Alivaril said:
Alivaril said:
I get the feeling that Taylor's advice here may not be in QA's best interest.
Purely Theory on my part though.
It's not wrong to make Friends in the Dungeon (Danmachi / Sanctioned [Worm])
I get the feeling that Taylor's advice here may not be in QA's best interest.
Purely Theory on my part though.
Anything you are basing this on? Canon is probably not a very good source. And Splintered never ended properly, so we don't know if QA would have succeeded.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
Potential hilarity there.
Hestia: Administrator, are you sure Taylor is alright? With how fast your stats are growing, I'm concerned Taylor has been pushing herself too hard on her dream quests.
QA: Oh, those? Don't worry, Taylor is doing fine! I was doing such things as a newborn, Taylor is hardly having any trouble.
Hestia:..Just how young were you when you started dream questing?!
Obviously the Guild is the one responsible for the thefts and are making a big deal of initially her name then the Queen title to derail the investigation, and try to cast aspersions on the validity of anything she says.
Why else would they nitpick such pointlessly shit in such a stupid way after all?
Now all Taylor has to do is tofabricate find some evidence to hide her guilty for justice. QA being unaware will even help her sell it.
Why else would they nitpick such pointlessly shit in such a stupid way after all?
Now all Taylor has to do is to
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- Location
- Salt Lake City, UT, USA
The efforts of Teacher to produce a new Entity, the death of Eden, the interactions of Broadcast, and Zion's reactions to shards.
Not sure if you're being serious... but just in case, you do realize that Taylor has stated (if only in internal dialogue) she did it, right?
Administrator: I'm not sure it translates correctly. A few hundred million years?
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Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
I'm probably just not the target audience but it landed a bit flat for me. I don't usually care for misunderstanding comedy writ large and it feels a little mean for Taylor to effectively keep bullying QA and leave her holding the bag for what she's been up to.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In canon, I'm pretty sure that the "Queen" title is just one that the Faerie Queen made up, and is thus her interpretation of Taylor's shard's importance filtered through her personal delusion rather than anything inherent to how the shards view each other. But since that doesn't seem to be the case in Splintered, let's consider what are likely to be the qualities of "monarch" shards. Best guess? Critical parts of an Entity's structure and processes. Most of the core shards will count, but they're always bundled up as the Entity's sense of self and are never seeded. QA is functionally a full Entity's central nervous system; the shard that administers and controls other shards via "software" and orders. Shaper is their homeostatic system; the fleshweaver that restructures and controls other shards via "hardware" and physical reshaping.
Harvest - whether we go by the "Ciara's delusions" route or the "critical shards" route, is certain to be another monarch. QA and Harvest are the alpha and omega of the cycle, its start and end points. The former determines where every shard is seeded at the beginning of the process, the latter collects them all again when they've budded and grown. QA and Shaper are the central nervous system and homeostatic mechanisms; Harvest is the kidney and liver equivalent; recycling and reclamation.
Dinah's shard will be another. As per canon, every single precognition shard is ultimately split off from hers; they're all lesser variants of it. She's effectively the Entity's eyes and ears; the root of their sensory organs. Contessa's shard; the only one that trumps her, isn't an integrated part of the cycle. Eidolon's is a core shard that shouldn't be part of the cycle. Alexandria's stasis-lock shard and Legend's propulsion are important tools, but not critical ones - there are other ways to get around. Leet's, I suppose, could qualify if it's similar the "master shard" all Tinker records of advanced technology are split off from, equivalent to Dinah's.
Miss Militia is an ordinary shard. Foil and Parian are inter-Entity weapons, not monarchs - valuable, but not critical. Tats is a useful Thinker shard but, again, non-critical. Same with Dragon. Broadcast... Broadcast is a maybe. Depending on exactly what its role in the cycle is... it's certainly used as part of the whole Entity to communicate, which is highly valuable but non-critical, but if in a "proper" cycle it would be kept back and used to issue cycle-wide updates and patches, that would make it a monarch. Call it close-to-monarch rank - a noble, as it were.
I can't think of any others off-hand that are of equivalent importance. It basically has to be something, I feel, that the combined Entity as a whole critically needs not just to carry out the cycle but to function at all. Central nervous system, homeostatic balance, senses, waste recycling - if you can't analogise it to covering one of the major organ groups of a human body all on its own, it probably isn't a monarch (though of course the weirdness of Entity biology makes that a general rule of thumb rather than anything rigorous).
