of evil and allowance of suffering, the apocalypse, finding faith in an imperfect world, redemption, the promises of the one true God, and [possibly spoilery theory] >!a sacrifice of the son of \"God\", who also *is* God!<. Where Mary's gone faithful (which is quite rational with theistic proof), Joon's taking the Übermensch approach.\n", - "> Joon continues his streak of either stomping his foes or getting stumped.\n", - "> Stupid anagram: Maritally His Ms\n", - "> 'di era' means you, right?\n", - "> edit: also oh my god, Arthur's basically the white whale and Joon might as well keep his one leg and be Ahab.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Executioner404** [+15] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I don't know how planned an anagram like that was, but we really should've seen all these religious undertones coming back when she became the Virgin Mary.\n", - ">> It would not surprise me in the slightest if Joon kept his one leg, at least for a while. He seemed very confident that Solace would fix them up \"better than before\" - just like she did for Grak, but Druidism doesn't always work on proven certainties.\n", - ">> Not to mention that she *already* fixed the missing bones in his leg just a short while ago, and both she and the Locus are going through shit.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/adgnatum** [+13] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I think Amaryllis meant whatever top-of-the-line healing is available to the Lost King's Court, not going back to Solace for more of the same. (She hates that.)\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/ProfessorPhi** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Arguably all religious texts follow similar themes that way, it's just that we're far more familiar with the bible than the others\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+3] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I've commented above, but I think Mary finding her first crush was an anagram of June's has solidified her self perception as an purpose built artificial being. Her seeming embrace of determinist religious ideology when we know autonomy is one of her core values is her trying to deal with that. I'm going to have to go re-read the Causal Angel again but the parallels and contrasts, to a character there, who I think, grew up knowing their own purpose and that it was determined by their society instead of by an overgod they haven't met, might be interesting.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/nytelios** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Never heard of Causal Angel before, is it good? IIRC *Paradise Lost* and lots of biblical exegeses also dealt with the dilemma of free will given an omniscient overgod. It's sobering to wonder how much learning about the existence of the DM (and of course, Joon) has changed Mary's trajectory in life - I definitely wouldn't have pegged her as the religious type before the backpack. Maybe she's just hamming it up for the divine voyeur?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+1] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> It's the third book of the Flower prince trilogy, that starts with The Quantum thief, it's good.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/tarkalak** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> When Mary said her prayer when entering Anglicyn:\n", - ">> > “Lord, let me take this sinful world as it is, rather than as I would have it be. Amen.”\n", - ">> I thought that the only proper answer was the one given by Arnaud Amalric:\n", - ">> >\"Kill them all and let God sort them out.\"\n", - ">> They still ended up doing that, anyway.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+1] *\n", + ">> **u/None** [+2] (14 hours later)\n", ">> \n", ">> [deleted]\n", - ">> \n", "\n", - ">> **u/Green0Photon** [+1] *Student in Cyoria, Minmay, and Ranvar**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> >edit: also oh my god, Arthur's basically the white whale and Joon might as well keep his one leg and be Ahab.\n", - ">> I have no idea what this means.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/nytelios** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> The 'white whale' is an [Aerb saying Pallida brought up before](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478249/chapters/50446712); in my previous linked comment, I likened Arthur to Joon's white whale. Aerb is totally ripping off Moby Dick, and Captain Ahab lost a leg to his white whale. So just a little whimsy on my part.\n", + ">>> **u/Complete_Spring_5994** [+1] (14 hours later)\n", ">>> \n", + ">>> Changed thanks\n", "\n", - "> **u/None** [+28] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I'm just sitting around and wondering how much Rosemallow influenced the story.\n", - "> We had Amaryllis get Zone'd in a rushed trial for nonserious crimes, at which point everyone sent to deal with her dies and she starts popping up all over the place.\n", - "> The reason WHY she got Zone'd is probably the same reason Larkspur was trying to kill her; Rosemallow. As she was raised as Uther's direct descendant by Rosemallow with hilarious inherited power, wealth and directed education she was intended to be an extremely useful tool to change Anglecynn.\n", - "> With limited information (and poor memory) we have the Phlox/Onion faction doing these things to oppose Rosemallow. Joining the Host, talking to Larkspur, Hyacinth or Onion would've potentially led to different routes.\n", - "> Then Juniper and company blunder into Anglecynn, cozy up with Rosemallow kill Onion and accidentally drop a dragon on the seat of government. Valencia, if applied, would've been able to diplomance. Instead Amaryllis went and found out her mom sucked.\n", - "> TLDR; Rosemallow won because she killed Amaryllis's mom, she lost because she raised Amaryllis.\n", + "> **u/OGSyedIsEverywhere** [+12] (10 minutes later)\n", "> \n", + "> Last week I went through my bookmarks for anything that I've tagged as ASOIAF over the years and assembled a list of what ones I'd recommend. I figure a few people missed it when I first posted it so [here's the link for anybody who didn't catch it the first time.](https://old.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/1fzmwt0/recommend_quality_literary_rational_fiction/lr3rl39/)\n", "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+18] *\n", + ">> **u/GlueBoy** [+8] *anti-skub* (5 hours later)\n", ">> \n", - ">> > The reason WHY she got Zone'd is probably the same reason Larkspur was trying to kill her; \n", - ">> From the perspective of someone else (like larkspur) there's no reason to think that Amaryllis is anything but totally loyal to Rosemallow (her substitute mother who trained her to be a political player). Sure she didn't stop her getting dropped into the exclusion zone, but she then almost immediately escaped, coincidentally picking up a bunch of powerful artifacts and allies in the process. If you don't know what Juniper is it seems like an obvious setup\n", - ">> So everything where she is trying to get away from Anglecynn can be read as the Rosemallow faction building up an independent powerbase outside the control of the normal Anglecynn political system. Which is a scary thing.\n", + ">> > I've also never encountered anything in the fandom that **challenges patriarchal views about LGBT+ or female sexual agency and sexuality in-universe** for any purpose besides smut \n", ">> \n", + ">> I'm curious what you mean by this. Several of the novels you mentioned do seem to \"challenge\" those views. Winter of Widows in particular does it, and in ways that are, if not realistic, at least measured and narratively engaging. There's even a non-binary cook! If WoW doesn't count in your eyes, I can't imagine how such a story would look like.\n", "\n", - ">>> **u/Revlar** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> You meant Rosemallow when you wrote Hyacinth in your first sentence.\n", + ">>> **u/OGSyedIsEverywhere** [-2] (5 hours later)\n", ">>> \n", + ">>> You misunderstand. I'm talking about having the characters within a given story challenge each other over their respective views about sexual and gender identity freedoms. If you want me to name fics that (justifiably) challenge the audience I'll never run out of fics to name.\n", "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+2] *\n", + ">>>> **u/GlueBoy** [+16] *anti-skub* (7 hours later)\n", ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Thanks. Fixed. All these floral names do get confusing\n", + ">>>> I still don't understand what you mean, especially if such an assertively feminist story like Winter of Widows doesn't make the cut with regards to female sexual agency at the very least. \n", ">>>> \n", + ">>>> How do you imagine challenging someone over their views on sexual/gender identity would look like in a medieval-esque setting such as asoiaf?\n", "\n", - "> **u/Dabaran** [+27] *\n", - "> \n", - "> > There was rather a lot of fighting going on in the War Room.\n", - "> Amazing\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/LordSwedish** [+26] *Q Continuum**\n", - "> \n", - "> Well, when he said “There are things that I could tell you that would instantly kill you,” I wanted to go back and read the >!Shia LaBeouf!< chapter...but figured I'd finish the one I was reading first.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/narfanator** [+24] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Aww :) Wonderful. \n", - "\n", - "> Also Amaryllis totally modified herself to have more emotions. She's... different, now. In a way I both like narratively and in the prose. Warmer. Maybe it's not self-modification, maybe it's just unanticipated effects of recent events, but... She's not as cold and analytical to June as she has been. It's nice. \n", - "\n", - "> I also feel like June has made real progress on his issues, which is super nice. And kind of feels like the point of Aerb, on some grand level.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+15] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> >And kind of feels like the point of Aerb, on some grand level. \n", - ">> Yeah, going with the Aerb as therapy theory, my guess about the next step is how he deals with being in a position of power over others (while earlier arcs were him dealing with equals). \n", - ">> So far (with the guards and onion) he seems to have relished the power somewhat sadistically. Now that he has all the power of Anglecynn at his back, on top of his ridiculously powerful combination of magics, he has to start making decisions where he has all the power about how he'll treat people now.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Marand23** [+12] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> There was some talk in the last thread that he might be under the influence of cutting a bunch of spirit threads during the torture to stop the pain, which might have made him a bit more murderess than he might otherwise have been these chapters. Although it might just be natural progression as well. The adversaries this time around were pretty ruthless. In hinsight, it would probably have resulted in a better outcome for the most people to have cut the head of Hyacinth at a much earlier time.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Watchful1** [+23] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Honestly kinda shocked we got through this without losing any main characters. Pallida is the biggest one who died and she had hardly any narrative value. I was sure Solace would die to really kick the Locus thing into high gear.