scrape_r_rational/data/cache2/2r8a69.md

## [MK] The Two Year Emperor, Ch80 - Cracks Form

* Author: u/eaglejarl *
* URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9669819/80/The-Two-Year-Emperor
* Score: 13

* Created: 2015-01-03T20:01:19

### Post:

[Link to content](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9669819/80/The-Two-Year-Emperor)

### Comments:

> **u/Kishoto** [+8]  (an hour later)
> 
> I'm of two minds of Suze's inexperience. It's both refreshing, to see Godship handled in such a way, and frustrating, because I can't stop imaging how well I would be doing in her position.
> 
> And by well, I mean I would go full on, over the top, theatrical, dark caped, shadow hooded Death up in this bitch. I'd be the worst Death they'd ever dealt with, and probably start a war just due to my sheer lack of respect for the Gods and their petty rules.

>> **u/eaglejarl** [+8]  (2 hours later)
>> 
>> If you write a 2YE metafic where your SI does that, I will read it.

>> **u/Putnam3145** [+5]  (2 hours later)
>> 
>> You'd be quashed really damn quickly at that rate, heh.

>>> **u/Kishoto** [+5]  (3 hours later)
>>> 
>>> **YOU DARE TO QUESTION MY POWERS, MORTAL?!**

>>>> **u/Putnam3145** [+5]  (3 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> not my prerogative, no, but the more well-worshiped gods will do that for me :P

>>>>> **u/kaukamieli** [+1]  (16 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Did they actually do anything for the undead spawning things last Death used to make new worshippers? There are so many undeads and every time other worshippers die, she can gain another, no reason Death shouldn't be most worshipped.

>>>>>> **u/eaglejarl** [+3]  (a day later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Death, the office, has the most sources of "ambient power" -- every undead is a power source for Death.  Even without worshippers, Death is a god you don't want to mess with.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Worshippers are where the real power comes from, though, and Death has fewer actual worshippers than many other portfolios -- most people have an easier time getting behind (e.g.) a mother goddess like Amilsandre than a god of death.  Neklos was turning this around by telling Afi to go out aggressively converting -- it got to the point where Death *did* have the most worshippers.  Most of those were undead, however, and the majority of them were vaporized during the course of 2YE...especially in the unseen period between the end of Book 1 and the start of Book 2, during which Albrecht went and took out most of the undead in Anundjå.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Suze's big problem right now is that all of the people who actually *do* worship Death are currently worshipping the wrong one.  The prayers are all directed towards Neklos, which means the power they carry is pretty much going into /dev/null.  As of chapter 80 she's starting to turn that around.

>>>>>>> **u/aeschenkarnos** [+1]  (4 days later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> > Death, the office, has the most sources of "ambient power"
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> What about the god of Life? Who is it that gets power just from things being alive? There are always one generation of creatures more alive than there are dead.

> **u/ianyboo** [+10]  (13 hours later)
> 
> TYE is losing me, I'm diligently reading still but I miss Jake and his toying with the rules.

>> **u/eaglejarl** [+8]  (19 hours later)
>> 
>> Thank you for saying so. Thank you especially for saying so now instead of just waiting a bit longer and then leaving a review / comment here that says "this sucks, I'm gone". 
>> 
>> You're actually the second person to say something like this. I've also noticed fewer reviews, reddit comments, and upvotes on book 2 than on book 1. 
>> 
>> I'm wondering at this point if I should just wrap book 2 and move on to the next project; I'm still enjoying writing Suze, Ellen, and April, but perhaps 2YE has had a good run and it's time to put it to bed. 
>> 
>> The next project will be original fantasy in a postapocalyptic magitek world. 
>> 
>> What do people think?

>>> **u/KOTORman** [+3]  *Galactic Empire* (20 hours later)
>>> 
>>> I think the world needs a bit of an overhaul. Jake toying with the rules did that in the first book.
>>> 
>>> Suze quickly embracing her role as Death and trying to topple the gods in alliance with Jake, a bit like Kishoto's spin-off, would serve the same purpose in the second book. I really want to see Suze and Jake team up to take on the gods, take on the rules, and fuck things up big time.
>>> 
>>> Nonetheless, I'm still loving 2YE. Rock on dude.

>>>> **u/eaglejarl** [+3]  (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you, that's really helpful.

