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Tangled Fate [Ranma 1/2 / Exalted]

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On one hand, yay! new chapter... On the other I now feel highly aggravated because I really didn't want it to stop yet...

Still, that was a really nice look at the culture clash, a bit more development for some of the Exalted characters, Kodachi thinking on her epiphany, and Ranma really quickly figuring out just how far away from home they actually are...

The reactions to the curse lock were well done as well, though I suspect that the other Nerima side characters' reactions will make or break that aspect of the story, as will whatever Setarial has to say on the topic (and the wide range of potential fixes ;)).

Lost Star said:
*Sighs*


Really? I mean it's a good story and all, but if you lock it for more than a chapter it's more than old, it's spectacularly cliche and annoying. Especially in exalted. Where you know, the exaltation are supposed to burn away curses? So, let me guess. Ryoga's cured right? He wouldn't have been a little piggy had he come over changed?


Sorry if I'm coming across as snippy, but I feel I need to comment on it. Keeping the curse is perfectly acceptable, and the rest of it feels interesting at least. I do look forward to the rest of it, so long as the curse isn't locked. Again.
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Yeah, there is a bit of a cliche with curse locks in crossovers, though as noted on several occasions so far there's a lot of ways to rectify the situation in the Exalted setting, and as a Solar most of them aren't that far beyond Ranma's reach even now.

Having the curse burn away in this way is interesting though, as it suggests that both forms count equally as Ranma and the true effect was simply forcing the person between the states. Ryoga just got lucky (for once) in that Lunars are naturally incredibly mutable, or else he might have been stuck as a small pig... Which would probably have been 'interesting' in the Chinese sense...
 
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It doesn't really read as Ranma considering one of his main characteristics other than his pride is how rude he is. Ranma repeatedly tip toeing around issues feels really weird...

I also must agree that Ranma being stuck as a girl made me roll my eyes since it's overdone, and I actually enjoy fics that have Ranma gradually accepting that the curse is most likely there to stay and becoming a bit more comfortable with it. I simply do not enjoy fics where he doesn't get a choice in the first place.
 
Good chapter.:)

The two magistrates are slowly gaining definition as future mentors for the newly exalts.;)

Ranma in the clutch of ONE of his nightmares: the locked curse. (others are the death of loved ones, the neko-ken and rape):(

Good to see he had matured a little. The abscence of other nerimians help (those clowns have a remarkable ability to make any situations worse). Ranma is prideful, yes, but he is also courageous. The gossips that will come from the two servants is going to be an enormous help for the future.:whistle:

Kodachi facing Sol Invictus: very good. Generally the exaltation of a Zenith bring a sense of duty extremely strong (too many times fanatic-level). Here Kodachi is stripped down to her true essence. Good news, she doesn't like her old self. Bad news, her self-confidence took a tremendous hit. She's going to be a follower for quite a time, probably following Ranma who is going to be flabbergasted as her servant-like attitude.:evil:

Ouch, bad beginning for Ryu and Kodachi as Ranma is going to be (at first i hope) Under the assumption that they are still like they were in Nerima.:confused:

Hum... We need Ryoga to play their advocate. Ranma WILL listen to him.:)

Of course, the first to make a lewd comment on Ranma apperance is going to be the first to explore Low-Earth-Orbit in Creation.:lol
 
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Expanding on Jusenkyo curses
  • Informational
    • Chloe Sullivan said:
    Try to go easy on the bad cliches please.
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    At what point do I neg on Akane? If you mean that one moment where Ranma is thinking about Akane screwing things up that is completely in character, and accurate. We have a canon example at the end of the dragon whisker arc where she tries and fails to braid Ranma's hair.

    Chloe Sullivan said:
    Ranma is stuck as a girl
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    Lost Star said:
    *Sighs*

    Really? I mean it's a good story and all, but if you lock it for more than a chapter it's more than old, it's spectacularly cliche and annoying. Especially in exalted. Where you know, the exaltation are supposed to burn away curses? So, let me guess. Ryoga's cured right? He wouldn't have been a little piggy had he come over changed?