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Krossfireo** [+30] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> We already did the Solace dying bit though\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Executioner404** [+21] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Twice! Second time was much shorter though.\n", - ">>> By narrative rules, she's either immortal now or the third one is going to stick.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+25] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Pallid a was pretty main. We had segments from her POV\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/tjhance** [+27] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Pallida had really grown on me, I was sad to see her go\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+10] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Yeah I was hoping to get more of her backstory. Maybe we'll get something related to her reincarnation\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+22] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Pallida was more or less the only comic relief since Fenn died, that's gread narrative value! Juniper tries, but his irreverence mostly comes off as bitter, I feel... \n", - ">> Makes me wonder, though, if there's gonna be a new slink-thief character who acts as comic relief now.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+19] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I see it as foreshadowing Bethel's return, That's how you age Pallida back up quick.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+13] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I'm pretty sure Pallida would object to spending 20 years alone (and/or stuck with a bunch of Tuungs) in a time chamber just so Juniper gets his comic relief sidekick back.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+4] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", + ">>>>> **u/lillarty** [+7] (2 days later)\n", ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> I think the ethical thing would be to age her up to 3 or 5 (the age where she usually decides if she needs to suicide re-set) with the Tuung and asked if she wanted the express lane to getting back in the big game.\n", + ">>>>> My impression was that they meant stories where the protagonist walks up to the king and calls him a misogynist, or something. WoW is an assertively feminist *story*, the other poster seems to want an explicitly feminist *character*, in-universe. \n", ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> I'm not sure what the life expectancy would be for such a character in Wersteros, though.\n", "\n", - ">>>> **u/TwoxMachina** [+7] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Pallida as Amy + Junes daughter.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Mountebank** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> But we lost Gemma!\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+10] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Gemma was read in on Valencia! Did she get bottled?!?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/quetschla** [+21] *\n", - "> \n", - "> The Hells, I did not see that coming, awesome chapters and it seems like I'll have to start another reread.\n", - "> I also think the age old question of \"who's stronger: The Cannibal or Fel Seed?\" became a bit clearer, while I really thought for a few seconds Joon might actually die and we'd see a hell arc the Cannibal is a bit weaker than I expected him to be, he can't fly and can be stilled by magic and while you can't kill a meme as we've learned with Finch, he can be stopped and kept in place even without the paper bag. So I think Fel Seed could just bury him in the magic he(/it?) has acquired over the years rendering Shia immovable and basically a prisoner.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/nohat** [+35] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I think the thing is he becomes immune to anything you do to stop him. So it will work, for just long enough to have hope, then stop working to crush that hope. Even unicorn bones time loop stopped working on him. Maybe the antimeme bones would have too, but we hopefully won't find out. So I think Fel Seed's power would prove useless against the Actual Cannibal (unless he is Uther and knows the trick). I guess maybe Shia would keep eating Fel Seed's limbs, but never killing him because he can grow them back instantly. Except of course the DM would totally keep the players from cheesing the final boss, because Joon is that kind of DM.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+18] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I was actually surprised the antimeme bones worked twice. I guess antimemes really were his weakness.\n", - ">>> And bags.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/archpawn** [+9] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> > Even unicorn bones time loop stopped working on him.\n", - ">>> It got weaker. I wouldn't say it stopped. Though if Juniper kept doing it I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he begins the next loop with the injuries he got in the last and the Cannibal is still where he was when the loop ended.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/archpawn** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> > he can't fly\n", - ">> I wouldn't rely on that. He had plenty of people to kill below him, and he doesn't generally focus on targets. I suspect if Juniper simply tried to fly away, at some point the Cannibal would jump at him from below, or fall on him from above. Or just attack Joon after he lands.\n", - ">> But the bag does make him a lot weaker. I wasn't aware of this weakness.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/adgnatum** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I did greatly raise the probability that Juniper was about to die and thereby start a Hells arc.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/adgnatum** [+19] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Quite the conclusion to the book!\n", - "> Juniper has been seriously injured on plenty of occasions and promptly restored by his leveling ability.\n", - "> That said, aspects of the interaction between the soul and level ups have already been presented to us (\"Boneitis\" quest). And for symmetrical limbs he can copy from the other side. I wonder how that plays into his prosthetic. His soul will be the template used upon his next level. If the prosthetic is that great, maybe his soul shouldn't have the leg either.\n", - "> As for the injury >!to Amaryllis!<, that was unprecedented. At a few points in the chapter Juniper did something deserving experience, but never enough to level. That doesn't apply to anyone else. A more enduring consequence.\n", - "> Next: clones. As described, the clones wouldn't be able to use entad prosthetics. That might also be a constraint on the nature of the restoration/replacement, an argument for healing rather than any alternatives. Otherwise the clones couldn't make as many public appearances. On the other hand, the fact that clones can think and plan and write is hugely valuable in its own right in a rational(ist) story. Think of all the science.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/afeyn** [+39] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> \\> As for the injury to ..., that was unprecedented. \n", - ">> What are you talking about, there was >!Amarylimbless!<\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/WalterTFD** [+8] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Take my upvote, you knave.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Makin-** [+14] *homestuck ratfic, you can do it**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Hey, Grak lost his hand, remember?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/adgnatum** [+10] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> The story, on behalf of our sometimes-partial narrator, downplayed it as much as possible. 89:\n", - ">>> >When I looked back at him, I was momentarily shocked to see that he was missing a hand; with everything that we’d gone through, I’d managed to forget.\n", - ">>> In both cases it's left to be discovered afterward. (A kindness.) And of course losing a hand in a crazy fight above a bottomless pit isn't the same as this... orderly maiming.\n", - ">>> Plus, it was replaced by the resident druid (much later, three months with regard to his own timeline, in chapter 104), an approach best not used the same way twice.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/GlimmervoidG** [+18] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Post your ideas for side-ways ink magic ways to put paper bags on someone's head.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/GlimmervoidG** [+20] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> My idea: a stealth magical item, that works by causing random items to obscure the vision of anyone trying to look at you. Arrange for paper bags to be in place to be such an item.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Veedrac** [+20] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Quickchange smoke bomb that randomly swaps around what people are wearing, for anyone inside the smoke. For stealth purposes.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/MyLife-is-a-diceRoll** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I can't see you, you can't see mee.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+5] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> A magic pin that, when put on an article of clothing, enhances your strength and agility.\n", - ">> If you get punched or otherwise harmed by someone, they instantly steal the article of clothing from you (only works if the article isn't an entad or otherwise imbued with lethal traps).\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> A vomit bag that clones itself to cover any vomit. Fake vomit that when placed with a keyword puts vomit on all people.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/general_enthusiast** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> A hand mirror which shows your activity at a 30 second delay, invisibly exerting the force of each motion on the world relative to your current position. (With multithreading, you can keep your head in the present and think about timing at the same time.)\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/googolplexbyte** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Flaming bag of dog shit trap. It's an American classic, but probably a novelty to ink magic. And it'd be funny to see Joon put his foot in his own trap just to get a paper bag.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Mr-Mister** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> An item that transmutates transparent film into paper, as long as it's covering someone's head.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+17] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - "> \n", - "> Typos here, please. (I'm behind on typos, my apologies, I still appreciate the reports.)\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/vanillafog** [+7] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> In Ch. 194, Coda II, \"the Gardner's Plate\" is spelled as \"the Gardener's Plate\" in three places:\n", - ">> >All at once I was in the Gardener’s Plate, an ink magic sword at my hip along with a shield that I had borrowed from Rosemallow, \n", - ">> ​\n", - ">> >He grappled with me, twisted the arm that he was holding onto, and bit down on my wrist, chomping right through the metal of the Gardener’s Plate as though it weren’t even there. \n", - ">> ​\n", - ">> >I waited until we were perilously close to the ground, flung out the tendrils of Gardener’s Plate to help put him facing the ground, then put us back to corporeality.