it seems like people in the audience have this thing where they decide that Joe should be powerful enough to x y z and that he therefore should be doing x y z in the next chapter in a way that comes across as if they're arguing against the idea of the story continuing to exist.
Here, I'll write it:
Here is the secret 'perfectly rational' ending. pick your favorite chapter and append this to the end.
Honestly the funniest and most ironic thing about this fic is the difference in the in-story and out-story audience. Out of story, much of the audience would want nothing more than for the story's pace to speed up. But in-story, everyone in Brockton Bay and out of it would want nothing more than for Apeiron to slow down because oh god, just how much more ridiculous would Apeiron get? It hasn't even been a few days and he's escalated things again!
Readers: "Man, this is so slow, can't it get any faster?"
Brockton: "I WANT TO GET OFF MR BONES' WILD RIDE"
That's because we are experiencing one hell of a time dilation (around 2-3 months for a day). If the story came out as fast for the readers as it happen in story, we would want to get off the ride too.
Well, in addition to being concerned for Lord's sanity.
I just realized something about Cosmogone; it seems to be focused on the act of remembering rather then memory itself. A subtle difference but seemingly a important one.
Edit: unrelatedly does anyone think that it'd be funny if it came out that Apeiron was a Free/Liberation Tinker that required conflict to Tinker at higher levels?
I'm still on the first page but the pov of his shard having the perspective of canon's timeline and characters roll in the story and the fandoms mixed opinions coupled with the natural limited view of the MC is AMAZING, couple that with the fact that the perks he roll for seems genuinely random I love everything about this CF.
Now personally as someone who are in the beginning of a 1.5m story I just like the MC don't think he should join the undersiders (where I'm at he literally shaked hands with taylor, I write this comment in the middle of an update) BUT it also doesn't feel forced because his power reacts the way it does. I honestly got chills reading about Taylors significance because it's true both in univerese and on a meta level since she has a ffected everyone that has coe into contact with Worm from Wildbow himself to the most obscure lurker of a worm fanfic with 3 views.
And since all the rolls of the CF looks to be random at least that means that if the MC of this fic had gotten a different power set at a different pace that he did. he probably wouldn't have met them like this because LR would've written another route, I can't wait to see where this story is going especially if CF rolls really are random
Even with the entire forge behind me my passenger was only willing to give me long odds against whatever this threat was. Everything I would be able to build, everything I would be capable of, and he couldn't' guarantee I'd be able to handle it
Edit: unrelatedly does anyone think that it'd be funny if it came out that Apeiron was a Free/Liberation Tinker that required conflict to Tinker at higher levels?
Considering that a lot of people think that he is a Mad Scientist whose cost for power - stability (His technology blown up part of the city when damaged, and he clearly did not have control over himself when transforming), the idea that his power will egg him on to seek out ("Or create!" - Missy, probably.) unstable situations will fit perfectly.
People will probably theorize that the bigger mess Apeiron finds himself in - the more powerful and, most importantly, more unstable he and his technology becomes. While something like that is concerning, at this point it would be just a drop in the Sea named "All Things We're Afraid Of About Apeiron".
I'm still on the first page but the pov of his shard having the perspective of canon's timeline and characters roll in the story and the fandoms mixed opinions coupled with the natural limited view of the MC is AMAZING, couple that with the fact that the perks he roll for seems genuinely random I love everything about this CF.
Now personally as someone who are in the beginning of a 1.5m story I just like the MC don't think he should join the undersiders (where I'm at he literally shaked hands with taylor, I write this comment in the middle of an update) BUT it also doesn't feel forced because his power reacts the way it does. I honestly got chills reading about Taylors significance because it's true both in univerese and on a meta level since she has a ffected everyone that has coe into contact with Worm from Wildbow himself to the most obscure lurker of a worm fanfic with 3 views.
And since all the rolls of the CF looks to be random at least that means that if the MC of this fic had gotten a different power set at a different pace that he did. he probably wouldn't have met them like this because LR would've written another route, I can't wait to see where this story is going especially if CF rolls really are random
managed to spoil myself, I don't mind something small like that, looking forward too getting the context for this in story XD
this is leaning a little too hard on the memes though hyping up both Scion and Taylor but I guess I'll see for myself
In cannon Scion was depressed and trying to die. If he finds out about Joe (who doesn't actually have a shard) it might lead to him going [OCP! ELIMINATE!] and stop sandbagging. Keep in mind Scion can use EVERYONE'S powers.
In cannon Scion was depressed and trying to die. If he finds out about Joe (who doesn't actually have a shard) it might lead to him going [OCP! ELIMINATE!] and stop sandbagging. Keep in mind Scion can use EVERYONE'S powers.