>>> **u/ianyboo** [+4]  (21 hours later)
>>> 
>>> I think what most drew me to TYE was the interplay between Jake coming up with ways to break the rules any generally acting rational among folks who are often times stuck in their narrow "things have always been done like this" views.
>>> 
>>> With the three girls I feel like that they are behaving anything but rationally, Suze has shown herself to be quite competent her current actions seem out of character. The mom had the opportunity to gain enough power to protect herself and here daughter but she just ran away. 
>>> 
>>> Its just frustrating, I keep wanting to scream at the characters to get their act together and start acting rationally. 
>>> 
>>> Still, that said I'll stick with it, I loved book 1 so much that I'm more than willing to see where this goes :-)

>>>> **u/eaglejarl** [+1]  (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you, I appreciate the detailed response; it gives me something to work with.
>>>> 
>>>> Suze definitely *is* acting differently than she did in Book 1; I'm glad that came through.  *fingers steepled evilly* 
>>>> 
>>>> As to Ellen running away -- I suppose I should revisit that in text to make it more clear.  A few comments that aren't actually spoilers but I'll spoiler tag them anyway:  [After Suze left, ](#s "the FLEA wasn't running so Ellen didn't have the opportunity to grab power right then.  She was afraid that she was going to be arrested for the murder, which is why she ran; the fact that the Justiciars actually WERE looking for her freaked her out, so she ran for it.  (And yes, there's a reason the Justiciars are looking for her and knew her name.)  She currently has her name on the FLEA list, but given the wait times she won't be scheduled to go through for at least a few months -- even building FLEAs as fast as possible, it takes a while to get 28 million people through it.")

>>>>> **u/aeschenkarnos** [+1]  (4 days later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> > even building FLEAs as fast as possible
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hmm. Shouldn't the building be exponential, ie those who have gone through one, can straight away build a couple more?

>>> **u/STL** [+5]  (a day later)
>>> 
>>> I am actually enjoying Book 2 *much* more than Book 1, which got somewhat stale near the end (due to repetitive munchkining; what's clever the first time is expected the second and boring the third). Book 2 has novel situations, interesting character development, and no obvious end point which means plot developments are much less predictable (whereas Book 1, like almost all adventures, has an expected ending of "the bad guy is defeated"; occasionally this is subverted by having the bad guy win - see 24's Jack Bauer for an example of bad guys repeatedly losing and winning, it gets old).
>>> 
>>> As far as I'm concerned, the less we see of Jake in Book 2, the better. Giving Suze actual agency makes her a far more interesting character (in Book 1 she was a prop that occasionally offered suggestions and received pats on the head).

>>> **u/Muskwalker** [+3]  (3 days later)
>>> 
>>> > I'm wondering at this point if I should just wrap book 2 and move on to the next project; I'm still enjoying writing Suze, Ellen, and April, but perhaps 2YE has had a good run and it's time to put it to bed.
>>> 
>>> Me, I *like* Suze, as a character, and I still like the story.  But it feels like she's missing many opportunities to be as smart as she was set up to be in book 1.  It felt like her nature was the kind of person to be learning and remembering, but so far in book 2 we have a lot of her ... not doing this. 
>>> 
>>> You have been hinting here that there are reasons for this, but if these hints have made it into the story itself, it hasn't been clear.  This doesn't necessarily make it a *worse* story, but it does come across as a different kind of story than just a sequel to the first.
>>> 
>>> Actually, I'll amend that that line about the hints.  Suze's extreme character change does remind me of a similar outbreak of irrationality in the story, namely Jake's drinking problem.  I might guess that this is intended to show Suze is being manipulated, just like Jake was.  
>>> 
>>> But Jake's behavioral changes were extreme on a human level, and stood out as something not particularly like him. Suze, however, has recently been through a rather large life change so we're not really calibrated with what's *supposed* to be normal for her now—and on top of that, she's moved to the deity level, where it's already hard to tell the difference between a naturally extreme personality and one that's been perverted (cf. Poe's law).  Acting weird is less suspicious for a new-made goddess than it is for a new-made emperor.
>>> 
>>> I'd love to see Suze transform the whole idea of death into something awesome (in a world with resurrection, it doesn't have to be as terrible as to us).  If she'll be like this for a while, though, it'd be nice to see the story support what's going on more.  (because if there's anything I imagine /r/rational likes, it's good long explanations)

>>>> **u/eaglejarl** [+2]  (3 days later)
>>>> 
>>>> Fair points all. The hints have been in the story but have been pretty vague. I'll see if I can clarify them in the next couple chapters.

>>> **u/MoralRelativity** [+2]  (21 hours later)
>>> 
>>> I agree with both /u/ianboo and /u/KOTORman.
>>> 
>>> I'm still engaged and interested but not as much as I was before. I love the sound of a Suze / Jake alliance to fix the world and that may be where it's heading but it's travelling too slowly at the moment.

>>>> **u/eaglejarl** [+3]  (a day later)
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

>>>>> **u/Mraedis** [+2]  (a day later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> I *love* 2YE, sorry for staying silent before, but I keep waiting every day for a new chapter! If you do quit writing it, please do it in a closure manner and not just abrupt.

>>>>>> **u/eaglejarl** [+3]  (a day later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> No worries. It will end eventually, but I won't just abandon it. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thanks for speaking up.

> **u/lsparrish** [+1]  (2 days later)
> 
> I got a chuckle out of the part where Suze can't figure out how to use the Powers of Death to resurrect the bear, but luckily she's still a powerful enough Archivist to pull it off (once she has rested). She should really get a bedroll for that...

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