    Sorry if I'm coming across as snippy, but I feel I need to comment on it. Keeping the curse is perfectly acceptable, and the rest of it feels interesting at least. I do look forward to the rest of it, so long as the curse isn't locked. Again.
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    Well I knew when writing this people wouldn't like it. Still my thought process has been mostly outlined in the "What is Jusenkyo?" informational post. I'll elaborate on now since people don't seem to understand the logic behind it. I want this crossover to follow, as closely as is possible, the realities of Exalted. In this case that means what is Jusenkyo. As I said it came down to is it a curse, as in sorcery, or is it caused as a side effect of Jusenkyo being a very potent Demesne. I've taken choice of it being a Demesne and linked effects from both those and Hearthstones rarely continue to work between worlds. The result is no curse working, for anyone, but I wanted Jusenkyo to still be relevant. Which means Ranma is now stuck. Why Ranma? Well everyone else has an animal curse and forcing someone to be an animal either winds up with them disappearing from the story, via death or simply fading out of importance, or taking the central role as everyone scrambles for a way to turn them back. Ranma will still be trying to find a way to turn back, but its not so desperately urgent as 'oh shit your piglet, or a duck, or cat, or etc.' It'll be a running plotline, but its not going to be the only plotline.

    As for Ryouga, if he'd been a pig he'd have come across and been stuck, as a pig. Shampoo would be stuck as a cat, and Mousse a duck. He also would not have exalted. Because exaltations seek out humans first. Well, actually by that standard he probably wouldn't have been brought through at all if he'd still been a pig.
     
  • Informational
    • I'd encourage you to fast-forward the "Ranma is locked" arc rather than having it be a background subject for the entire story. There's a reason that canon only had him locked for the duration of a specific story arc - it's a temporary problem for him to face, and given Ranma's nature, it quickly becomes his highest priority.

    If this is an introduction into the next story arc of, "Ranma has to go see some wizard to deal with this curse nonsense, which leads to further plot x/y/z." that's just a good use of a plot-hook. But if this is intended to be a permanent alteration of his character that won't be resolved for hundreds of thousands of words...I'll be disappointed as a reader.
     
    Grounders10 said:
    As for Ryouga, if he'd been a pig he'd have come across and been stuck, as a pig. Shampoo would be stuck as a cat, and Mousse a duck. He also would not have exalted. Because exaltations seek out humans first. Well, actually by that standard he probably wouldn't have been brought through at all if he'd still been a pig.
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    I was surprised that Ryouga's curse didn't crossover as his Lunar totem; instead of being a wolf, I was hoping he'd be a giant black boar.
     
    Ataru said:
    Good luck with the rest of your story dude, but this is where I get off. :/
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    Syl said:
    I'd encourage you to fast-forward the "Ranma is locked" arc rather than having it be a background subject for the entire story. There's a reason that canon only had him locked for the duration of a specific story arc - it's a temporary problem for him to face, and given Ranma's nature, it quickly becomes his highest priority.

    If this is an introduction into the next story arc of, "Ranma has to go see some wizard to deal with this curse nonsense, which leads to further plot x/y/z." that's just a good use of a plot-hook. But if this is intended to be a permanent alteration of his character that won't be resolved for hundreds of thousands of words...I'll be disappointed as a reader.
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    Now Ataru don't jump ship just yet. The rope we've give him hasn't run out of slack yet.
    That said what Syl is a vary valid point. If Ranma looking to return to her birth gender is a driving plot point, and hopefully one that pays off (Gender bending is not that hard in Exalted) then really no harm no foul. The over all quality of the writing thus far, and the fact that Grounders10 has gone out of his way to think how the maniacs of the two settings would work together along with the fact that he has went out of his way to walk us threw that thought posses make me want to give him a bit more rope before I cut the cord.
     
    Grounders10 said:
    At what point do I neg on Akane? If you mean that one moment where Ranma is thinking about Akane screwing things up that is completely in character, and accurate. We have a canon example at the end of the dragon whisker arc where she tries and fails to braid Ranma's hair.
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    Oh, sure, Ranma gets a quiet social competence upgrade for no reason, while one of Akane's faults get highlighted in narrative despite her being Sir Not Appearing in this Arc.

    Totally not a sign of bias in favor of certain characters and against other.

    *eyeroll*
     
    Hey, remeber: regardless of how you would have written the story, you didn't. The author can make whatever choices he finds interesting, and so far he hasn't done anything more bashing to the characters than compare akane the tomboy's hairdressing to professional ladies maids.

    Tl;dr: Be nice.
     
    Oh good god people. All this drama about being a lock fic like you didn't see this coming from miles away. It feels almost as insufferable as those old Ranma revenge fics that threw away the curse out of hand as backstory. Thing is? The curse is a crucial part of Ranma's character. Ripping it out of a fic cripples his character. Honestly, I find him dealing with getting locked(or just retaining the curse) far more enjoyable than the fics that remove it.
     
