Remove ads

In Nuclear Fire

Reader mode
Poliamida said:
And that's why I don't subscribe (or better said, prefer to ignore) the whole 'conflict drive' argument. These are very broken people living in world that's falling apart. Humans don't need any alien influence to do very stupid and risky shit given the right circumstances. Getting powers so they can freely act on their basic impulses is more than enough.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Powers want to be used yes, but here I could totally imagine Vista's power conflict drive waking up, have breakfast, put his work suit and took his car to go to work... then in the way to his workplace another car, driven by "Vista starting to be a teen" hit his car and send him outside the VERY TALL bridge he was crossing and the last thing he could hear before hitting the rocks under the bridge is "Vista starting to be a teen" bulling him with a "Looooooooser" with a voice tone that could make Nelson Muntz envious.
 
Last edited:
drake_azathoth said:
Um, I think there is a shitload of a difference between attacking someone in their civilian identity, and simply figuring out who they are in their civilian idenity. The latter is often presented as pretty much their fault for failing to hide it, and keep in mind at this point Missy has reason to believe that something hinky is going on with Peter and Shadow Stalker as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There's a difference between figuring out who someone is, and approaching them in their home, because approaching them in their home looks a lot like, and often is, a threat.
 
dracklor said:
was an asshole teenager who went to jail for a couple of years then came back and joined the E88 with open arms
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If by open arms you mean a blade to the chest then yes, Kaiser did, with witnesses. WoG is that Kaiser dealt with that fucking idiot in public, full on execution.
It was also a great PR move for the Empire as well, being seen as maintaining the unwritten rules while they would actually not give a shit about them. The Empire 88 is one of the few gangs that worry about PR, almost like The Marche did back in the old days of the bay, its also the reason why they show at Endbringer Fights.
 
Garreon said:
If by open arms you mean a blade to the chest then yes, Kaiser did, with witnesses. WoG is that Kaiser dealt with that fucking idiot in public, full on execution.
It was also a great PR move for the Empire as well, being seen as maintaining the unwritten rules while they would actually not give a shit about them. The Empire 88 is one of the few gangs that worry about PR, almost like The Marche did back in the old days of the bay, its also the reason why they show at Endbringer Fights.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Didn't he give the guy a promotion and execute a traitor?
 
Garreon said:
If by open arms you mean a blade to the chest then yes, Kaiser did, with witnesses. WoG is that Kaiser dealt with that fucking idiot in public, full on execution.
It was also a great PR move for the Empire as well, being seen as maintaining the unwritten rules while they would actually not give a shit about them. The Empire 88 is one of the few gangs that worry about PR, almost like The Marche did back in the old days of the bay, its also the reason why they show at Endbringer Fights.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Sorry but Wildbow went back on that in Ward, Victoria has a scene where she goes over that he was a crying teenager that the judge went easy on and only gave a few years sentence to. He gets out and joins the Empire, Kaiser did not kill him.
 
Jubjub115 said:
Didn't he give the guy a promotion and execute a traitor?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That tends to be Fanon, don't forget one of Kaiser's people went off and killed a hero in her home, this basically would give the BBB, now New Wave, all the reason they needed to say screw the rules we are coming for your asses, and the PRT would help them seeing as New Wave are affiliates.

Kaiser didn't want to deal with that so he tied up the loose end in a way that gave his gang the better light, after all what is a man who had already defied his king worth? This is Max Anders we are talking about, Mr self proclaimed king, the gang is just a tool to make himself the leader of something, he doesn't even believe in the movement. Kill an idiot who did the most stupid thing ever, get a political victory and make sure the heroes of the bay don't take off the kid gloves and decide to look for his civilian identity, which would reveal Medhall as a front of the Empire for cash.

This was years before the 88 gained the reputation it has in Canon, because All-Father may have been strong, but it was Kaiser's charisma who attracted the people, nowadays Kaiser can act loose with the rules as long as no one knows he is doing it and because the 88 is in a secure position.....

dracklor said:
Sorry but Wildbow went back on that in Ward, Victoria has a scene where she goes over that he was a crying teenager that the judge went easy on and only gave a few years sentence to. He gets out and joins the Empire, Kaiser did not kill him.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And Mr grimdark diarrhea strikes again with a retcon, destroying what was a masterful movement in the board of the Bay. And also another of the reasons why I will never read Ward.
 
Last edited:
I can see Peter and missy getting into a heated debate at school because the teacher asked them to describe a hero with missy being the "hero's defeat villians" while Peter arguing that "hero's help people" and it ending because teacher stops it, but later missy runs into Aisha in costume and gets shown around their territories and is shown the people's perspective on the whole thing before going home and reevaluating her belief of what a hero truly is.

EDIT

Just thought about it but I couldn't really imagine Peter getting all that worked up over a debate in class, maybe Aisha gets worked up instead and then Peter offers a neutral perspective when showing missy all the work that heavy gears been doing and asking her "what has to PRT done to help these people? And would they have made these people happy?"
 
