I've been waiting for this for months! I'm so hyped to see Apeiron interact with a non-BB PRT director in person, on top of freeing the hostages, plus I think he is supposed to deal with some of the religious implications from the hostages praying to him and getting visions during this trip. This is going to be amazing!
Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
Imma be completely honest, my eyes were glazing over parts of the chapter lol. Nothing against the author ofc, this is more of a me problem. I suppose I don't quite get why we cant start by killing off Jack first and then dealing with his passenger.
I suppose it's mainly because the Nine have just become a chore for Joe and the team at this point. Like yea the 9 are coming.... eventually... Like that one South Park skit with GRRM. - this one.
I suppose it's mainly because the Nine have just become a chore for Joe and the team at this point. Like yea the 9 are coming.... eventually... Like that one South Park skit with GRRM. - this one.
- Location
- Miami
I'm so hyped for another chapter outside the workshop, and especially hyped for finally closing out the bomb hostage plotline. And we now have an in-universe example of what would be considered a Superweapon item for Joe, an Entire Administrator Shard. While this probably means we'll never see a superweapon produced in the story, it does give Joe a neat secondary power of being able to find things. Even if he can't target it very precisely that's still huge.
Is there some reason the duplicates can't just step out of the workshop when they're running low on potion duration to keep the overrun from getting too bad?
- Location
- Boston
- Pronouns
- All/Of/Them
Because that would be less than perfectly optimal use of their time, and *not* excessively minmaxing is simply unthinkable, even when unnecessary.
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Qoheleth
Archivist
- Pronouns
- Any
This popped out at me, so I wanted to express my retroactive shock that nobody in the Celestial Forge has developed a habit of "Survey Says" puns.
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Fullofholes
Riddled with bullets
Apeiron has no need to toot his own horn. Instead, he enjoys tooting the horns of others... what a naughty boy, Joe is.
- Location
- India
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Other than the aspect of having the duplicates take whatever is left of their 20% time outside of the workshop when they are still Joe and therefore not going to(incapable of?) just sit around and wait out the duration, I don't think so.
Edit: typo.
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- Pronouns
- Hello
"On your left."
Grand Theft Passenger is a worthy sequel to the S-Class Bingo Card from Chubster's interlude.
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As someone who was reading Worm as it first came out, I don't remember it ever being mentioned in the story that Glory Girl's aura affected Amy like how the fandom believes it did.
In fact, Wildbow actually pretty much explicitly debunked this theory in Ward. Before you guys get on my ass about saying how you don't consider Ward canon, I want to point out that Wildbow debunking the aura theory in Ward is not a retcon, because it was literally never stated in Worm.
Not that I like Ward, but still. I'm pretty sure it's canon that Vicky's aura isn't actually doing anything to Amy or anybody else. Like, Wildbow has debunked this. I'm pretty sure that Wildbow also debunked the aura theory in a WOG as well, so not just in Ward.
In fact, Wildbow actually pretty much explicitly debunked this theory in Ward. Before you guys get on my ass about saying how you don't consider Ward canon, I want to point out that Wildbow debunking the aura theory in Ward is not a retcon, because it was literally never stated in Worm.
Not that I like Ward, but still. I'm pretty sure it's canon that Vicky's aura isn't actually doing anything to Amy or anybody else. Like, Wildbow has debunked this. I'm pretty sure that Wildbow also debunked the aura theory in a WOG as well, so not just in Ward.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
You know with everything he knows and might learn (Bonesaw's power research, Panacea's full power) he could come to the same realization I had of what they could have probably done to save the world. So the realization/though I had was that Bonesaw and PanPan could have jailbroken Taylor's power so she could master the passengers them selves and have them converge into a "straight line" or whatever passes for it in shard space and have Flechette kill every passenger in existence/there thus saving Earth at the cost of every parahuman's life. Probably would have been that bittersweet ending for a Nobledark story if Worm wasn't made as Grimdark.
Wildbow claiming that constant low level emotional manipulation has no long term effects makes about as much sense as Wildbow claiming that 2+2=0.7. It's too stupid to take seriously.
- Pronouns
- Male
Pretty sure i was told that the ending of ward was going to be bonesaw making a virus that only kills para humans.
It's superpowers lmao. It's just supposed to be a stun effect, not a master effect. It's practically magic, I'm not sure why it's so hard for people to wrap their heads around this. It's not like Vicky is the only person in all of fiction with a power like hers, yet I only here talks about long term effects with her, probably because the fandom's woobification of Amy.
It's like asking why doesn't Superman destroy the Earth when he reaches super fast speeds. It's magic, you're not supposed to think about it. You're only thinking about it because of Amy's woobification. (Some comics have explanations as to why Superman doesn't destroy the Earth, but my point stands).
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Unless that virus also killed the shards then all that would do is kill all the current parahumans and however many people it would take for the shards to start mucking with their hosts biology till they survived the virus or until one of the higher ranking shards become the new main hub of an entity and destroy everything version of Earth then move on. Though it could very well be what Wildbow wanted with how Grimdark Worm is.
I feel like that would considerably complicate things :D
I think there's some words missing here.
The problem is that half the point of Worm's setting is that there is no magic. Everything is science hidden by passengers. Wildbow created a setting based in the backbone of giving everything in a super hero setting a logical answer. Why can't super science fix the world, tinkers don't use real science. Why has no one killed the Joker aka Jack Slash, his real super power is that he has plot armor.