    Ryune said:
    Oh good god people. All this drama about being a lock fic like you didn't see this coming from miles away. It feels almost as insufferable as those old Ranma revenge fics that threw away the curse out of hand as backstory. Thing is? The curse is a crucial part of Ranma's character. Ripping it out of a fic cripples his character. Honestly, I find him dealing with getting locked(or just retaining the curse) far more enjoyable than the fics that remove it.
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    I'm in agreement here, especially since the Exalted setting provides a number of potential fixes that Ranma can push for in a reasonable time frame after the pressing issues of 'incoming Solar led army!' are sorted.

    There's very few premises in storytelling that are inherently bad (and I've been forced to reduce my list a number of times when a decent author somehow made one work...), so simply going 'nope!' over a single cliche isn't really the best way of dealing with things. Given the general standard of the writing thus far, and the fact that a reasonable and well thought out reasoning has been supplied by the author I don't think we've crossed the 'Why!?' threshold yet.
     
    All these people complaining about a locked curse, without even waiting for the story to continue and perhaps see how it fits into the plot. It dosnt seem to me that the author wrote it that way just for laughs, so i think it will be important. If it bothers a reader that much, perhaps they should simply stop reading the story. Personally, locked curse or not, it is still Ranma, and in my view is being written well. Keep it up, i wait eagerly for more.
     
    @Grounders10
    We get the 'why.'
    The thing is, curse locking has become such a cliche in Ranma fics that, even if you have the best explanation in the world for it, those of us who cut our teeth in fanfiction with Ranma fics will be groaning 'again?' It's like... a Worm fan reading a fic that starts with the Locker scene.

    Going to keep reading, but also going to hope it's a plot point that gets dealt with fast.

    Okay.
    I've said my piece.
    Now going to wait for the next chapter.
     
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    Ryune said:
    Oh good god people. All this drama about being a lock fic like you didn't see this coming from miles away. It feels almost as insufferable as those old Ranma revenge fics that threw away the curse out of hand as backstory. Thing is? The curse is a crucial part of Ranma's character. Ripping it out of a fic cripples his character. Honestly, I find him dealing with getting locked(or just retaining the curse) far more enjoyable than the fics that remove it.
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    No one complains about it being "Locked". From what I understand, the curse has been removed, or at the very least incapable of working in Creation, with Ranmas female form now being his only form. This is the part that people is complaining about, and given that from what my knowledge of Exalted tells me, turning Ranma back into a male should be fairly easy all things considered, so having Ranma having this in the background and not dealing with it immediately seems strange, especially when you remember that one of the few things that can make Ranma act against honour is if he believes there's a way he could break his curse.

    We can also go into the whole "We tossed them into a whole different world, with completely different rules, but the curse somehow acts in a way that causes the most problems for a single character while being completely beneficial to all the others affected." issue, because wow, that was shoehorning plain and simple.
     
    RocjawCypher said:
    Hey, remeber: regardless of how you would have written the story, you didn't. The author can make whatever choices he finds interesting, and so far he hasn't done anything more bashing to the characters than compare akane the tomboy's hairdressing to professional ladies maids.

    Tl;dr: Be nice.
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    The issue with writing in the Ranma fandom is that there is so much fandom baggage. And so yeah, when you hit certain cliches, people assume things, because those cliches have implications attached to them.

    Also, no one has gone "not nice"...

    Well, 'cept maybe ShadowAngelBeta.

    ShadowAngelBeta said:
    Do you even know what a Solar Exalt is? Cause if you don't that would explain this complaint anyway.
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    Solar Exaltations carry a theme of perfection, exceeding limits, sunlit radiance, and *human excellence*

    Solars are not Lunars, who develop animalistic traits and solutions, or fate ninjas who come sideways at anything like Sidereals. Solars do things the ways humans do, except bigger and grander and just... more.

    Solar exaltation may grant you power and even new skills. They don't make an exuberant, chaotic, incredibly rude and deliberately uncouth dude who usually can't let a chance to mouth off slide by into a quiet introspective sensitive type.

    No, that part is actually in part decently justified by people dying and Ranma trying to deal with it - he hasn't killed before.






    It just sets off alarm bells for people who remember the old fandom bullshit when Ranma gets a competence upgrade and Akane is talked down. Because we've walked down this road before, and while it hasn't *always* gone to shitty places, it really often has.

    So yeah, we point this out because hey, maybe the author doesn't realize that he's (only lightly, as yet) mirroring some previous fandom stuff... and maybe he wants to avoid that pit. Or he could double down. Who knows, that's up to him.