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed, thanks. I thought I had gotten all those, but a few must have slipped through.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/grahamyvr** [+7] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> 195\n", - ">> > “TImeline?” he asked, looking over the list.\n", - ">> Capitalization of \"TI\" instead of \"Ti\".\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed, thanks.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/nytelios** [+4] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> 193\n", - ">> I was woozy, having trouble seeing straight, let ~~along~~ [alone] thinking\n", - ">> I watched and ~~waiting~~ [waited], wondering what the catch was\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed, thanks.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Irhien** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Ch. 195: \"with each clone taking eight hours each to create\"\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Kilbourne** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> To be clear, “each” is said twice\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed, thanks.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/GeeJo** [+2] *Custom Flair**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> C. 195:\n", - ">> > She was important, so she would have had both entads, pharmaceuticals, and mages.\n", - ">> 'both', but three items.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed, thanks.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Kerbal_NASA** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Chapter 192: Cooldown \n", - ">> I don't know if it matters to you but the following two sentences were said about a 1000 words apart:\n", - ">> >It felt later than it was. The sun was still out.\n", - ">> >It felt late, given all the plotting and planning we’d done, the run-up to the fight, and the fight itself, but it was only around dinner time, and the light was still coming in strong.\n", - ">> (in story, between those two sentences, Juniper/Amaryllis finished the second half of their conversation and then Juniper goes into the bottle where he sees Grak)\n", - "\n", - ">> Chapter 193: Coda I\n", - ">> >Did Amaryllis avoid reporting in to the Host for reasons of necessity and duress? “The nays have it,...\n", - ">> Wouldn't that mean she lost the case?\n", - ">> > The only ones who know what might deal with him, the only ones who will try to stop him, the one ones who can.\n", - ">> one ones -> only ones\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed those, thanks.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/redstonerodent** [+2] *High Council of Gallifrey**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> 195\n", - ">> > **ensuring** the public that this was not, in fact, a rogue dragon attack on the legislature.\n", - ">> Maybe I'm parsing this wrong or it's a usage I'm not familiar with, but I think that should be \"assuring.\"\n", - ">> 193\n", - ">> > She was wearing black, mourning garb, without any of the entads I had seen her with in either Boastre Vino or **Lio**.\n", - ">> Should be \"Li'o.\"\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/cthulhuraejepsen** [+1] *Fruit flies like a banana**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Fixed, thanks.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/djcian** [+2] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Ch 194\n", - ">> > Tommul himself was visible as a wing sticking up out of (the) hole he’d made when he slammed into the building.\n", - ">> needs a \"the\" added.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Se7enworlds** [+18] *\n", - "> \n", - "> So here's a question I'd like to know the answer to. Did they manage to bottle Hyacinth?\n", - "> Giving the information that she has to the Hells seems like it might instigate some problems down the line.\n", - "> Given the situation it seems possible that at least one member of the Court wasn't caught in time either way, so I suppose knowledge of an Uther candidate is going to filter through to them and they definitely have the nuance to put two and two together with their own problems. It may turn out to be the best thing that Valencia went off with Bethal if they find themselves being observed.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+9] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Yeah, that was the first thought that came to mind when I realized ACSLB was rampaging in the Court. \"Guess we're having the hell crusade arc next, then.\"\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+10] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I asked this elsewhere in the thread, but Gemma died. Gemma knows about Valencia. Did Gemma get bottled? If not, well . . . cue up the hell crusade. Also Juniper has leveled up, so Valencia has more tendrils. Can she wipe out Demons yet? In modern doctor who fashion, is it okay to exterminate the evil race?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/GeeJo** [+17] *Custom Flair**\n", - "> \n", - "> So, I got to this line in 193:\n", - "> > I had no idea whether it would work on this version of the Cannibal, but I was hopeful, because if it couldn’t, then there was a good chance we (and everyone in Greychapel) were fucked.\n", - "> and it dawned on me that dodging a body-mutilating serial killer in a place called Greychapel comes as [something of a cultural reference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper), above and beyond Shia himself.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/xartab** [+5] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Don't know if it was intentional, but I thought the same.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/ivory12** [+35] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Often with an antagonist there is the question of what motivates them. Why are they opposed to the hero of the story, why do they do what they do? Sometimes the audience's ability to discern said motivations is of lesser or greater importance to an author, and will be made correspondingly more or less explicit to the reader through the narrative. \n", - "> There is a common refrain, not just in writing but in social psychology, that \"no one thinks of themselves as the villain in their own story,\" and many authors will take great care to abide by that axiom. Even if they never spell it out for the reader, they themselves will usually have a good handle on why their characters do the things they do.\n", - "> So with that, let's talk about dearly departed (or is she?) Rosemallow. Firstly, I don't believe any rule of writing is ironclad (particularly not the one I've just articulated, which I don't believe to be true, anyway). My favourite novel of all time is *Blood Meridian,* and Cormac McCarthy doesn't even give a damn about punctuation therein. With that context, I'm noting that what I type here is not a criticism, as such, but rather an observation.\n", - "> Rosemallow appears to be utterly inhuman. She seems concerned only with power qua power. Her motivations are not only opaque to the reader but perhaps to herself. Maybe she no longer has actual motivations beyond the accumulation of influence, the security of her position, and the ability to hinder or harm her enemies. Mary put it better than I could, in 195, anyway: \n", - "> >“You talk about that like it matters,” replied Amaryllis. “As though there were any policy you wouldn’t budge on, any tenet of faith that represented a line that could not be crossed. As though you even had a coherent memeplex.”\n", - "> Her entire life is bent to political machination, such that she comes across more machine than not. Reading her admitting to her crimes, and reading June seeing her murder an osentensible friend in Amy's mother for barely more reason than that the opportunity arose . . . was disconcerting. And fascinating. However, her lack of humanity, in a word, did simply make her less interesting than Hyacinth's more personal vendetta, at least to me.\n", - "> I think, all said, I will be sad to see the back of the human cast of antagonists in Anglecynn and their maneuvering. Although that may be an almost ironic label to give Rosemallow and her ilk. I've found that throughout WTC all the most gripping conflicts have been those where June and fellows have been pit against other people in tense, dramatic stand-offs moreso than when he's up against some Tarrasque-esque force of nature.\n", - "> Particularly Everett and co., Fireteam Blackheart, that fight against Raven, Fallatehr, or the recent string of all of Mary's relatives. Less so Mome Rath or the Cannibal, who, speaking of, did live up to the hype. He's been a narrative sword of Damocles since his introduction and he delivered in terms of raw power. \n", - "> Anyway, I've now rambled on in a couple directions for far too long. Book 8 definitely delivered in terms of hyped climax from everything after Yarrow and Zinnia came on stage.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Rorschach_And_Prozac** [+50] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> In terms of the cannibal, I was a little let down that the solution was revealed in a sort heavy handed manner exactly as he showed up. As far as I know this had zero foreshadowing. \n", - ">> But that is a relatively minor gripe. i really like how the story implies the Dungeon Master lost control of the story, just as real dungeon masters do. The power up to Grak feels planned and story relevant. The power up to amaryllis feels a lot like the Dungeon Master apologizing to his PCs for letting his storylines get all garbaged up. Like he told his players \"sorry this gaming session was an unrewarding shit show, here's a massively powerful buff to get rid of all this accumulated nonsense I've saddled you guys with in the story.\"\n", - ">> To me, the DM gets fleshed out as a character without even being on screen except for two chapters. Amazing writing\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/ivory12** [+25] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Agreed that the paper bag thing came out of left field. In general, I have been half-thinking that Shia LaBeouf would not show up at all just because any method of defeating him would almost seem cheaply earned. There's also the issue that in a world that runs (for June anyway) as rather Harder fantasy (in terms of crunchy-ness) he's a very Soft monster, if you catch my drift, in that he simply operates 'by horror movie rules' and is basically unstoppable. \n", - ">>> As to the DM, he's probably one of my favourite characters, but I imagine those chapters are a bitch to write. He gives me a sort of vaguely *The Seventh Seal* vibe.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Reply_or_Not** [+34] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> To be fair, the paper bag is from the meme itself.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/ivory12** [+10] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Yes, I'm realizing that now based on other comments. My only real familiarity with it is from this story, lol.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/aeschenkarnos** [+9] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I’m pretty much convinced that the DM is ~~the Crimson King~~ Alexander Wales.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> The author talking with his characters directly, like in \"Breakfast for Champions\".\n", - ">>>>> But it won't make sense with the whole, \"you can replace me at the end\".