Harvest - whether we go by the "Ciara's delusions" route or the "critical shards" route, is certain to be another monarch. QA and Harvest are the alpha and omega of the cycle, its start and end points. The former determines where every shard is seeded at the beginning of the process, the latter collects them all again when they've budded and grown. QA and Shaper are the central nervous system and homeostatic mechanisms; Harvest is the kidney and liver equivalent; recycling and reclamation.
Dinah's shard will be another. As per canon, every single precognition shard is ultimately split off from hers; they're all lesser variants of it. She's effectively the Entity's eyes and ears; the root of their sensory organs. Contessa's shard; the only one that trumps her, isn't an integrated part of the cycle. Eidolon's is a core shard that shouldn't be part of the cycle. Alexandria's stasis-lock shard and Legend's propulsion are important tools, but not critical ones - there are other ways to get around. Leet's, I suppose, could qualify if it's similar the "master shard" all Tinker records of advanced technology are split off from, equivalent to Dinah's.
Miss Militia is an ordinary shard. Foil and Parian are inter-Entity weapons, not monarchs - valuable, but not critical. Tats is a useful Thinker shard but, again, non-critical. Same with Dragon. Broadcast... Broadcast is a maybe. Depending on exactly what its role in the cycle is... it's certainly used as part of the whole Entity to communicate, which is highly valuable but non-critical, but if in a "proper" cycle it would be kept back and used to issue cycle-wide updates and patches, that would make it a monarch. Call it close-to-monarch rank - a noble, as it were.
I can't think of any others off-hand that are of equivalent importance. It basically has to be something, I feel, that the combined Entity as a whole critically needs not just to carry out the cycle but to function at all. Central nervous system, homeostatic balance, senses, waste recycling - if you can't analogise it to covering one of the major organ groups of a human body all on its own, it probably isn't a monarch (though of course the weirdness of Entity biology makes that a general rule of thumb rather than anything rigorous).
Lies and slander.
And if the Guild was innocent they wouldn't be behaving in such a suspicious way, shame on you for trying to shift blame.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
You know, it occurs to me that eventually, people are going to wonder just how such huge kitties were transported to QA all the way from her homeland, with nobody noticing the kitties until QA started riding around on them.
Given the new information that has been revealed in this chapter, I'm betting someone is going to assume teleportation magic is common where QA comes from, and the kitties were teleported over.
Cue more conspiracy theories that QA's homeland is responsible for the magic stone theft. QA was either working with them all along, or an exiled Royal they lost track of and attempted to silence.
Given the new information that has been revealed in this chapter, I'm betting someone is going to assume teleportation magic is common where QA comes from, and the kitties were teleported over.
Cue more conspiracy theories that QA's homeland is responsible for the magic stone theft. QA was either working with them all along, or an exiled Royal they lost track of and attempted to silence.
- Location
- Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Welllp. Now I'm sure. I see that you, too, are a man of culture.Lies and slander.
And if the Guild was innocent they wouldn't be behaving in such a suspicious way, shame on you for trying to shift blame.
Pandora
Gotta say, blood IS as tasty as I make it look~
- Location
- Brazil
I admit, I was feeling like she should just let her Friends have some fun right there... Just a small bit of a hunt, ya dig?
And on the topic of a darker episode going forward, I only hope that it's because of something that our darling QAylor does to someone else and not the opposite!
And on the topic of a darker episode going forward, I only hope that it's because of something that our darling QAylor does to someone else and not the opposite!
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
Except QA has stated that she needed to work up to the title of Queen, and that it took a while to do so. It's not a mark of importance in the Entity, it's a mark of excellence / mastery of their field, like a PHD.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Possible trolling aside, I actually would prefer if people who didn't like it also read it. Negative feedback is important, too!
...But yeah, I can't really do anything about the "Oh, not another one of XYZ."
OOC: Like this. This is helpful feedback. Next time, I'll keep it going longer instead of ending on a punchline when the scene was already going to keep going from that moment. QA isn't being left with the bag; she's just a lead toward the people holding it.
There is a lot of Unreliable Narrator / misunderstanding comedy floating around in this story, but the plot focuses more on the consequences of QA's and Taylor's careless bumbling.
IC: Dreamer would prefer not to take the blame for this one. She committed the perfect crime; it's not her fault that her guest-self went and claimed a type of magic that could be used to commit it. Dreamer's plan was shadow magic for the sake of fitting the black cat theme (and possibly Dark Magical Girl Queen Administrator).