And then some A LOT MORE. And bonus points, he can do that without any restrictions that shards impose on hosts. Its literally "Everything you can do, I can do better".
Man this is gonna be epic fight and I am pretty sure Joe ans Zion will wreck a few dozens Earths at very least during the fight. Like, "Entire planet straight up shatters" levels of wreck
In cannon Scion was depressed and trying to die. If he finds out about Joe (who doesn't actually have a shard) it might lead to him going [OCP! ELIMINATE!] and stop sandbagging. Keep in mind Scion can use EVERYONE'S powers.
Which is actually true, Scion's purpose as [THE_WARRIOR] is to deal with threats to the cycle that is his purpose, his job. While [THE_THINKER] does all the planning and managment of the cycle.
In the end it means that if Scion ever gets a whiff of something or someone interfering in the cycle -as broken as it is- then it returns to him a purpose and a course of action.
the orbital laser from the secret ending has all of the bells and whistles required to facilitate it's existence; whether that be super-divine cloaking tech or simple indestructability, the secret ending's orbital laser has it all. it's doylist purpose is to serve as an ending to the story at whichever point the reader has decided that it should end at, and therefore it negates all watsonian threats to it's existence.
Which is actually true, Scion's purpose as [THE_WARRIOR] is to deal with threats to the cycle that is his purpose, his job. While [THE_THINKER] does all the planning and managment of the cycle.
In the end it means that if Scion ever gets a whiff of something or someone interfering in the cycle -as broken as it is- then it returns to him a purpose and a course of action.
honestly i have my doubts about this interpretation - scion's eternal despair comes from the recognition that the cycle is fucked up Beyond All Repair - maybe he could be convinced that the cycle actually isn't fucked up beyond all repair by someone interfering with shards and the like, but i think the idea that he'd just be like "ah! a threat to the cycle! finally i have a purpose again!" if he saw someone making grey goo is off. like yeah, he'd put a stop to it, because of the role that he's playing as a hero - his new purpose - but that's a long shot from 'someone is breaking the rules we set before everything was fucked, my purpose is returned'
notably, there Was interference with the cycle in canon, and Scion did fuck-all about it for decades - contessa and doctor mother killing the thinker's avatar is the thing that lead to the state of total disrepair. He didn't Know what happened, but he knew it meant that the cycle was fucked, and his investigation stopped at "the thinker entity is dead"
Even noticing weird shit going on with shards was more just a curiosity to him than something he thought bore actual investigation - he noted that jack's Broadcast was never that violent before, and his reaction was more in-line with learning an interesting bit of trivia that you will never think of again than "something sure is weird going on with all of this stuff ever since my partner mysteriously ceased to exist"
really, the only thing that we Know gives Scion a sense of purpose again for certain is his inevitable face-heel turn, from "i'll be a hero because some guy said i should" to "violence actually feels really good". Maybe if you could somehow bring the thinker back(or convince him that you could) or give him therapy or find something that his human-mind emulation can be really passionate about, you could return his sense of purpose that way. If you could find a way to de-power him with magic or psionics or severing the avatar's connection to the shards in some fashion, you could give him a 'regular human life' through which he could find a purpose.
I feel like I was rambling off-topic there, but I also feel like people in this fandom have a way of looking at Scion through the lens of "what he was intended to be in the cycle before arriving on earth" and not the lense of "what he actually became after arriving". Like, People talk about Scion as if his purpose in life is to protect the cycle - but in his canon interlude, he continually notes that this is impossible. The way that he views the shards is moreso like a parent who's proud of their kids than someone who's desperately trying to defend the cycle however he can.
here's some quotes from scion's interlude that really elucidate what i mean here
The Warrior Interlude said:
The entity abandons the search. Enough information has been obtained for it to know.
The counterpart is dead.
For a very long time, the entity is still. It does not move, and instinctively holds back every ability, as if conserving energy in the face of a vast threat.
But this is not a threat that it can weather, like a storm of acid rain: The cycle has been disrupted.
Worse, it is terminated. The entities have altered themselves so that each half of a pairing serves part of a role. It is only with the counterpart that it can gestate, that it can modify the individual shards, cast the next generation out and start the cycle anew.
In seeking to understand the host creatures, the entity had coded shards to emulate them. It is those same shards that experience the entity's first ever emotion.
Crushed.
The entity comes to experience a deep, profound sadness, for the very first time.
The entity recognized her shard. The last one that had split off before the entity took on this form.
Queen.
The entity's despair deepened for a moment. It was a good thing that the shards were harvesting such good information, but nothing would come of it. The cycle had been disrupted.