\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/tjhance** [+42] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> There wasn't really any in-story hinting, but any reader could have looked up the shia labeof rules and tried speculating. (Personally, I thought it was gonna have to do with the lyrics from the song, but i thought it was satisfying and made a lot of sense to base the solution off the tabletop rules)\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/scruiser** [+31] *CYOA**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> After Juniper lost his leg I was sure he was going win with Jis Jitsu and an Axe like in the song lyrics.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/XxChronOblivionxX** [+11] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Yeah, I was really curious as to why Juniper didn't seem to mention that Shia is killed by the main character of the song, and detail the specific ways in which it happens. Even if it wasn't relevant to the actual Tabletop version of him, it could be nice false foreshadowing and led to Juniper trying and failing to Kidney Stab + Axe Beheading before switching to Paper Bag.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Halinn** [+13] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> > why Juniper didn't seem to mention that Shia is killed by the main character of the song, and detail the specific ways in which it happens\n", - ">>>>> Wait! He isn't dead! Shia Surprise!\n", - ">>>>> There's a gun to your head, and death in his eyes\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+8] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Well, Juniper did ~~say~~think that he had a plan, and that it might even work... Though to be fair, I also thought it would revolve around the song and musical magic or something like that.\n", - ">>> After reading it, OF COURSE it's DMing and not singing, dancing and jiu-jitsu (though Juniper has a stump leg, too :D)\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/AnimaLepton** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Someone else posted this, but Chapter 128 mentions that Juniper has a theoretical plan to deal with his own commhazard, and 130 does mention the bag over head solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/fq9t4q/worth_the_candle_chapter_192_cooldown/flr2jtq/\n", - ">>> So in addition to the out-of-universe explanation, there is something in the text that at least alludes to it.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Rorschach_And_Prozac** [+1] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I'll trust you that it was mentioned in story. I probably don't remember it mostly because that chapter was released so long ago. One of the hazards of reading a web serial as it releases instead of when it's done.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Irhien** [+1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> We didn't know that it would be specifically paper bags, but Juniper (at least, pre-Arthur's death Juniper) did not seem like a kind of DM to put the characters in a situation they cannot win. So I suppose the existence of a solution should have been foreseeable.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Rorschach_And_Prozac** [+3] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> It's a story, so the fact that a solution EXISTS to every problem is foreseeable. It's the finding and implementation of the solution that makes for good reading, especially in a rational work. If it looks like Deus Ex Machina, it's bad writing (not that this is DEM necessarily, another user pointed or that there is an actual game in real life that mentions the paper bag thing. It just isn't anywhere in the story before it is literally immediately pointed out and used as a solution)\n", - ">>>> For an example of dumpster garbage story telling, see the kingkiller chronicles, where the Marty Stu main character never encounters a problem he wasn't extensively trained for as a kid in his wandering circus troupe by a master at whatever task it is.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/sfinebyme** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Eh, I thought that was sort of the joke with the Kingkiller Chronicles? That the whole thing is being narrated by this guy who is simultaneously a sadsack barkeep but also so flamingly egotistical that he just *has* to tell the story about how awesome he is at everything, and even then, he doesn't get the girl.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Mason-B** [+1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> For reference it is in [the two page rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/35fpdj/system_actual_cannibal_shia_labeouf/). I would call that a reference for the intended audience rather than something foreshadowed.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/WalterTFD** [+20] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I've had the thought, a bit, that Rosemallow was probably the worst apple in Anglecrynn's gov. Like, Hyacinth and the rest make a lot more sense when you put them opposite this cruelty elemental and her endless murders. Larkspur very probably thought he was tracking down a villain in Amaryllis.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/vanillafog** [+23] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I dunno, Rosemallow was definitely a bad apple, but the worst? Zinnia, Yarrow, and the rest were clearly torturing people at that black site.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+7] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Torturing people with the express direction of the appointed head of their armed forces and therefore entirely legally. Not relevant to us as outside moral observers, but probably relevant to people in the system\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+10] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> They also performed illegal soul magic on him, an act that has been repeatedly being described as being equivalent to \"killing a bunch of jewish people and writing antisemitic slurs next to their bodies\" in their culture.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+4] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Or did they?\n", - ">>>>>> >“We weren’t ordered to kidnap you, we were just supposed to put you to sleep and root around in your heads,” said Zinnia. “Not even that, if negotiations had gone well, which they didn’t. It was a complete clusterfuck that escalated out of control when Raven didn’t fall asleep. Is she really the real Raven?”\n", - ">>>>>> Zinna (after getting soulfucked) said that their job was to put them to sleep and check them with soul magic on the spot, she didn't say that they were to soulfuck them. Just looking at ones soul isn't a crime.\n", - ">>>>>> Of course things escalated quickly.\n", - ">>>>>> She proceeded to torture Joon only after her brother went catatonic.\n", + ">>>>>> **u/sephirothrr** [+13] (2 days later)\n", ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> Your point is actually incidentally well-made in a story I would recommend - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/48948/a-soldier-adrift-captain-westeros - in the sense that in order to be such a character you have to essentially be a superhuman that can back up your moral superiority with martial superiority.\n", "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+7] *\n", + ">>>>>> **u/ReproachfulWombat** [+5] (2 days later)\n", + ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> The Dornish seem more Classical Greek than Medieval European in their attitudes towards sex and gender-roles from what I've read (admittedly a lot of it was fanfic). I can't imagine it would be too hard to write a character coming from that sort of background that would have cultural clashes with more 'traditional' Westerosi nobles on the subjects of female agency, inheritance and sexuality. I can't think of any fics where that's been *done*, but I also don't think it would automatically be as ludicrous a premise as a character walking up to the king and calling him out on his identity politics.\n", + "\n", + ">>>>>>> **u/lillarty** [+3] (5 days later)\n", ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Even so, Zinnia also later in the conversation says that whenever Yarrow has soulfucked people in the past he has always covered his tracks by killing and bottling the target. They don't get any moral high ground just because they didn't originally intend to soulfuck Juniper.\n", + ">>>>>>> I believe they were more modeled after Persia than Greece, but other than that I agree completely.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/xshadowfax** [+4] (4 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Just read and enjoyed *Wearing Robert's Crown* even dead as it is.\n", + ">> I've tried and enjoyed many fics from this list in the past, so in the spirit of reciprocation, I'll also recc a fic I felt was missing from it:\n", + ">> \n", + ">> [Canucks](https://archiveofourown.org/works/38990139/chapters/97525608):\n", + ">> \n", + ">> A small group of Canadian soldiers are transported to Westeros beyond the Wall, without knowledge of the books/series along with a snow crawler and loads of weapons. It had believable levels of verisimilitude, the lack of metaknowledge removed a lot of the usual SI obnoxiousness and the author is skilled/confident enough at character writing to pull off a memorable OC main cast. There's of course that culture/tech clash of \"modern firearms meets the barbarians/zombies\" but the fic is pretty grounded on this topic without the kind of looking down you would expect from such a premise. Active and updating.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/DrTerminater** [+2] (3 hours later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Of those, which would you recommend the most strongly?\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/OGSyedIsEverywhere** [+7] (3 hours later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> The Winter of Widows.\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/hoja_nasredin** [+1] *Dai-Gurren Brigade* (5 hours later)\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> thanks\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/AssadTheImpaler** [+1] (2 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> I'm really enjoying The Winter of Widows, thanks for the rec.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> Have you read Daughter of the Empire (by Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist)? It's been a while since I've read it but TWoW immediately reminded me of it. If you haven't read it already I recommend it.\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/OGSyedIsEverywhere** [+1] (5 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> I've subsequently started reading it, thanks. I think I've spotted a couple phrases in DotE that I've previously seen in TWoW, so it looks like there could be some *direct* inspiration.\n", + "\n", + "> **u/LaziIy** [+4] (3 hours later)\n", + "> \n", + "> Got around to reading the [outsider's resolve](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/naruto-the-outsiders-resolve.1050442/reader/) , it was a pretty fun read. I like how much world building is put into Konoha, and the slow burn of power scaling adds to its charm.\n", + "\n", + ">> **u/sephirothrr** [+4] (2 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> I've brought it up before, possibly even on this subreddit. I enjoyed this until it turned into a >!run-of-the-mill story about organized crime!