    But y'know, we comment because we would like to go one reading/enjoying this fic rather than having to write it off as one more victim of shitty fandom conventions and fanon. Which we've had to do with other fics. That sucked.
     
    Blaflaix said:
    I hate to break it to you Ranma, but you've worn fancy girly ballroom dresses as well.
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    Oh that arc. I try and pretend that it doesn't exist. Seriously very, very creepy that arc.
    the DragonBard said:
    @Grounders10
    We get the 'why.'
    The thing is, curse locking has become such a cliche in Ranma fics that, even if you have the best explanation in the world for it, those of us who cut our teeth in fanfiction with Ranma fics will be groaning 'again?' It's like... a Worm fan reading a fic that starts with the Locker scene.

    Going to keep reading, but also going to hope it's a plot point that gets dealt with fast.

    Okay.
    I've said my piece.
    Now going to wait for the next chapter.
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    Welcome (Back) to Ranma fanfiction. Anything I do has been done to death. Also next chapter is in the works. As is the first chapter featuring people who are not in Greyfalls, and not Sidereals.
     
    I read the whole what is jusenkyo bs. Still hate the lock even if it a hearthstone away. No being a hearth stone away still makes a major national resource away and the lock really just pissed me off and killed most of my ability to engage with the rest of the very very long chapter which is objectively bad.

    Also the Kodachi gets a free mind clear out of this makes it double bad because it exaltation actually fixing her problem and leaving her to deal with the rest when exaltation doesn't change people like that. Otherwise we wouldn't have life stealer wanna be Alex mercer the solar night caste.



    The' I want to be true to exalted' thus feels like a lot of words for' I want to deal with yet another lock plot' when there's already an incumbent war, world jump, learning to deal with murder, and all these other coming of age plots that makes gender issues no matter how heartbreaking seem really kind of juvenile unless they are some how becoming more inculcated into exalted gender politics which really aren't for this board.

    I mean if Kodachi gets to be suddenly sane, why can't Ranma finally feel the trigger to it as an extension to getting massively upgraded energy control. And to take a negative tack if exalting somehow clears Kodachis head, being the totally self directed thing it is why didn't it also erase Ranma's 'delusion' of being a dude.
     
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    Actually thinking about it, having Seterial dangle a permanent, tried and tested 'cure' over Ranma's head will probably be excellent motivation for him to deal with the inbound problems ASAP should his honour not be enough.

    If it isn't required as a bargaining chip, it would serve to provide extra drive, and likely serve as a good gesture of Goodwill between the factions.
     
    I for one love this, your explanation lines up perfectly with how I thought the curse would mix with Exalted, and I am just so happy to see a new, well written story being written in my favorite fandom that I am over the moon.

    As for the commentary, I have seen far to many Ranma stories die over the reaction, and vitriol of the commentary they inspire.

    The Ranma plot line has two major hurdles, it deals with gender issues, which often make people uncomfortable, and many of the characters can be polarizing. Some of my all time favorite authors have been driven out of fanfiction entirely due to the nature of the comments they have received.

    So everyone please be gentle, even if you don't enjoy the direction the story has gone, the author seems to have put a lot of thought into it, so your comments are unlikely to change it. But you might kill the story, please don't.
     
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    Duquette7 said:
    So everyone please be gentle, even if you don't enjoy the direction the story has gone, the author seems to have put a lot of thought into it, so your comments are unlikely to change it. But you might kill the story, please don't.
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    I doubt any of them will stop, but this is where a lot of my vitriol comes from.

    *Not aimed at Duquette* The author thought about this a lot and chose to include even with discussion beforehand on the matter, many points being brought up here having already been brought up then, deal with it.
     
    Duquette7 said:
    As for the commentary, I have seen far to many Ranma stories die over the reaction, and vitriol of the commentary they inspire.

    The Ranma plot line has two major hurdles, it deals with gender issues, which often make people uncomfortable, and many of the characters can be polarizing. Some of my all time favorite authors have been driven out of fanfiction entirely due to the nature of the comments they have received.

    So everyone please be gentle, even if you don't enjoy the direction the story has gone, the author seems to have put a lot of thought into it, so your comments are unlikely to change it. But you might kill the story, please don't.
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    I'll be honest I was expecting this response, but some of it has taken me a bit off guard. I'm not going to be walking away from this story, so don't worry about that. I wouldn't want to leave yet another project unfinished.

    Now can I get commentary on something that doesn't involve Ranma's curse? *Hopeful Kitsune*
     
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