I'm quite enjoying the story but I understand where you are coming from. I have a similar problem with slapstick humor, if you sit down and think about it it's horrible. I can't watch Tom and Jerry without feeling quesy at what the characters are doing to each other.
This story on the other hand is shiny fun, and qa doesn't feel bullied, yes Taylor has her own ideas but it doesn't feel abusive?
The tone of the story, QA's acceptance, Taylor's pov, people like hestia trying to support qa, and what was would do with reversed roles means that it's light and fluffy enough to be funny, and that doesn't fall apart even on deeper examination.
- Location
- Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Honestly. Do you know how hard it is to get a spiked leotard?
I can see where he is coming from with this. I agree that QA doesn't feel as if she is bullied, even if the relationship is somewhat unbalanced, with Dreamer/Taylor being a little... callous? QA seems to have the best of intentions at heart while she plays at QA's expense. On the other hand she is recovering and doesn't seem to do so maliciously. She's doing things for her amusement, but at the same time she wants QA to have a good, supportive family and such.
However, I can't help but feel a little worried that QA's hypothesized scenario will probably crumble apart one day and she will be left feeling disappointed.
On the other hand, that part is actually a nice reflection of QA's relationship with the pseudo hosts. She happily gives them crumbs and let them come to their own faulty conclusions to her advantage, even as she is doing the same with what is happening to her and Taylor as she fills in the details with her own expectations.
- Location
- Philippines
Thats why I stoped reading when I realized the author picked Hestia familia. Its not like I could know that by just reading the freaking title.
Not really a fan of Hestia and its a really typical to go for this route in a danmachi fic. You see its really typical for a fanfic to join the protagonist's group and fix every problem. It makes things boring and it is really unimaginative.
- Location
- Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Excepting that's not the route this story has taken at all. Literally none of the protagonist's problems have even been mentioned in this story -- hell, the protagonist himself hasn't even shown up.
And as to Hestia herself... Well, she's got new and unique problems in this story and is being treated in a remarkably different manner than she was canonically. (Still clearly in character, just a very different focus resultant from very different character dynamics.)
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Dreamer's just up to shenanigans, not telling QA about anything so they can't even coordinate stories or figure out what QA needs to shy away from saying. And given how unsocialized QA is...the gut feeling of what I read of their interactions was that Dreamer was more laughing at her expense/trolling her instead of educating her and Hestia's been left to try and pick up any kind of guidance slack.
Again, it's probably just Not For Me.
RinKaihou
AllSeeingEye
- Location
- Behind You
Did she just Shardspeak a bunch of mortals?
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Nah, the first bit was just Host-to-QA. After that was slightly incorrect use of emphasis.
You're, uh... Well, I've been ninja'd on this, but it really does show that you're judging a book by it's cover. ^^; Just as an example regarding the "not like the title couldn't have told me that:" capital-F Friends are bioengineered predators that frequently wander through the uncanny valley.
Still, the more detailed complaint was actually helpful since it told me I needed to put an author's note at the start to supplement the new spoiler alert. So uh, thanks, I guess?
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- Location
- UK
QA: Oh, a few thousand years or so. I was born just as my parents left on a trip you see so I wasn't able to do any growing until we arrived.
Hestia: ....what?
- Location
- Central Standard Time
Unrelated to quoted post: it might also be a good idea to qualify the spoilers with "Season 2"/"LN Book 7" - I didn't think of this earlier, and it seems like a good idea.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Possibly, but then I'd need to keep track of which things came from which books every time something new came up. That's just a PITA, so I'll stick with the general spoiler warning. Thanks anyway!
- Location
- Germany
The fastest way I can see this situation escalate is if QA tries hard logic...
QA: So by your definition, being a Queen requires that one doesn't accept any authority beyond them? Wouldn't that standard make all royals heretics for claiming to be beyond even the gods?
Guild: Of course that's an exception.
QA: Them I'll just declare my parents equivalent to the deities of our society and keep my title of Queen, thank you very much.
QA: So by your definition, being a Queen requires that one doesn't accept any authority beyond them? Wouldn't that standard make all royals heretics for claiming to be beyond even the gods?
Guild: Of course that's an exception.
QA: Them I'll just declare my parents equivalent to the deities of our society and keep my title of Queen, thank you very much.