A male approached. No shard, no powers. The area was dark, the planet turned away from its star. The entity was hovering over the highest point of a short bridge that spanned a river.
Lost. It had created itself for a purpose it could no longer fulfill.
-------------------------------------------skipping most of the Kevin Norton Monologue------------------------------------------------
The man's voice had gone quiet, barely more than a whisper.
Another pound of fist against the entity's flesh.
"I don't care if it's penance or if it's a fucking way to kill time. Do some goddamn good, and maybe you'll feel like you're worth a damn. Maybe you'll stop being so fucking miserable."
The entity continued to stare out over the city. It absorbed the words, considered them.
It was a task. A role it could play.
It was something. What had this male said? Which were ones the entity could achieve?
Save orphans in wars. Rescue people from burning buildings. Clean up after disasters.
As it did most words, the entity had searched its memory for details on the concept.
Zion.
A promised land.
A utopia. A harmonious kingdom.
The promised land could be this world at its climax, the shards at critical mass, the entity and its counterpart bringing about the end of the cycle. It could be utopia, as the entity understood the term.
It could be the world at peace, people saved from hardship, as Kevin Norton had described it.
Whether the entity was somehow able to return to its original task or whether it continued carrying out Kevin Norton's answers in an attempt to find itself, the term fit.
The broadcaster had finished speaking just a moment before the craft had launched, oblivious to the blaring noise that had been intended to drown him out. What I don't understand, is why a blank slate like you would default to doing good deeds, rescuing cats from trees. Why not turn to that violence, as our ancestors did? It drove them, just like it drives the basest and most monstrous ofour kind.
Had he known he had a listening ear? Had it merely been a struggle to continue doing what he'd instinctively done for decades?
The shards retained memories, motivated, pushed.
The entity looked to the future, looked to possible worlds, and it saw the ways this could have unfolded. It burned a year off of the entity's life, but he had thousands to spare anyways.
There was a scene where the entity stood over the broadcaster's corpse and ruminated on what had driven the male to such extremes. The shard wasn't a particularly aggressive one.
A scene where the man died, and years passed, the entity slowly coming to the same conclusions as it observed the rest of the species.
The entity had done good deeds for years, at Kevin Norton's suggestion, waiting and hoping for the reward, the realization. When none had occurred, it had simply kept doing what it had been doing. Seeking out alternatives wasn't even in the realm of imagination, because imagination was something it lacked
as we can see from the interlude (26.x for those curious), Scion is very much a character in a malleable state - Jack Slash describes him as a 'blank slate'. Maybe if you were interfering with shards and the like earlier in his development, he'd simply revert back to his "protect the cycle" programming - but this is a character who's arc ends in an attempt to drive humanity to multiversal extinction and then suicide-by-parahuman. this culmination of his arc happens about 3 years after the start of canon. The entire core of his character at the time of canon is the "blank slate" thing - that he's essentially just playing the role of a hero because he was told that it would be somehow rewarding or worthwhile to him.
I mean seriously, if Scions entire character was "i have to protect the cycle or what remains of it at this point" why would he ever do Golden Morning?
tl;dr: cycle-protection-obsessed scion is annoying fanon that i despise on today's episode of "the worm fandom is so annoying and i hate the culture surrounding it"
That whole Zion ramble reminded me of this barely related Lord WoG, so I will just throw it in:
sonicyoash: What would the response be if Scion noticed the CFS Final Frontier exploring the Firmament, on both sides?
Lord: Scion's reaction to the ship would largely be one of confusion. Shardspace isn't a normal environment, but the ship is also not a normal vessel. It has multiple exotic effects supporting it, including the inherent spiral effect of 'Always a Bigger Robot'. It's possible that he might represent it as something out of context for the cycle and fall back to his duties as the Warrior to defend from outside threats, but more likely he would just watch to see what it did and try to figure out what was happening.
I would definitely need that assistance because this bike was fast. It was fast on a level that normally required a streamliner body shape and miles of salt flats to pull off. I was cheating with advanced knowledge of wind resistance and some variable geometry in the paneling, but this thing could definitely break three hundred miles per hour. Not that I would ever see those speeds inside the city, but it was incredible to think I was operating on the level of Armsmaster's motorcycle, only with less gadgets and better acceleration.
What I imagine reading this is the bike-armor taking him across the city at 300 m/h during rush hour, what happens when someone tries to get in their way and normal maneuvers isn't the way to go for some reason? This THIS happens View: https://youtu.be/p5ihIA2re50?t=151
but on a bike obviously....and like actually 100% safe because the tech is just that good! Even if that's not where this story is going thanks for that cool image
I'm still on the first page but the pov of his shard having the perspective of canon's timeline and characters roll in the story and the fandoms mixed opinions coupled with the natural limited view of the MC is AMAZING, couple that with the fact that the perks he roll for seems genuinely random I love everything about this CF.