<, which I found to be incredibly uncompelling, especially given the particulars of the setting, and retroactively soured the whole story for me.\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/Flashbunny** [+4] (2 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Yeah, I dropped it after a while of that too. It wasn't very interesting to read, and IIRC the somewhat modern-feeling police procedural stuff felt kind of out of place in-universe.\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+1] (2 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> Just in case you want to continue the story someday, what you're talking about is just a small arc that doesn't last that long.\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/sephirothrr** [+3] (2 days later)\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> Yeah the bigger problem was that it destroyed my trust in the author being able to write a good story in that setting, since it showed he doesn't actually understand it.\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/LaziIy** [+1] (2 days later)\n", + ">>> \n", + ">>> If you ever feel like picking it back up someday, it is relatively a minor arc that exists to lay a foundation for some of the relations and motivations that the MC will have in the future. >!Having an arc about organized crime when the MC joins the Police's organized crime department was par for the course!< It does actually deviate off the script towards the end to lay the narrative for some of the changes the MC has caused to cannon.\n", + "\n", + ">>>> **u/sephirothrr** [+8] (2 days later)\n", + ">>>> \n", + ">>>> Right, and if it weren't set in the Naruto universe, it'd be perfectly cromulent - >!however, the problem I have is that you can't just take it for a given that organized crime would exist when interpersonal power dynamics are so fundamentally different than they are in the real world!< - and this contradiction shows to me that the setting is just set dressing, and none of the implications of it are actually explored.\n", + "\n", + ">>>>> **u/LaziIy** [+2] (3 days later)\n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> Well there are differences from the canon world ,or perceived reality from the author's pov, that we are already introduced to before it gets to the crime arc such as that the Leaf village is much larger and far less of a totalitarian state than we see from the scope of the show. \n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> >!I guess I didn't really pay much attention to it since the organized crime arc really doesn't feature any actual organizations doing these acts bar hints towards one. It was usually just small scale problems that were solvable by a team of genin so in the power scaling of the fiction, really just an issue about finding them rather than being complex issues to solve. Since it quickly becomes more of a narcotics centered arc, the initial phase didn't garner much long lasting thought from me as to the point of the organized crime department's existence. The only actual organization that debuts in this arc gets revealed to have rather explainable ninja ties so I felt that it didn't wander too far from the setting.!< \n", + ">>>>> \n", + ">>>>> If the notion of the hidden village having an underbelly is irreconcilable, then yeah the arc and the subsequent fiction probably wouldn't be your cup of tea.\n", + "\n", + ">>>>>> **u/sephirothrr** [+6] (3 days later)\n", + ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> > If the notion of the hidden village having an underbelly is irreconcilable, then yeah the arc and the subsequent fiction probably wouldn't be your cup of tea.\n", + ">>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>> I mean it's not even that - we have Danzo's shenanigans, and those are canon. The execution here just left a lot to be desired.\n", + "\n", + ">>>>>>> **u/LaziIy** [+2] (3 days later)\n", ">>>>>>> \n", + ">>>>>>> Execution in what sense? That there was a police force with departments in Konoha? It seemed like a pretty standard fanfiction arc , but maybe I missed something the author butchered.\n", + ">>>>>>> >!Also yeah the only organized real crime that the MC gets to investigate as a genin detective ends up being a danzo shenanigan, the rest is just a continuation of the ring drama from previous arcs. !<\n", "\n", - ">>> **u/t3tsubo** [+14] *\n", + ">> **u/krugsbn** [+5] (2 days later)\n", + ">> \n", + ">> The flow of the story was alright but little inconsistencies added up to my ire.\n", + ">> \n", + ">> I couldn't continue reading it after MC got a minor lightning release jutsu, then I saw in the comments how there was a crime arc coming. The story convinced me it wouldn't respect the original worldbuilding at all. \n", + ">> \n", + ">> I want to see jutsus flying, martial arts fighting good old Naruto stories, but they keep making it about bullsh-t dramas and 7-year olds' ninja training. Sad.\n", + "\n", + ">>> **u/LaziIy** [+1] (3 days later)\n", ">>> \n", - ">>> No, Larkspur was tracking down Amy purely for the inheritance.\n", - ">>> Rosemallow had sacrificed Amy like a pawn at that point.\n", + ">>> Sounds like you dropped it pretty early, there is a crime arc but it ties into the flow of the story pretty well and definitely keeps the martial arts fighting aspect of it alive. \n", ">>> \n", + ">>> As for jutsu's flying and hardcore fighting all the time, I can say that it does happen after the crime arc for a solid two arcs but ultimately the story is about the MC's progression so it ties together plot points that don't have to do with fighting as well.\n", "\n", - ">>> **u/ivory12** [+3] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Cruelty elemental, hah. That's apt.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/nytelios** [+13] *\n", + ">> **u/DrTerminater** [+3] (4 hours later)\n", ">> \n", - ">> Maybe Rosemallow's a victim of Goodhart's law (that name, ha) as Mary fears for herself. But it felt less about her character and more about the choice of whether you could countenance evil if it served a utilitarian purpose. Also a bit of 'villains whose evil couldn't be undone'. Spiders don't usually get happy endings though.\n", - ">> I know some people hate it, but I love the conflicts with paranoia and uncertainty. I'd wish for greyer villains and more questions of 'does the punishment fit the crime?' Probably not very cathartic in Aerb...\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/ivory12** [+6] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> They do have some wicked punishments though, I imagine.\n", - ">>> From a purely utilitarian standpoint, if it serves the purpose of maximizing utility then it is not evil. However, as far as I know just about no one seriously holds a purely utilitarian standpoint, and with good reason. The idea that one person's political power can be synonymous with utility also seems deeply, delusionally flawed. But I wonder if Rosemallow would even rationalize things to herself that way, by the end, or whether she didn't bother in her own head. As you said, she seemed in certain ways more device than person as a character. \n", - ">>> For me, I love the scenes with standoffish, treacherous tension: the Fireteam Blackheart sequence, Everett's group, and Zinia and Yarrow. It's like conflict foreplay.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/nytelios** [+12] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Personally I felt she made a convincing argument for why she should live and remain politically active in this transitional crisis, but the well was thoroughly poisoned and then it was all rendered moot with Multitasker.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/None** [+20] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> She made a good argument to her strengths, but failed to address her weaknesses. It's true that she's useful, but she's so intrinsically untrustworthy at this point that the only way she could be left alive and active is if they acquired massive leverage over her. Via soulfucking, presumably. Can't blame Amy for deciding to just off her.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/nytelios** [+9] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Well, that's the choice - she didn't need to address her weaknesses at that point because she knew it was pointless. It's a weighing of the scale whether her competence, fingers in the pie, political vision and macro objectives are worth having a known conniving backstabber in the hotseat (Mary makes the case herself). \n", - ">>>>>> Narratively leaving her alive is just asking for it. But it's unfortunate that narrative heavily informs these decisions and things are aligned against them such that murder always seems like the simplest option (which then often turns out justified as the most pragmatic option). In a world sans DM fuckery, compromise is an endless bottle of bitter pills to swallow.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/ivory12** [+6] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Her arguments had merit, sure, but this is the woman who murdered Mary's mother. Like you said, that well is so poisoned the groundwater for miles is blighted. Forgiving that act for political capital would require such mercy and forbearance that they would wrap all the way around and horseshoe effect to pure callousness again.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+5] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I get what you're saying. It's both kind of disappointing, and kind of realistic and interesting, that the simplest answer turns out to be true: Rosemallow is just a narcissistic murderer.\n", - ">> I think in the end, her methodology *is* her motivation.\n", - ">> Like Juniper says, her motivation is whatever it needs to be to appeal to her current disposable minions. She's just so dedicated to a vision of politics where ideology is what you use to move other people around, that she can't understand the concept of having an ideology herself.\n", - ">> That's why she could never work with Mary. That's why she couldn't understand her life was on the line at the end.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/None** [+16] *\n", - "> \n", - "> bells apparatus modern ghost full scale future plant squeamish worry\n", - "> *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/GaBeRockKing** [+31] *Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857**\n", - "> \n", - "> I was surprised at how fast three outstanding plots were wrapped up (angelcynn, killing a dragon, ACSLB) but then realized it had all happened over roughly 30,000 words (or a third of a book) which is really a testament to how engaging the writing is that I just blitz through it so fast.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/sicutumbo** [+29] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> The dragon didn't die. It lost an eye, but was well enough to fly away from the encounter\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/GaBeRockKing** [+13] *Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> The plot thread as a whole was resolved, though. He did fight a dragon, circumstances just conspired to not force him to kill it.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/sicutumbo** [+26] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I don't think it was resolved. He won't have to do much for the violation shown this batch, because there were extenuating circumstances, but they still need to deal with the first violation (admittedly much easier with Hyacinth dead), and Perisev's quest hasn't been affected at all.