However when you create a setting where everything supposedly has an explanation you invite people to pick at the details.
Also here is the lord WoG on Vicky's aura:
- Location
- <CLASSIFIED>
The fact that there is no actual magic in worm changes nothing. Calling it science is like calling Dr. Doom's omnipotent power-stealing machine that he made offscreen science. We don't know how powers work at all in Worm. We're told that Shards do things through super science, which tells us nothing. In other words, Shards can do whatever the plot allows them to do, and it's not magic only because we're told it's super science.
But from a meta perspective, it might as well be magic. Because honestly, how does everything supposedly have an explanation? The explanation is that Shards did it, which is no different than saying that Magic did it in the eyes of a reader in 2024.
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- Location
- The State of Denial
Yeah. The entire caught in traffic scene felt like a very blatant example of how time is approaching infinity.
It's been... 18 months since the S9 started their eight hour cruise towards Brockton.
I am completely expecting a, "Meanwhile, at the Galactic Core," "Two days ago at Cauldron's Cantina, home of Contessa Crab Cakes and Clam Chowder," "Passenger space is very, very big...," or other such cut scene. Hell, I'm fairly sure that even though his next job he wants to do is getting the bombs out of people's heads, that even that isn't going to be done by the end of next chapter.
It has reached critical levels of Taylor Varga in which absolutely. Nothing. Happens.
So all your point is, is that we supposed to turn our brains off and don't think beyond what author says. If that's your point, then please be consistent, turn your brain off and don't think what is true in that fic beyond what Lord said in the WoG given above. If that is not your point, then please give arguments better than "Don't think about it" and "It's just works".
Also, hard magic systems exist, you know, the ones designed to be consistent and be able to hold to scrutiny of thought. It is magic does not inherently mean it is stupid and unworthy of inquisitive thought. Present the system and claim it has internally consistent logic, like Wildbow did, and people will try to decipher that logic. Like, how people saw one part of the system being able to do a thing (Cherish trying to condition the 9 with her power) and wonder if the other part of the system (Glory Girl) is doing the same, even accidentally. It started because people were capable of noticing things and making logical connections, way before the trend to "woobify" Amy began. You are making assumptions, just like way back people assumed that Glory Girl's power has long-term consequences, if you're so against it, maybe you should stick to that "not thinking" thing.
I really fucking hate even a notion of a notion of "Just turn your brain off" arguments.
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- Location
- Unitied Kingdom
Writers can write things, they can even come up with in-universe explanations as to why what the write makes sense even if it wouldn't in a normal context. That's the power of writing.
But if some people find those explanations unsatisfactory, or feel they invite additional confusion, people will break from the writers established cannon.
And I don't just mean unsatisfactory in a logical sense, where the A to B reasoning creates plot holes. I mean unsatisfying in an emotional sense. When fans feel like an idea was left unexplored, or would be more interesting than the 'logical' conclusion of the writer, well, that's fertile ground for fanfiction.
Wildbow left the matter of Vicky's power vague for a long time, both in Worm and his WoGs surrounding it. People drew conclusions about the effects of the power, then wrote what possibilities were created from those conclusions. Wildbow did not correct these people, and at this point I can only speculate as to why, but I would guess it would be because Vicky was not the protagonist of Worm, as such clarifying her power would have little impact on the focal point of the narrative. That focal point being Taylor, who only interacted with Vicky maybe a handful of times.
Then Ward was written. Vicky was the protagonist, and suddenly what her powers could or could not do became very important. Thus, Wildbow decided to clarify and explain Vicky's powers, incidentally wiping away all the possibilities created by the fans conclusions.
The explanation for this that Wildbow gave, that Vicky's emotional powers worked without negative side effects, was found to be unsatisfying by people who wanted to tell stories based around the possibilities. They found it to be logically unsatisfying, as it conflicted with a modern understanding of human psychology, even if the effects can be handwaved in universe. And/or emotionally unsatisfying, as it killed potential plot points and conflicts.
So people just... Went on to write those plots anyway.
Fanfic writers can justify it different ways, call it an AU, call it a reasonable deduction or realism applied to superpowers-
But at the end of the day, Vicky's powers being a simple stun effect doesn't create nearly as many potential stories as the more complex and messy explanation.
To tie things back to Brockton Bay's Celestial Forge. The entire plotline about Amy's master-stranger confinement, and the vast web of knock-on effects from that such as the New Wave team breakdown, the tightened protocols on Joe, Mark showing up-
It all stemmed from Vicky's powers messing with Amy's head and triggering a master alert.
If you like those plot lines? Then you're probably in favor of this interpretation of Vicky's power, as it's required to tell these stories in this manner. If you don't like these plot lines? Then Vicky's power being as Wildbow enforced might appeal to you more as it takes the legs out from under those aspects of the story.
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So just to be clear, you can totally buy the fact that Shards are so bullshit that they can effect things on a multiversal scale, but apparently Vicky's shard can't prevent long term effects for the people that enter her short aura range?
Are you guys actually trolling me right now? There are so many ridiculous things that Shards do, but this is the one thing you guys can't accept?
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- Location
- Odessa
Thank you for the update!
areas of the workshop
Personal Reality?