Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

Unleash the Snark. It was one of three free powers that came bundled with Xenoarcheaologist. Some of the 'free' powers that I've received have been disproportionately powerful, but enhanced proficiency with insults wasn't going to make the top ten. It was an amusing power, but kind of overshadowed by the other two.

So we totally get to see Joe verbally destroy Jack Slash before actually destroying him, right? Right?

:V
 
As happy as I am to see this chapter, I can't help but be bummed on the roll. I know everyone is waiting for specific things from the Forge, but it's likely we won't get 800cp a second time this year to get to have even a chance to hit Truth.
 
70% nothingburger. And that's excluding the parts that had the excuse that the power-babble gets (I.e., super in depth power combinations and their repercussions being part of the point of the author writing the whole fic).

I'm simply confused. Is repeatedly regurgitating previous monologues contents an easier/more enjoyable writing style for Lord R., or are there other factors resulting in this consistent super-repetition?
 
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So Joe is focused on the upcoming beatdown of the S9, learning Taylor's tragic backstory, saving the cheerleaders via uber divine nanites, the meet-up with Grandpa Kong, healing the Case 53s, and his future date with Crystal.

Meanwhile, the Butcher is being driven mad(der) by the voices in her head, Coil ("Chaos is a ladder") is upset that Brockton is calming down, the Travelers are getting antsy, Victor is eager to meet Truth, Marche and Uber are pressuring L33T to unleash his ultimate superweapon on the city.

I kind of want to jump past the therapy session but LordR has done a good job with the sessions so far.

Thinking back to Alma's initial appearance, she is connected to Joe's duplicates, correct? How much subjective time is she experiencing? Time doesn't really heal all wounds but it can help dull the edges.

Speculation about Gully's future appearance? Joe makes things beautiful and functional. Gully wants to be a 'normal' girl. Given that her power is aggressively forcing her body to be large, muscular, and durable, a low-level wizard might consider an alt form for our heroine. I'm guessing that Joe has progressed beyond such plebian work. I predict she'll end up somewhat like an anime shipgirl, manifesting as a cute anthropomorphization of her true potential power, with no soft and squishy human alt form. Although, given the number of anime that Joe has influenced by, it would be fun to see Gully have progressively more powerful forms.

IIRC Joe gave Tetra Spiral power. Have we seen her use it?

Did Joe turn his little green minions into cyborgs?
 
Does anyone remember which chapter it was were, Joe told Lisa that he hoped Coil would release his identity. So that he can be cursed.
 
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You know, it occurs to me that whenever Flechette and Weld make their report and send it up the chain, Cauldron is going to be very interested in Aperion actively preparing for and knowing key pieces to deal with a massive threat to the world when they know about Scion already.
 
Does anyone remember which chapter is was were, Joe told Lisa that he hoped Coil would release his identity. So that he can be cursed.

This one?

"I see." I mused. "That's a shame."

"What?" Tattletale exclaimed. I could practically see her thought process. "What… what did you do?"

"I put a failsafe of my own in place last night. If Coil had my identity and was trying to leverage it, that would have been enough to take care of things for us." I explained. There was a look of horror on Tattletale's face.

Chapter 142: 97 Confrontations Preamble Carol
 
70% nothingburger. And that's excluding the parts that had the excuse that the power-babble gets (I.e., super in depth power combinations and their repercussions being part of the point of the author writing the whole fic).

I'm simply confused. Is repeatedly regurgitating previous monologues contents an easier/more enjoyable writing style for Lord R., or are there other factors resulting in this consistent super-repetition?
First time?
 
70% nothingburger. And that's excluding the parts that had the excuse that the power-babble gets (I.e., super in depth power combinations and their repercussions being part of the point of the author writing the whole fic).

I'm simply confused. Is repeatedly regurgitating previous monologues contents an easier/more enjoyable writing style for Lord R., or are there other factors resulting in this consistent super-repetition?
This is how the whole fic is written, and the complaints about it are regurgitated far far more than the in-story stuff.

This story is slow. It's the nature of the beast. Actions and information is analysed from many different angles and from many different standpoints. That may seem pointless to you, but I, for one, enjoy it, and seeing how much of the story is composed of things like that Lord clearly does as well.