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> There were extenuating circumstances the last time also, arguably even bigger. And one of theirs got wounded. The Dragons couldn't care less.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+3] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> I think the difference is the exigent circumstances clause only applies to member nations.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/sicutumbo** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Anglecynn as a whole is interested in resolving matters this time though\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+19] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Its not resolved until Mr. Dragon is either dead or a nominal ally.\n", - ">>>> Until then he's a dangling plot thread with an eyepatch and anger issues.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+4] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Draconic confederacy is still going to have a grudge against him and try to enforfce its punishment. I can't imagine goldy is very happy about the circumstances, even if technically Juniper did nothing wrong\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Marand23** [+4] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Well, he violated the \"treaty\" again, in one of the most circumstantially favorably ways I can think of, but still.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/None** [+18] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> The last time they violated it was saving a city from a giant monster, so seems like \"extenuating circumstances\" aren't really something they care about\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/Marand23** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> True. You would probably have to be saving dragons before they start caring about that.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/nytelios** [+24] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> And all it cost was an arm and a leg! Fingers crossed for wrapping up amputee sex and Fel Seed in the next 30k.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+25] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> forget amputee sex, we just learned the love interest can clone herself thirty times\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Se7enworlds** [+25] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I'm very much a fan of the Beast. He adds a frantic panic to any scene that he's in that cuts through the politics and day to day into this desperate struggle to survive. \n", - "> I think it's chapters are the closest to capturing the feeling of what living on Aerb during it's worst moments would be like for it's more normal inhabitants.\n", - "> I do increasingly feel hesitant about Fel Seed though. Given the expectations that have been set so far, it seems like it's going to make for some fairly horrific reading.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+23] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I'd never have thought I'd read a story and sincerely think a meme reference was an amazing plot point\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/newgan** [+11] *\n", - "> \n", - "> These chapters were a lot of fun especially in how some of the foreshadowing paid off (the big fight). I was just as surprised as juniper at the dragon appearing.\n", - "> I'm disappointed in the interactions between amaryllis and Juniper except probably the end of Family. It felt like there was very little romantic tension between them. Also there were a couple points where it looked like Mary was disappointed in Juniper, especially after the court battle and the actual battle. \n", - "> Did anyone else feel this way?\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+15] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Personally, I felt like Amaryllis mentioning their marriage so often was a nice little weird flirting thing.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/grahamyvr** [+24] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Yeah, me too. After the battle, it felt like she was just going through the motions. This line in particular sounded very distant:\n", - ">> > \"You did well in the arena today, spite aside. I wanted you to know that.\"\n", - ">> PS: OMG, I just noticed the preceeding lines.\n", - ">> > “You’re not overworked?”\n", - ">> > “Only in the sense that there’s more work to do than there are Amaryllises to do it,\n", - ">> Excellent foreshadowing!\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+9] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Well, it was her storyline, and then she barely gets to do anything... I think for her it was the feeling that she was not the main character of her own story.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/okokok4js** [+15] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Yeah. It traces back to Amaryllis feeling like she is being left behind by Joon and the gang back in the Time-Chamber pregnancy arc. \n", - ">>>> Right now Raven can give Joon similar protocols and opsecs that she developed owing to her experience with the Endless Library and Uther and being really old, Grak is becoming OP and is close to being the best in the world in what he does, Bethel is OP, Valencia is better at social stuff than her, and the Locus/Solace provide what anything is missing in between them. \n", - ">>>> Add to that what Amaryllis got for her virtue doesn't really help her in contribute something new to the party. It helps the narrative stay away from blah, blah, blah, politics and planning but those are her strong suit. She feels set aside. Its probably why she wasn't as excited as Joon expected her to be.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+3] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> > Yeah, me too. After the battle, it felt like she was just going through the motions. This line in particular sounded very distant:\n", - ">>> Nah, she's just a really cold person in general.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+4] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> > It felt like there was very little romantic tension between them\n", - ">> Depends what you mean by romantic. They have a strong platonic partnership that has them relying on and trusting eachother implicitly without really remarking on it. But since Amy doesn't feel sexual feelings for him, and he isn't into it if she isn't (as we saw with the first clone). So its not likely to move in that direction\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/LLJKCicero** [+8] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> But...I thought the first clone *was* at least into the kissing.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/thefran** [+25] *Tile the Universe in Countryballs**\n", - "> \n", - "> Not sure how the marriage inspector will take Juniper's blatant infidelity to Amaryllis, since after he got her pregnant he fucked every elf on Aerb\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/CouteauBleu** [+6] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> That's a weird joke.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+9] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> ... what?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+25] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Solace, and the skin magic exclusion.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Darkpiplumon** [+7] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Oh ok, that makes sense\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/TMGleep** [+7] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> I think he means 'by getting skin magic excluded' and ruining tattoo magic\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/thefran** [+11] *Tile the Universe in Countryballs**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Ruining scar magic, rather. All elves are now permanently deprived of power that let them feel superior to all other mortal species for their centuries-old lives.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/CoronaPollentia** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Skin magic exclusion\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/xartab** [+0] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Thief.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/thefran** [+1] *Tile the Universe in Countryballs**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> How so?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/xartab** [+1] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I was on discord. It's either a steal or recycling, which is an even more heinous sin.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/thefran** [+6] *Tile the Universe in Countryballs**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Guess who else was on discord and posted that joke in the first place.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/xartab** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> So *it is* recycling. For shame.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/thefran** [+3] *Tile the Universe in Countryballs**\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> So you really lashed out in indignation on the grounds of \"you posted a joke that you came up with\" and you thought that this would make you look *good*.\n", - ">>>>>>> Explain this to me.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>> **u/xartab** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>> I thought my tone was pretty clearly playful, but I'm starting to reconsider, going by your wording...\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>> **u/I_Probably_Think** [+3] *\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>> Tone is incredibly hard to decipher on the Internet when interacting with strangers :(\n", - ">>>>>>>>> *I* at least honestly couldn’t tell you were joking.\n", - ">>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>>> **u/xartab** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>>> I guess I'll have to resort to emoticons more often :/\n", - ">>>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>>>>> **u/I_Probably_Think** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>>>>> Yeah, I find myself on both ends of the mistake more times than I ever would have expected! I never was great at sarcasm in the first place though.\n", - ">>>>>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Shaolang** [+11] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I really appreciate the how these antagonists develop over the chapters. And I keep thinking about how a SOC-based Juniper would fare getting through this (or if Val was with him), most likely avoiding CSLB altogether.\n", - "> Something I have been thinking about though since the last set of chapters is how much impact getting essentialism early impacts Joon and after the fight with Onion, I wonder how a PHY-based Joon would fare instead.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+9] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> > I wonder how a PHY-based Joon would fare instead.\n", - ">> I haven't done the relevant math, but its likely that phy!Joon is high enough in those skills to get the ridiculously powerful abilities like teleport dodging permanently and legitimately. Which makes him ridiculously powerful in general. He could just have personally assassinated all their enemies\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Gr_Cheese** [+4] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> But could a paper bag withstand the high speed maneuvers of phy!Joon?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+5] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I'm assuming he'd have gone full murderhobo and killed Hyacinth the moment he saw her, faster than she can say \"shy a...