5.6 KiB
The Two Year Emperor: Chapter 68, The Beginning
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Author: u/eaglejarl *
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9669819/68/The-Two-Year-Emperor
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Score: 18
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Created: 2014-11-02T03:31:16
Post:
Comments:
u/alexanderwales [+7] Time flies like an arrow (2 hours later)
How did no one see Mindscrape coming? I mean ... the obvious solution is to have a trusted confederate Mindscrape you to remove the details you don't want known before you go up against someone that you suspect might use Mindscrape on you.
(Of course, it's possible that they did do this, and left all the other stuff in order to convince Afi that he has them dead to rights, but that seems unlikely. I guess I'll need to know what the plan is, but giving away secrets that didn't need to be given away seems bad unless there are more layers involved.)
u/GeeJo [+5] Custom Flair (8 hours later)
There's also the slightly neater possibility of sacrificing the knowledge and secrets to Herrun and trusting that she'll return them at the right moment, though given how much of her is Loki at this point, that's probably not a very smart bet to make.
u/eaglejarl [+3] (9 hours later)
Ooh, that's a really cool idea. Wish I'd thought of it.
u/eaglejarl [+5] (2 minutes later)
Phew, last minute drop. I spent most of the week writing the novelette for the first stretch goal on the Kickstarter...which, I fully recognize, will cut no ice (Icefi?) with 2YE readers. I got so absorbed that I didn't realize I hadn't worked on 2YE until this morning. blush
Anyway, here we go -- big things are starting.
u/None [+3] (16 hours later)
Even if they had some Anti-Mindscrape preps, Suze joining the group may have screwed some plans
u/aeschenkarnos [+2] (4 hours later)
Why is Suze not an 80-levelled munchkin by now like everyone else?
u/eaglejarl [+3] (9 hours later)
It's a combination of a couple of things: unconscious social expectations (mousey young women are not combatants and do not become legendary figures of power) and category stability. Jake and the others have mentally filed Suze in the category "Jake's secretary", and it would take a conscious effort to notice that she could be reassigned. So far, they've all been too focused to think of it.
Of course, the fact that Suze is too unassertive to ask for it doesn't help either.
u/Zephyr1011 [+1] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity (6 hours later)
She may be, but still lacks combat experience
u/aeschenkarnos [+2] (9 hours later)
Hmm. To what extent does this matter, though? If she's a 20th level wizard (for example), does she know how to properly apply 9th-level spells? If a 20th level fighter, having never personally picked up a sword, how does she use that +20 (at least!) BAB?
I suppose that's the major question that this fiction is exploring - that the capability to do a thing does not necessarily imply optimal strategic application of doing that thing.
u/alexanderwales [+2] Time flies like an arrow (9 hours later)
Yeah, if two characters are both level 20, they both have the exact same level of experience. That's how D&D works. You could maybe argue that one person has better tactics than the other, but your character sheet entirely defines you ability to swing a sword, grapple, cast spells, etc.
u/aeschenkarnos [+2] (10 hours later)
You could maybe argue that one person has better tactics than the other
I think /u/eaglejarl's whole thesis here is that one person having better tactics than the other is not a thing "maybe argue[able]", but absolutely the case. Maybe that's what Jake is; he sees the world from an extradimensional perspective. He has the overhead view of the maze of character abilities and can trace a route through, whereas the characters inside the world don't get that.
This is definitely the case in our real world, that outcome-focussed and process-focussed thinking is dramatically different. Most accountants (for example) will diligently complete your tax return based on the definite fact of what you earned and spent, and will tell you what tax you must pay. They will be accurate and correct, and basically do nothing that a sufficiently capable computer program couldn't have done better. A really good accountant will assess your tax position a couple of months before tax time, and tell you how you can act to minimize your tax; they'll look through the process to optimize your result. They'll work backwards from the desired result, to determine the inputs that need to go into the process to get that result.
u/eaglejarl [+3] (11 hours later)
You said it perfectly. Thank you for finding the words that I wasn't finding.
u/eaglejarl [+2] (10 hours later)
Well, they have the same number of experience points, but that isn't necessarily the same as the same amount of life experience. Yes, any two 20th level fighters are equally good swordsmen, but casters are different. They may not have access to the same spells, they may have different numbers of spells (due to differing Int bonus), and one of them may be cleverer about how to apply them -- or just have used magic in combat situations more often and therefore picked up tricks from other people.
Even if Suze were a 20th level wizard, she wouldn't necessarily know how to apply her magic effectively.
u/HumanPlus [+1] (an hour later)
Dat cliffhanger.