This story is built on going into every relevant detail and making things as real and complex as the author can manage. That does lead to repetition, because Lord isn't a perfect writer, but he's a damn good one seeing how he uses it to make the world so much more real than it would otherwise have been.

A concept like the Celestial Forge is inherently absurd and chaotic. I've been looking for similar stories as this one for some time now, but nobody I've found so far has gone to the same lengths to make their story come to life, so 90% of the impact is lost.

If repetitions and '70% nothing burgers' are the price for this level of immersion and belief in a secondary world I'll gladly pay it. 10 times over in fact.

BCF could definitely benefit from an editor or three, and cleaning things up for a 'secondary edition' would definitely be welcomed. But something like that would need Lord's input (and is probably an unrealistic dream to begin with) and I'd much rather he concentrate on writing this version.
 
Round Telephone (Stargate SG-1) Free:
Does this give him a stargate [and cause there to exist a network of other planets connected via stargates], or is this just a mostly useless "how to use the thing he doesn't have because the jump doc was originally designed with the expectation that someone would be in the actual stargate universe"?

I knew what the device looked like, how to operate it, and what function it served, but I had no clue to the actual internal processes save that they involved significant amounts of high grade Naquadah and were capable of transporting people and materials thousands of light years in a single step.

Sounds like the latter, which makes me wonder, is there a chance that this gives him insight as to the true nature of the Forge itself?
 
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And now Joe really is a Power Tinker, getting a cheat sheet of how powers work.

Only it's based off intuiting technological evolution. Unleasing Xenoarcheology on on Tinker databases - specifically his own - might lead to some tidbits about the previous victims of Scion's family line.

Also, exploiting the blowback from the S9's death as cover for curing a few Case 53's is the sort of Social Engineering that is cleary perk-boosted :D

The use of a Big might be stabilized - or further destabilized - by Joe using his God of Progress mantle. It's Numidium time!
 
Thank you for another incredible chapter. This is one of my favorite fanfiction stories. It is unbelievable how you manage to keep us readers engaged and entertained with your high quality writing despite the slow plot progression. The S9 have been traveling towards BB since chapter 77. Since then you have written over 790.000 words. The Lord of the Rings including The Hobbit counts "only" about 576.000 words. When the fight with the S9 concludes you might even reach 1.000.000 words. That will be like all 7 Harry Potter books combined. And the S9 are "merely" a sidequest.
Truely amazing what you are gifting to us all free of charge.
Thank you.
 
70% nothingburger. And that's excluding the parts that had the excuse that the power-babble gets (I.e., super in depth power combinations and their repercussions being part of the point of the author writing the whole fic).

I'm simply confused. Is repeatedly regurgitating previous monologues contents an easier/more enjoyable writing style for Lord R., or are there other factors resulting in this consistent super-repetition?
my impulse is to make a joke about how the chapters have been like this for the entire fic (save for a portion from around chapters 30-50) and inquire as to how you got here without having adapted to or noticed this before.

however, it might be more constructive to point out that the re-treading of relevant details of perks and the like and explaining what's going on again can be nice for those of us who don't prepare for each chapter by re-reading the last 15 chapters to understand what's being discussed, and might otherwise simply forget about the relevant context to the situation on-screen because of the number of plot-threads going on throughout the fic.
Does this give him a stargate [and cause there to exist a network of other planets connected via stargates], or is this just a mostly useless "how to use the thing he doesn't have because the jump doc was originally designed with the expectation that someone would be in the actual stargate universe"?



Sounds like the latter, which makes me wonder, is there a chance that this gives him insight as to the true nature of the Forge itself?
what insight exactly would he gain from this perk? the idea that his perks are based on an expectation of him actually being in that universe? but he already kinda knows that, as he considers his perks as coming from alternative versions of himself living in other universes.
 
Joe's anger at Lisa leaving a child to be stuck drugged up to the gills in a creeps basement, and specifically causing her to stay in that position because of her need to be in control, will be legendary I reckon.

Permanently working relationship tarnishing legendary. The only reason I think he's put up with so much is because his passenger likes her. Saving Dinah, ending Coil and even fixing Echidna would be, and would have been for a long time now, absolutely trivial had she not been deliberately taking advantage of his trust and willingness to asure her to keep it from him.