\"\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> [deleted]\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/tarkalak** [+5] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> \"Hmm.\" said the DM.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/hyphenomicon** [+1] *seer of seers, prognosticator of prognosticators**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> The trick is to not care if your character lives or dies, only about an exciting story. If I can successfully provoke the DM into altering the fabric of the world to such an extreme degree, that's still a win, because the ramifications of that will end up being extremely cool. And more likely the DM will shy away from that sort of thing.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/tarkalak** [+1] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> Yeah, I know.\n", - ">>>>>> But if the Aerb DM could exclude non magical effects (like the Blue Fields), he can certainly exclude the PHY stuff.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+1] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> We don't know if a prompt supercriticality event on Erb is physics or magic. In more general we don't really have any discussion of the \"Physics plus\" of Erb, but we have seen a lot to suggest that it's a computer simulation and on the game layer it's jankey enough that we might think the physics simulation isn't simulating down to fundamental forces on subatomic particles.\n", - ">>>>>>> I'm still wondering why we've seen only one magic system (soul magic) that was partially excluded, I think there's something significant about how erb works or essentialism works that this one piece of magic is essential enough that pieces of it get excluded but not the soul of it.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/RUGDelverOP** [+16] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Juniper still has pain turned off from soulfucking himself, right? It's not surprising that everyone sees a change in his thought process, considering that he broke himself. Hopefully that'll come up soon, that's better taken care of in downtime than in the middle of things.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/sicutumbo** [+13] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> He's turned pain down, to the point where it doesn't really hamper him, but he definitely feels it to a degree. It was mentioned during the Onion fight and again in this batch when he got hit by dragon fire.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+13] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> It's sad how over optimized the brains in this simulation are that emotional and physical pain are on the same knob, but it is a good anti-munchkin effect. I wonder when Joon is going to realize it and refactor to something with a simpler dependency graph. I think he has the virtues to do it, but maybe not the diligence.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/awesomeideas** [+11] *Dai stiho, cousin.**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> [That's how it is with humans in this universe too.](https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20180206/do-otc-painkillers-alter-emotions-reasoning)\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+4] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Interesting I didn't know that, thank you, finding some papers on the topic.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/adgnatum** [+8] *\n", - "> \n", - "> >neither of us were planning to sleep for the rest of our lives so long as the tuung were ready and willing to take sleep off our hands.\n", - "> Taking the statement at face value as I read it, I found myself surprised by the sentiment.\n", - "> On the other hand, I did not need to dig deep into the characterization or the world-building to find an in-character reason. Think of all the time spent sleeping. Time that could be spent doing anything else.\n", - "> Hmmm...\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+10] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> So I guess that's also confirmation that Grak did remove the 1000h-limit on the ring via split warding. Does this mean that Still Magic 100 is now consequence-free, aside from the skill points invested?\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Gooey-** [+14] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Well yes, but actually no. \n", - ">>> That shit will get slapped with an exclusion so fucking hard if they even try.\n", - ">>> Warding exclusion was explicitly mentioned from fucking around too much with the split warding thing.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/burnerpower** [+8] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Tbf Grak is exclusion proof. That said a lot of people would die if warding is excluded so they will probably try and avoid it anyway.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/sicutumbo** [+17] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> The passive doesn't say he's exclusion proof. It says his ability to make wards cannot be removed by exclusion. He could still become an enpersoned exclusion\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+10] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> I suppose that's technically true. It would be pretty against the spirit of things though. \"Hey Grak you are worried your main talent is going to get excluded? Don't be, you'll never lose the ability to use wards if its gets excluded... And that's because you'll be an enpersoned exclusion zone, HA!\"\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/CouteauBleu** [+2] *We are the Empire.**\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> ... how does anything we know about the DM make you think he wouldn't pull something like this?\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+10] *\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>>> Because he's not an agressively bad DM? He also didn't take away Still Magic which was arguably a lot more busted. Juniper even defends him a little bit in the Family chapter. Obviously still a bad person because of all the torture and such, but not a bad GM necessarily.\n", - ">>>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Argenteus_CG** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> One of the unarmored virtues also removed the need to sleep, but that'd probably just mean Still Magic gets excluded instead.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+1] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Oh yeah, I guess that could get Warding excluded, thanks!\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/adgnatum** [+1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Good eye!\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+6] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Its somewhat worrying, in the same way as the spirit modification. Its unclear what exactly the entad is doing when they transfer sleep, but there's important psychological purposes to sleep that aren't satisfied if they are just removing the physical effects of tiredness. \n", - ">> Effectively they are very cavalierly fucking about with major function of their brains and just trusting that the magic/game mechanics that deal with it will sort things out for them. Which seems like a bad assumption to make, especially as the DM has shown a tendency to punish anything thats too powerful\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/adgnatum** [+3] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> To be fair, they're not remotely breaking the game with it. They're just talking. The uninterrupted consciousness isn't propping up any mechanical interactions (any more).\n", - ">>> Which is to say that I don't think the DM is going to go out of his way to punish them, but it might happen all by itself.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/None** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I was thinking more in terms of \"you can't get something for nothing\" than breaking the game mechanics wise, but and getting hit with the exclusionary principle .\n", - ">>>> It becomes effectively trivial to stay awake indefinitely when you have the entad and willing helpers (or money to acquire them). That doesn't seem like the kind of easy way of getting a massive benefit that makes sense in game balance or narrative terms\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/burnerpower** [+4] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> Sometimes entads are pure upside. It happens. Dodging sleep isn't really that big a deal for the group without the Still Magic synergy anyway. Also Aerb doesn't have the same physics. Considering various magic that we've seen you very much can get something for nothing.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/None** [+16] *\n", - "> \n", - "> [deleted]\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/burnerpower** [+7] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> But they do? The Republic of Miunum is very explicitly a plot route the group planned for themselves.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/None** [+3] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> [deleted]\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/burnerpower** [+9] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> Oh. Well that's because Juniper has explicitly advised against it. He has said in the past that whenever his players did that he would \"slap them down\" so they know never to try it again. Seeing as the GM is running things in a similar way to him, they aren't going to risk it.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Revlar** [+1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Or is it?\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/catern** [+16] *\n", - "> \n", - "> The fight with >!Shia LeBeouf!< really felt like this edit: >!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFJAq51e-Dg!<\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/cantaloupelion** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> love this edit :D\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/None** [+7] *\n", - "> \n", - "> [deleted]\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+7] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Doesn't the soul return to it's proper state? . . . which implies the spirit goes to hell too, if the soul is just the DB for the running mental processes. \n", - ">> Well that just raised the strength of the argument for sending fenn to hell.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Solonarv** [+8] *Chaos Legion**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> If you use Spirit as well you can make soulfucking permanent, as I vaguely recall. Might only be \"possible in principle\" rather than \"actually doable', though.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+1] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> I think we may have stumbled on something. Essentialism is the only art we've seen partially excluded. I may have missed it if it's been discussed but I wonder why.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Serious_Feedback** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Wouldn't be surprised if some infernals are also soul mages and capable of unfucking souls.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/ricree** [+7] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I wonder if /u/mattzm reads this story or is at least aware of the ACSLB reference.