7.7 KiB
[RT][FF Worm] El-Ahrairah (Thinker!Cauldron!Taylor)
-
Author: u/4t0m Chaos Legion*
-
URL: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/el-ahrairah-worm.372987/
-
Score: 29
-
Created: 2016-04-13T19:11:08
Post:
Comments:
u/4t0m [+9] Chaos Legion (a minute later)
It looks like this is pretty popular on spacebattles, but I haven't seen it linked here and it definitely should be. The fic provides an interesting take on the internal workings of Cauldron (Agent of Cauldron is also good for this), and generally the non-combat-oriented side of Worm. I was consistently surprised by how reasonable everyone in the story is (even Danny! Even Piggot!!), but this doesn't get in the way of the tension or conflict (which is largely but not exclusively political). The writing is strong, particularly in representing long, complex trains of thought in a compelling way and in quickly setting up relationships that seem honest and even heart-warming. All of the struggles are well motivated; everyone is competent; and Taylor reminds me of HPMOR!Harry in a several subtle and not so subtle ways.
A++ would recommend. (So I did.)
u/None [+9] (2 hours later)
[deleted]
u/Iconochasm [+3] (3 hours later)
Tertiary rec. When arc 3 started, I reread the first two. Still one of the top 3 Worm fics I've seen.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+3] Roll the Dice on Fate (3 hours later)
I'm assuming the other two are Cenotaph and A Cloudy Path?
u/4t0m [+6] Chaos Legion (3 hours later)
A Cloudy Path over Weaver 9?! Blasphemy!
u/Iconochasm [+2] (6 hours later)
I have to echo Fugu. ACP was the one that came to mind as the third, but I was convinced there were other contenders I wasn't forgetting. Weaver 9 is definitely one of them.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+1] Roll the Dice on Fate (4 hours later)
Weaver 9 is great and all, but it's pretty short. A Cloudy Path really goes the distance and it does it with style.
u/Anderkent [+1] (a day later)
Does the dialogue in ACP ever get better? I tried reading the first couple chapters and just couldn't stomach any scenes containing speech. No one talks like that!
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+2] Roll the Dice on Fate (a day later)
Should do, yeah, in the way that most things about a fic of that length improve as the fic goes along. It's been a long time since I read the whole thing, so I can't exactly give a fair comparison between the start and the where it is at the minute. I don't know if I'd say the dialogue ever becomes its biggest strength, because that's the combat, the storyline and the tinkering, but it does improve.
u/None [+3] (6 hours later)
[deleted]
u/earnestadmission [+7] Singular "they" user (17 hours later)
ACP is slow. I dont think it ranks against things like Cenotaph, Here Be Dragons, or even some of the newer material like Crime and Committment.
u/Iconochasm [+2] (a day later)
Yeah, the premise is basically "Taylor gets a tech tree from the (rts) game as her tinker specialty". Since it's not from a game in setting, you learn most all of the relevant bits when she does.
u/FuguofAnotherWorld [+1] Roll the Dice on Fate (6 hours later)
Well, I'd never played the latter at all and I picked it up easily enough. A minor bit of googling here and there to get an idea of what the aesthetics of the Aeon Illuminate looked like.
u/Iconochasm [+2] (6 hours later)
Pretty much. There might be a contender for third with ACP, like Weaver 9.
u/serge_cell [+4] (11 hours later)
Overrated IMO. It could be a cool idea but plot and characterization are not on the level of the top fics.
u/TennisMaster2 [+2] (10 minutes later)
Obligatory: Has been posted or recommended here before, but worth the re-post.
u/4t0m [+2] Chaos Legion (13 minutes later)
Weird, my search didn't turn up any results. Do you remember where/when?
u/gabbalis [+5] (25 minutes later)
site:www.reddit.com/r/rational El-Ahrairah
Never trust the reddit search function on its own.
u/4t0m [+2] Chaos Legion (36 minutes later)
I'll keep that in mind.
u/gabbalis [+2] (55 minutes later)
That said, I miss some of the posts in monthly threads, so this is a solid visibility upgrade. I did in fact miss this one and am reading it right now.
u/rationalidurr [+5] If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! (3 days later)
This is some good rational material. The background changes and justifications as well as other character behavior is both rational-ish and in character with their original canon.
Arc 3 really kicks into high gear with Thinkering and power legality/rulings and classification.
Be warned that MC might seem like a Mary Sue due to excessive power usefulness and application, and of course the resulting character changes that would prevent silly mistakes like canon characters making decisions for plot. This is a good thing in concept, but the execution sometimes dips into fixfic territory.
u/Roxolan [+3] Head of antimemetiWalmart senior assistant manager (7 days later)
Indeed. Came in for creative-thinker!Taylor, was disappointed when she morphed into Jedi!Taylor. With all major parahumans at her beck and call, too. I'm hoping that the Endbringers and/or Scion will break pattern soon to bring a credible antagonist back into the fic.
u/CommonPleb [+2] (a day later)
It's cool story, but it strikes me as kinda aimless. See taylor powerset is a world level thing, which is an awesome change from the standard worm fanfic, but we really have very little info on the world stage of Worm. Agents of Cauldron as previously mentioned is a good comparison, it went the direction of large amounts of original content, El-Ahrairah has up till now largely worked in the boundaries of the canon worm, despite taylor's goals and methods require her to work outside said boundaries. You can argue narrative reason of why this is, but the author has yet to demonstrate the ability to paint a larger world, which is crucial to the story's long-term/completion viability.
u/4t0m [+2] Chaos Legion (a day later)
This is a fair criticism. The story works for me because 1) I find the characterization and interpersonal relationships interesting and entertaining and 2) the story seems to me to be going somewhere. It's relatively young, and everything points to an expanding scope; the plot/conflict we've seen so far makes sense to me as the first set of challenges for this Taylor and she's an ambitious enough character that I expect the plot will continue to progress well.
That said, Agent of Cauldon does an amazing job of expanding the world with original content, and I don't expect this fic to meet that standard.
u/eaglejarl [+2] (2 days later)
Is this named for the rabbit folk hero of Watership Down? Because, if so, that's fantastic.
u/JackStargazer [+2] Primordial Apologist (3 months later)
Yes. She mentions at one point that she should have chosen it as her hero name, because it translates to "Prince with a Thousand Enemies".
She was spinning a lot of plates at the time.