Not a Tattletale hater, but it is part of her character to be an over controlling piece of work who isn't half as smart as she thinks she is, even if she is legitimately very intelligent.
 
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Garment talking to Joe about Crystal: "You dunce, of course she likes you. You don't understand anything about romance!"
Joe: "Yeah, about that. You do know Flechette has a crush on you right?"
Garment: Surprised Pikachu face
But then Garment was like: "You realize I was flirting with you from the start, right?"
And Joe is like "MHM ANYWAYS ABOUT FLECHETTE"
As happy as I am to see this chapter, I can't help but be bummed on the roll. I know everyone is waiting for specific things from the Forge, but it's likely we won't get 800cp a second time this year to get to have even a chance to hit Truth.
Am I misremembering? Pretty sure Truth is 600CP.
The use of a Big might be stabilized - or further destabilized - by Joe using his God of Progress mantle. It's Numidium time!
Consider that a Big would probably be a secondary body for Fleet. Hell, if Joe did it right he could prolly make the Big basically one big divine mecha for Fleet to wield with his main body.
Though part of me is amused by the idea of Aisha seeing Joe burning Fleet's body in the crucible, being horrified, and then she learns his soul was already swapped into the Giant Fuckoff Divine God Machine.
 
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Garment lived for fashion, but she didn't treat it like some scientist making impartial observations and minimizing their impact on the system they were studying. She immersed herself in it, and everything it represented. And that meant immersing herself in life, in human society, culture, and yes, relationships. The interactions would always be conducted through the lens of fashion and design, but that didn't mean they were any less sincere because of it.
I really like the insightful comments regarding Garmnet in this chapter. It's often something that's not really hidden but still not spelled out. Like how Garment sees first the language of fashion and talks through that. How others talk through human PR and so on so that it makes the talk stifling. How fascinating. Both weren't communication in the same language hence the misunderstandings and the flat responses.

I also really liked how Joe had to explain to Garment that Lily had a crush on her. It changes the dynamic on how it has always been.
She let out a breath. "Just promise me you won't burn the city down over what she tells you." I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously."

"I promise. No arson sprees." I said flatly.
Feels unfair that she want to promise something like that when she hasn't promised anything in return. I know he's just humoring her at this point and he wouldn't burn it down its basically just something to calm her down with. It's just the old frustration with Tattletale. At least he can rightly point out that her actions and decisions has been wrong. That she has been making decisions based on fear and trauma just like Director Piggot. I bet she would love to hear that.

I'd like to think that if it had been critical she would have asked for help, but considering this was Taylor there was a decent chance she had stubbornly decided to handle everything on her own despite my earlier offers of help.
Yep. Now scale that to the eleventh in everything.
"The next set of duplicates will be able to project it." I transferred back. "Until then you could always use March's sword."

I could actually feel the psionic imprint of outrage through both of my duplicate's responses.
Like that its also Joe Prime that sasses his duplicates. Normally its only his duplicates that sasses Joe Prime.
But then again, neither were impossible colors or burning sigils of reality. Neither were Superweapon projects that required entire passengers as components. Nor were global curses, parahuman network subversions, psionic interventions in the collective unconscious of humanity, or any of the other desperate and insane methods that had been proposed for countering decades of parahuman brainwashing by Jack Slash's shard.

Building a Big could go very wrong. It was tampering with incredible forces beyond mortal comprehension, but that wasn't exactly an unusual state of affairs for my team. And at this point, I really couldn't afford to take any options off the table.
Oh yeah. When taken up like that he really has a NUMBER of things that would classify of superweapons of global scale.
"That's interesting. And potentially useful." I smiled at Fleet. "I think it's time to inform Gully of the contract that's been awarded on her behalf."
Let's see which people are on the verge of triggering. Theo is the only canon person I remember that was on the verge of triggering. However that might have changed and there are probably not shortage of people on the verge of breaking in the aftermath.

Glad to see Gully next time. Maybe we'll get a interlude perhaps. I hope so. They are really good to get the feeling of the treated person.
 
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