\n", - "> It's a neat little game, but I'd never heard of it until it first got mentioned here.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/mattzm** [+17] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I have not read this story and it might take me a while to get through 196 chapters. I'll let you know!\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/CrystalShadow** [-1] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> You could probably jump to the second chapter of this batch, and search for “Shia” to get a decent amount of amusement. \n", - ">>> Premise is a tabletop dungeon master gets teleported into a world that is a mash up of everything he made/ran before, often played straight (and terrible)\n", - ">>> One of those games is “actual cannibal Shia”\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/xartab** [+8] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> How about you don't spoil things for people, especially since they just suggested they're going to read the whole thing?\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Mandragorec** [+8] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I like the book so much even though it makes me reflect on myself a bit too much. It feels like too much people can relate to Juniper to such extent for self-insert. Whatever.\n", - "> Love is >!whacking his head with a waraxe for the better future of Aerb!<.\n", - "> Love is >!helping her hide the crime by mutilating her aunt's corpse and leave it with victims of an Actual Cannibal!<.\n", - "> Strangest romance ever but I love every bit of it. Still ship Juniper with everyone and everything especially Bethel. 'Cause I could and I will.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+13] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - "> \n", - "> I've seen at least 4 comments that the paper bag came out of left field and not one about it being a schloss(german castle). Could the Platonics maybe helpful for once?\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Executioner404** [+23] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I don't think that schloss can apply to anything Earth / Juniper D&D group related, and the paper bag is definitely that.\n", - ">> Anyone who Googled the ACSLB rule-page (I did only because I honestly didn't believe it existed, it sounded like such a ridiculous premise for a campaign that I was sure Joon made it up) saw this coming as soon as Joon said he \"had a potential solution\", a long time ago. \n", - ">> Can't seem to find the chapter though, it was a throwaway comment so I can understand why people think the solution was too meta and came out of nowhere.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/WantToVent** [+14] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> Chapter 128: \n", - "\n", - ">>> “Ah,” I said. “Just warning you. It’s not quite instant death, but it’s close.” *I have a plan, and it might even work, but --*\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/royishere** [+19] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> And then there's this exchange, from chapter 130:\n", - ">>>> “I am,” I said. “I mean, I just don’t think … for my purposes, I don’t need to actually kill him, just incapacitate him for a bit, and I don’t think that I can just stick a bag over his head.”\n", - ">>>> “A bag?” asked Pinno.\n", - ">>>> “Long story,” I said.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+2] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> I got to look out for that next re-listen.\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/Executioner404** [+2] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> That's the one! Thanks.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+3] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> On that front it is a good surprise and reward for doing the research/knowing the game. I was thinking the comedy buff like the party was.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Gooey-** [+5] *\n", - "> \n", - "> >“I would hope that if I got heated, or lost my cool, you would try your best to be patient and understanding with me. We’re partners.”\n", - "> For some reason I'm suddenly reminded of that time Amy sat on top of Jun and beat the everliving shit outta him with her bare hands. \n", - "> Huh. \n", - "> Anyone remember which chapter that was?\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+12] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Chapter 124: Fight Club\n", - ">> In Mary's defense, she was under the \"mental disorder: Agression\" influence\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Badewell** [+3] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> [Chapter 124](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478249/chapters/38181992)\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/rdestenay** [+6] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I read Coda I & II listening to this song :[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u4M6vppCI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u4M6vppCI)\n", - "> Highly recommend! ;)\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/sparr** [+15] *\n", - "> \n", - "> My face when I saw \"Next Chapter\" lit up at the bottom... There is no emoji for it.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/Peragot** [+8] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Wow, what an ending to the book.\n", - "> I'm worried about possible blowback from killing the dragon. Seems like the Draconic Confederacy won't take that easily and it might affect the Bluebeard quest.\n", - "> Two big new companion abilities. We didn't see much of Grak's, but we already got a sneak-peak of Amaryllis's with Simaryllis.\n", - "> Speaking of Grak, it felt like ages since we had had a scene with him. It was nice to finally have a conversation between him and Juniper.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/WalterTFD** [+30] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Dragon is still alive though.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Krossfireo** [+14] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> The dragon didn't die, he was told to leave because The Cannibal would kill him and everyone there if he burnt the paper bag\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/aeschenkarnos** [+9] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> From the dragon’s point of view, Juniper saved his life, and also demonstrated the ability to kill an enemy whom the dragon could not.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/sicutumbo** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Blade of the Self wasn't that long ago\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/grekhaus** [+5] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Best birthday present ever.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/eaglejarl** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> Happy Birthday!\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/DeepTundra** [+3] *Lawful Stupid Godboxer**\n", - "> \n", - "> A romantic interest having a bunch of hyper-vulnerable clones around all the time is some Cursed Homestuck Shit.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/KJ6BWB** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> You just need to make it so the clones never have to roll a combat check. Put them in some sort of Mecha suit with some sort of automated attack/defense system.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">>> **u/adgnatum** [+2] *\n", - ">>> \n", - ">>> She'll have to make her own, because non-entad, but that's fine.\n", - ">>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>> **u/KJ6BWB** [+1] *\n", - ">>>> \n", - ">>>> You make a non entad mecha suit. Then you put an entad control system in there that will automatically fight, when necessary.\n", - ">>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>> **u/adgnatum** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>> \n", - ">>>>> But then what do you even need the clone for?\n", - ">>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>> **u/KJ6BWB** [+4] *\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>> To do political wrangling on your behalf.\n", - ">>>>>> \n", - "\n", - ">>>>>>> **u/ArcFurnace** [+2] *\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - ">>>>>>> Yeah, the mechanics are clearly designed to let them handle all the noncombat political/administrative stuff while Primaryllis focuses on adventuring.\n", - ">>>>>>> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/seniormartialbrother** [+2] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Option 3: try to bring them (Zinnia, Rosemallow, Onion) into the fold. I think he can still summon a few more hot dogs.\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/RidesThe7** [+2] *\n", - "> \n", - "> I did a little googling regarding the rules of ACSLB after reading these chapters, but haven't run into a rule forbidding paper bags. Is that something that only exists in the story version here that the gang played on earth?\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/xamueljones** [+5] *My arch-enemy is entropy**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> It's right there in the original rules that's linked to in the chapter.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/None** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I did too, and then figured that the bag had been folded into the rule \"nothing which instantly resolves the situation.\"\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/AnimaLepton** [+1] *\n", - ">> \n", - ">> [Here ya go](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/35fpdj/system_actual_cannibal_shia_labeouf/)\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/venusisupsidedown** [+1] *\n", - "> \n", - "> Anyone else having gateway timeout errors on AO3 when trying to download?\n", - "> \n", - "\n", - ">> **u/Empiricist_or_not** [+1] *Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm**\n", - ">> \n", - ">> I downloaded it to my phone yesterday with no errors.\n", - ">> \n", - "\n", - "> **u/KJ6BWB** [+1] *\n", - "> \n", - "> > I kept going back to what Raven had said about Onion, and whether it was possible that he wasn’t uniformly bad, which didn’t at all make me regret killing him, but did make some of the jokes I’d made feel a little sour.\n", - "> Sour like an onion?\n", - "> \n", + ">> Very good fic, there should be more like it. Realistic and steady progression.\n", "\n", "---\n", "\n", @@ -2837,7 +1383,8 @@ "shown = False\n", "for submission in tqdm(submissions):\n", " f = outdir / f\"{submission.id}.md\"\n", - " if not f.exists():\n", + " f2 = jsondir / f\"{submission.id}.json\"\n", + " if not f.exists() or not f2.exists():\n", " submission.comment_limit = None\n", "\n", " md = submission_to_markdown(submission, -100, verbose=True)\n", @@ -2846,11 +1393,10 @@ " shown = True\n", " f.write_text(md)\n", "\n", - "\n", " comments = get_comments(submission)\n", " # data = submission_to_json(submission)\n", - " f = jsondir / f\"{submission.id}.json\"\n", - " f.write_text(json.dumps(comments, indent=2))" + " \n", + " f2.write_text(json.dumps(comments, indent=2))" ] }, { diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml index b1840419..195ec621 100644 --- a/pyproject.toml +++ b/pyproject.toml @@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ cloudscraper = "^1.2.71" jinja2 = "^3.1.5" openai = "^1.58.1" lightnovel-crawler = "^3.7.2" +pyarrow = "^18.1.0" +humanize = "^4.11.0" [[tool.poetry.source]] # pytorch cuda needs to compe from another source https://python-poetry.org/docs/dependency-specification/#source-dependencies