Last edited:
zerak said:
I haven't avoided them on purpose or anything. It's just that the ones I was interested in didn't have any sexual content.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
ok I only read one, and I read it because the premise was hilarious. SI gets turned into a very, and I mean veeeeery, handsome and manly orc by a ROB with the equipment necessary to help the place....problem is anyone who sees him naked.....
Let's just say that he is in an open relationship because his boss, Tats herself, wasn't able to keep up with his drive...
 
Garreon said:
ok I only read one, and I read it because the premise was hilarious. SI gets turned into a very, and I mean veeeeery, handsome and manly orc by a ROB with the equipment necessary to help the place....problem is anyone who sees him naked.....
Let's just say that he is in an open relationship because his boss, Tats herself, wasn't able to keep up with his drive...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
P-orcing All The Girls by Blackmarch? His snippet thread got one version where he got together with Taylor instead and one where he ended up in Harry Potter instead of Worm and got together with Hermione.
 
Last edited:
Kaiser killing off Fleur's murderer was never, ever canon in the first place. It was fanon created because as usual, the fandom overhyped "MUH UNWRITTEN RULES" and thought oh of COURSE a goddamn psychopath nazi would follow them religiously and not just pay lip service of "uwu how tragic ;_;" then just recruit the guy with no other prospects but a proven dedication to the cause when he gets out of juvie a few years later.
 
Poliamida said:
It's just a pet peeve of mine, I don't like when everything the characters do gets justified by saying 'well, that's just the conflict drive controlling them'. It's amazingly lazy and cheap. Makes the characters feeling like 2-dimensional puppets devoid of any agency or will.
Zis and Contessa are already doing enough work there.

I'll be honest here. When someone reads something I wrote and says 'look at that conflict drive' they make me feel like I completely and utterly failed as a writer because they see the conflict as completely artificial.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah but you can't simply do away with it too because it's an aspect of canon. Unless you straight off say this is an AU where Shard do not drive their parahuman towards conflict

Though I also believe that saying the shard is driving them towards 'conflict' specifically are a bit too much, the shard wants their human to use their powers in innovative ways so they can gather data, conflict and stressful situations just happen to be the most efficient way to get their human to innovate so they nudge them toward it when they can.

In the story itself, I saw very few instances where I interpreted to be the shards's work, mostly Taylor refusing to back down even when Peter screams at her to do it, and it's aways during fights, so for me is not like the shard nudged them to start fighting but it's keeping them there to escalate, but that's just me who has knowledge of cannon trying to interpret aspects of it in the text, the passages are written in such way that someone without knowledge can read them as purely character decisions and it would still make sense. In other words it's well written.

A question that I think its been asked before; Does Peter's power comes from an Shard? Like it's part of the circler or its fanfic fiat?
 
Poliamida said:
It's just a pet peeve of mine, I don't like when everything the characters do gets justified by saying 'well, that's just the conflict drive controlling them'. It's amazingly lazy and cheap. Makes the characters feeling like 2-dimensional puppets devoid of any agency or will.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Human beings aren't free agents that make choices in a vacuum.

Think of the conflict drive as something more like the sensation of hunger.

You have the agency to choose not to eat all the way up until you actually die of starvation. Hunger is influencing your thoughts and behavior the entire time, even to the point where you start hallucinating and forgetting things, but you always have the option to choose starvation.

Hunger, thirst, breath, libido, sleepiness, we are slaves to our many biological drives. The conflict drive is just one more.
 
Leafy503 said:
The last thing the PRT needs right now is another scandal. Their PR is at the absolute lowest right now with the Coil revelation and Bakuda's shenanigans.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Honestly, it might be the best time. They're already a laughing stock. It's not like they can go lower. It'd be better for it to come out now than once they start to gain some of their respect back.
 
Remove ads
Logo Final
  • Media
    • Added the title.
    Messed around with the background, and various filters/overlays.

    A better story logo?

    Previous versions, for comparison.
     
  • Media
    • adudefromthesea said:
    Though I also believe that saying the shard is driving them towards 'conflict' specifically are a bit too much, the shard wants their human to use their powers in innovative ways so they can gather data, conflict and stressful situations just happen to be the most efficient way to get their human to innovate so they nudge them toward it when they can.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    This WoG mentioned its:
    Re: 4) Focusing capes on mundane utility is just going to see the shards rebelling. If you try to create rogues, then situations like Canary's crop up. Powers finding a way to make life harder.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    there's a bunch more that confirms it.
     