Now personally as someone who are in the beginning of a 1.5m story I just like the MC don't think he should join the undersiders (where I'm at he literally shaked hands with taylor, I write this comment in the middle of an update) BUT it also doesn't feel forced because his power reacts the way it does. I honestly got chills reading about Taylors significance because it's true both in univerese and on a meta level since she has a ffected everyone that has coe into contact with Worm from Wildbow himself to the most obscure lurker of a worm fanfic with 3 views.
And since all the rolls of the CF looks to be random at least that means that if the MC of this fic had gotten a different power set at a different pace that he did. he probably wouldn't have met them like this because LR would've written another route, I can't wait to see where this story is going especially if CF rolls really are random
managed to spoil myself, I don't mind something small like that, looking forward too getting the context for this in story XD
this is leaning a little too hard on the memes though hyping up both Scion and Taylor but I guess I'll see for myself
I mean seriously, if Scions entire character was "i have to protect the cycle or what remains of it at this point" why would he ever do Golden Morning?
tl;dr: cycle-protection-obsessed scion is annoying fanon that i despise on today's episode of "the worm fandom is so annoying and i hate the culture surrounding it"
Exactly! And you are right in that Scion is a being that is a blank slate that could be manipulated. It has not really experienced more then "protect cycle" and "follow THINKER" to go with that purpose.
It can be compared to Jack Slash to a small degree, who was kept in isolation while being told that the outside was destroyed due to a war thanks to his unhinged parents communicating through radio with him only to be let out and go mad at seeing a undamaged world while Triggering at the same time.
Scion is a major threat though, but only if it can get the Data from Jack and his Shard with that being the thing that pushed the Warrior to begin Golden Morning. It wasn't until it saw what happened to the counterpart and was "gaslight" while being bullied that it desired to be killed.
Yep, you got to remember that Taylor successfully bullied the Apocalypse to the point that it committed suicide by Cape. Got to wonder how good Apeiron could do with his skills?
Not fast enough to be true and still to much of the Nine in one piece. They probably are gonna need DNA testing at least to identify the remains along with video of the Celestial Forge taking them out.
Yamada is what The Fandom Shard would reccomend, I think the fact Lord made an original therapist character was a good move against fanfiction's trend of 'only named characters need apply'
I'm sorry I call compete BS on how effective Marsh thinker support was during the first fight with Bakuda... why you ask? Because the MC gets power at random that no one can predict. For her power to work she needs to UNDERSTAND and have the right information about powers, every singe time a new power was rolled, especially the multiple times they where directly relevant to the fight should have completly destroyed the timing. Never mind that literally no one except the MC actually understand how his power works so she would have been working on massively faulty information from the start
Other then that I too felt that the fight was too drawn out even if it was written well, but the fact that both tattletale and Marsh doesn't have their canon weaknesses in this story (wrong assumption/input to their thinker power) is pretty annoying. I can't see Marsh losing in this story to anyone but flechete scoring a head shot though... she's to op after chapter 21 you've basically created an unbeatable opponent unless the MC too gets a blank ability every other kind of defeat will look like anauthor fiat and an asspull too me probably
Still great story so far as ch 21 I just wanted to rant
"It doesn't deal with mental or hormonal effects, does it?" I shook my head. Brian looked to her for clarification. "If you're swimming in adrenaline, cortisol, stress based chemicals they're designed to keep you going through pain and damage. You restore everything to a hundred percent while keeping that mix in your system, it'd be a hell of a trip. Fuck, we didn't even notice."
Neither had I. I'd only messed with nanite healing on this scale once before, and that ended with me almost killing myself with life fibers. This was 3 am thinking brought forward by six hours thanks to overclocking your body. God damn, no wonder they hadn't wanted to retreat.
Nobody can predict him getting a power, yes. However, they can study and model the effects of his powers once he reveals them. Which is exactly how the Shards usually deal with out of context situations.
Nobody can predict him getting a power, yes. However, they can study and model the effects of his powers once he reveals them. Which is exactly how the Shards usually deal with out of context situations.
Sure but how does March know anything about his new powers without getting the information first she shouldn't be able to counter something when the MC himself is shocked by what happened, her power must have something to go on just like tattletale
Sure but how does March know anything about his new powers without getting the information first she shouldn't be able to counter something when the MC himself is shocked by what happened, her power must have something to go on just like tattletale
