9.6 KiB
H+ Mayhem (Worm OC, non Taylor-centric) [RT][TH][FF]
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Author: u/FuguofAnotherWorld Roll the Dice on Fate*
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URL: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/h-mayhem-worm.27201/
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Score: 11
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Created: 2016-03-31T18:12:32
Post:
Comments:
u/None [+8] (4 hours later)
[deleted]
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+5] Roll the Dice on Fate (4 hours later)
The reaction of the PRT to him in the beginning also felt like they were holding the Idiot ball.
Yes, that's why I said it takes a few updates to get good. The first meeting honestly feels a bit out of place compared to the rest of the fic.
u/earnestadmission [+3] Singular "they" user (9 hours later)
For what it's worth, the author does a good job of interrupting the progress that he makes by keeping him out of the lab for most of the narrative. This keeps him much more balanced. Also shard fuckery is part of the setting so I'd bet that the drive to conflict is calibrated even more closely with him (not spoiling past the 3rd threadmark, just speculating)
u/None [+7] (12 hours later)
[deleted]
u/earnestadmission [+3] Singular "they" user (12 hours later)
you are correct; that is a vestigial line. i originally had written:
this keeps him much more balanced than the CYOA "inspired inventor" that his power is based on.
sorry about the confusion
u/None [+1] (18 hours later)
Well, yeah, though he has to make sacrifices to do so.
u/None [+1] (a day later)
[deleted]
u/None [+2] (a day later)
He goes unconcious and loses all agency to an alter-ego hooked with a Pavlovian chain to a Shard?
u/callmebrotherg [+3] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (a day later)
What has this cost him though? From the comments it's coming off more like, "Oh no, my Superpowered Badass Side has come out and totally laid waste to the people I was intending on killing anyway."
I mean, the "he doesn't waste time angsting" part does not exactly give me confidence that what you describe is all that big of an issue for the character.
u/NinteenFortyFive [+2] (3 days later)
From the comments it's coming off more like, "Oh no, my Superpowered Badass Side has come out and totally laid waste to the people I was intending on killing anyway."
This is what Worm fanfic writers think is a good setback.
u/Gurkenglas [+1] (a day later)
He sacrifices self. If you made a copy of the original him, gave it this story, and gave it the choice to disable the Mayhem protocol in his original self...
u/callmebrotherg [+3] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (a day later)
And...? How much does he actually care about this?
I drink a lot of soylent. My girlfriend would consider this to be a major sacrifice because she really, really likes variety in her diet. I don't care very much. Not a sacrifice.
u/Gurkenglas [+1] (a day later)
Would you find him maximally overpowered if he found a way to wirehead himself (it's probably below the Mayhem Protocol on his techtree) and chose to take it?
u/callmebrotherg [+1] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (a day later)
If that were his goal, and he just...achieved it and went straight wirehead? That's not overpowered. That's just boring.
If the wireheading were the convoluted means to some other end, and the narrative actually supported the notion that this was a real cost for him, then we'd be getting somewhere.
u/Quillwraith [+1] Red King Consolidated (2 days later)
What he's sacrificing is control; he's handing over his body to a version of himself that is destructive and (even more) lacking in morals.
Mayhem may not have done anything disastrous yet, but it certainly isn't trustworthy. It only has the goals he gives it, and he can't fully specify his values - if you frequent this subreddit you've probably heard about how dangerous that sort of thing is? Even the later versions of Mayhem don't consider Adam's morals a high priority, and it's started spoiler
u/callmebrotherg [+2] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (2 days later)
if you frequent this subreddit you've probably heard about how dangerous that sort of thing is?
Sure. But if you hadn't added the bit that's in the spoiler, I'd have no reason to think that there'd be follow-through. Based on the spoiler, it does seem like things are getting set up for a majorly bad day.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+2] Roll the Dice on Fate (2 days later)
Very much so, yes.
u/JackStargazer [+1] Primordial Apologist (6 days later)
There has been foreshadowing that this is going to lead to a bad time.
Mayhem is incredibly manipulative. I'm getting echoes of Kurama from Team Anko. Note in one of the latest chapters he tells Adam to always include 'survive' in his commands - I suspect this is because that command is what enables Mayhem as a personality. Note when he doesn't use it he simply gets an emotionless robot.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+2] Roll the Dice on Fate (a day later)
Well, he sacrificed his arm to take down Hookwolf. He sacrificed his financial backing, support structure, his only remaining probable allies and his backup against enemies when he took down the empire. Though he 'beat' Armsmaster in the strictest sense of the word, I hardly think he got the best out of that encounter when he could have easily become at least neutral to the protectorate. Had he been in his right mind it would have been entirely doable to become recognised as an independent hero/neutral/at least not a villain.
To my mind just because he's got less of an emotional reaction to his changing circumstances, it doesn't mean those circumstances are much less crappy.
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
The story has not made those things sound like a loss. Mayhem doesn't angst at ditching the E88. He will easily replace his arm and financial support because he's so versatile and powerful as a Tinker.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+2] Roll the Dice on Fate (2 days later)
I really don't see what else he could possibly have lost at the point that we started this discussion that would make you think he'd sacrificed something. Literally all he had left was a semi-functional body, his implants, and his skills. What more could he realistically lose? He had no house, no real friends, no left hand, no allies and no lab. He was maybe a couple weeks away from achieving some very important goals of his, and now he is not.
What would count as sacrifice to you?
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+6] Roll the Dice on Fate (12 minutes later)
H+ Mayhem focuses on a transhumanist tinker whose ultimate goal is to kill Jack Slash. His speciality is human augmentation with a side of mental alteration. The fight scenes are good, the world makes sense, and he doesn't waste time angsting, but that is not why I am linking it here. I am linking it here because it has some of the finest characterisation I've seen in a worm fic in a long, long time. It is subtle, it is understated, and it blows me away.
It takes a few updates to get into the swing of things, so don't stop after reading just the first one.
u/traverseda [+2] With dread but cautious optimism (3 hours later)
Well, you've convinced me.
u/IllusoryIntelligence [+2] (2 days later)
I've really enjoyed this. It feels like his abilities could become over powered very easily but right now he has certainly suffered enough setbacks to keep things interesting.
This feels very original flavour, for the most part it's a grim world full of hard choices and consequence but there's definitely enough notes of humour to keep things from straying into the depressing.
u/None [+3] (3 hours later)
Yes, this is good. If you like this, I also recommend Agent of Cauldron.
u/Gurkenglas [+3] (11 hours later)
u/Quillwraith [+1] Red King Consolidated (2 days later)
I'm pretty sure that Mayhem protocol repurposes that part of his brain that's good at, y'know, understanding complicated abstract value systems. I mean, if it was capable of fully understanding what he would want, then he'd have just made it do that by default, and not have to worry about giving it commands that won't make it too destructive, or giving it commands at all.
u/Gurkenglas [+1] (2 days later)
If it knows it doesn't understand what he would want, it would know not to optimize for an imperfect approximization to the point where the tails diverge. It could tell him to give it more processing power to work with.