    I also asked this on the other main Tinker of Fiction story, but is Destiny a tech tree that Peter could roll or is it a bit too out there?
     
    arromdee said:
    There's a difference between figuring out who someone is, and approaching them in their home, because approaching them in their home looks a lot like, and often is, a threat.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I'll point out that Missy didn't go in costume and that her intention wasn't to look threatening. Quite the contrary in fact. She went there in search of evidence.
    Garreon said:
    And Mr grimdark diarrhea strikes again with a retcon, destroying what was a masterful movement in the board of the Bay. And also another of the reasons why I will never read Ward.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Yeah, that's one of the biggest problems with Worm. Cannon is far too flexible.
    Jubjub115 said:
    I can see Peter and missy getting into a heated debate at school because the teacher asked them to describe a hero with missy being the "hero's defeat villians" while Peter arguing that "hero's help people" and it ending because teacher stops it, but later missy runs into Aisha in costume and gets shown around their territories and is shown the people's perspective on the whole thing before going home and reevaluating her belief of what a hero truly is.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    If Peter got asked that question he'd use the Greek definition: the biggest and meanest motherfucker around who could defeat all his enemies and get all the bitches (and studs too).
    McFluffles said:
    Kaiser killing off Fleur's murderer was never, ever canon in the first place. It was fanon created because as usual, the fandom overhyped "MUH UNWRITTEN RULES" and thought oh of COURSE a goddamn psychopath nazi would follow them religiously and not just pay lip service of "uwu how tragic ;_;" then just recruit the guy with no other prospects but a proven dedication to the cause when he gets out of juvie a few years later.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The way I see Kaiser is as the reverse Coil. While Coil wanted to manage things from the background and even saw her civilian persona as a hindrance, Kaiser sees it as a benefit. Kaiser knows how to play both worlds and uses his both identities to help each other.
    Sleeping Moon said:
    Can't really deny that just saying the PRT would be a literal joke if Peter cracks in learning magic and mix with AI to make Contessa get tricked. Heck if he get's Doctor Who tech....
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    True magic is at the moment beyond what his power can do. Like it happened with Sakura, his power translates what it 'sees' into things that the shard cluster can create. But, like all powers, it is capable of learning.
    adudefromthesea said:
    Yeah but you can't simply do away with it too because it's an aspect of canon. Unless you straight off say this is an AU where Shard do not drive their parahuman towards conflict
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    outwrangle said:
    Hunger, thirst, breath, libido, sleepiness, we are slaves to our many biological drives. The conflict drive is just one more.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I can accept seeing it as an addiction. That fits with what was later revealed during Golden Morning when Taylor discovered that there were a ton of parahumans that didn't use their powers.
    adudefromthesea said:
    A question that I think its been asked before; Does Peter's power comes from an Shard? Like it's part of the circler or its fanfic fiat?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    It's a Shard. Probably from Abaddon but I don't think that's something that will have real impact with the story.
    Tatbee said:
    Added the title.
    Messed around with the background, and various filters/overlays.

    A better story logo?

    Previous versions, for comparison.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    There's only one way I can properly express my feelings for this:

    I love everything about this. I love the way the background looks as if it's burning. I don't think I'd want to change anything. The way I see it, this is perfect.
    Narsauce said:
    I also asked this on the other main Tinker of Fiction story, but is Destiny a tech tree that Peter could roll or is it a bit too out there?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    It is something that he could roll. I know a bit of Destiny and I like some stuff it has, but I don't see me using it any time soon.
     
    Actually here's another that confirms Shard can cause personalities shifts:
    Shadow Stalker was influenced heavily by her shard:

    Cockroaches 28.4 said:
    "Because Imp… is too passive."

    "Way too passive," Imp murmured.

    "So's Shadow Stalker," Tattletale said.

    "But Shadow Stalker's passenger isn't. If there are any undertones, any way that the passengers influence our actions, then Shadow Stalker was definitely influenced. I dug through her old records, read up on her history."

    "What?" Shadow Stalker asked.

    "She got aggressive after she got her powers. Generally more…" I searched for the way to phrase it.

    "You fucking looked at my records?"

    "…More violent than most people would be, in her shoes. Lashing out, aimlessly at first, and then with a target, channeling the aggression. Except it was the same amount of violence, just concentrated into fewer incidents, alongside a pretty extensive bullying campaign."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...


    Poliamida said:
    Taylor discovered that there were a ton of parahumans that didn't use their powers.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Which I don't believe for a moment even in Ward Vicky's uncle Mike even admitted that he couldn't avoid not using his powers, that's why he work with police. Plus wasn't Taylor full khepri during, she's still an unreliable narrator, most likely those people did use their power some way to satisfy their need to use their powers. Canon is so inconsistent it's annoying, there's a bunch WoG and facts that confirmed shard influence, heck there was a wog that points out that the shard has a hand into why there are more villains than heroes.
     
    Poliamida said:
    It is something that he could roll. I know a bit of Destiny and I like some stuff it has, but I don't see me using it any time soon.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Pity, since I did have one idea of how Heavy Gear can really make themselves feared come the Slaughterhouse 9. Peter manages to craft Splinters of Darkness, which allows the team to wield Stasis (in my head I see Peter as a Warlock, Aisha as a Hunter and Taylor as a Titan) and manage to make some headway with the Nine, until Jack manages to get his hands on one of the Splinters. However, Jack learns that Peter didn't just whip up a bit of Tinker-tech.

    The splinters were connected to the Darkness. And the Winnower makes its displeasure with Jack known.

     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top