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Worldbuilding: Combine Worm and ASOIAF

NoisyMatchStar said:
Would you rather have idiotic submission talks in medieval settings? Would that be original?
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Your false dilemma is cute, but nonsensical.

If you can't think of anything better than "revolutions!" when you give the general population of a vaguely medieval world essentially magic powers, why even bother? Is that the limit of your creativity?

To be clear, there could absolutely be peasants' revolts as a result, that was frequent even in IRL Middle Ages. But don't make it solely about that, and don't pretend it would be an universally good thing either*, because that ways lie terrible conquistador Familiar of Zero fics. There is neither the infrastructure, society, ways of thinking, or technology to justify people "fighting for their freedom" (blergh).

And there is so much more interesting butterflies beyond peasants taking arms. What changes in the social hierarchy? What religious changes or upheaval are brought about? What about the relationship with other parts of Planetos, be it commercially, diplomatically, and militarily? Do people beyond the Wall get powers, and if so, do they invade Westeros? How does history changes?

Etc, etc.

Medieval setting sucks! is just...kinda juvenile.


* because lol, let's not pretend any revolt wouldn't be led by another power hungry warlord wanting a piece of the cake instead of liberating the people
 
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When combining two fandoms, I start by making a list of what strikes me as thematically parallel between the two. Like, the wall with the winter zombies could be parallel to either Nilbog and Elisburg, or the Simurgh and any quarantined population she/it affected. The dragons could be parallel to a biotinker's creations or some embodiment of shards/a lower powered version of the Entities. In worm the Entities seems to be combinations of hundreds of shards, while humans generally host a single shard, so hypothetically there could be some in-between stage where you ave a being with half a dozen shards which is neither human nor entity.
 
all fictions said:
Your false dilemma is cute, but nonsensical.

If you can't think of anything better than "revolutions!" when you give the general population of a vaguely medieval world essentially magic powers, why even bother? Is that the limit of your creativity?

To be clear, there could absolutely be peasants' revolts as a result, that was frequent even in IRL Middle Ages. But don't make it solely about that, and don't pretend it would be an universally good thing either*, because that ways lie terrible conquistador Familiar of Zero fics. There is neither the infrastructure, society, ways of thinking, or technology to justify people "fighting for their freedom" (blergh).

And there is so much more interesting butterflies beyond peasants taking arms. What changes in the social hierarchy? What religious changes or upheaval are brought about? What about the relationship with other parts of Planetos, be it commercially, diplomatically, and militarily? Do people beyond the Wall get powers, and if so, do they invade Westeros? How does history changes?

Etc, etc.

Medieval setting sucks! is just...kinda juvenile.


* because lol, let's not pretend any revolt wouldn't be led by another power hungry warlord wanting a piece of the cake instead of liberating the people
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Never meant it was good only that it would be inevitable. And yeah there's gonna be power hungry warlords like always but sooner or later there will be a powerful and, more importantly, idealistic (virtue not required) warlord. But really it would depend on the timing of the setting. As in when does the plot take place in relation to when people start getting powers. I see the ages like this:

edit: The faith might see them as Demons or Blessed by the Seven, it really can go either way.

Dawn of Heroes: Where powered people start popping up and the nobles don't know what to do. Some are killed while others are recruited. The smallfolk see triggering as a way to escape their life and step into nobility like knighthood.

Era of Titans: This is the time where powers are seen as indispensable assets. Where colossi battle each other creating legends that last for generations. This is where the powered smallfolk start thinking that they should just take their piece of the pie instead of kneeling and be rewarded it. Of course they won't succeed with the established powered crack down on those who rock the boat too much.

Fall of Nobles: This is the end of dynasties and bloodlines of the old age and beginnings of the ones of the new age. Where the powered begin to truly take over the upper echelons of society. Where your social class is determined by the strength of your power. The most powerful are seen as rightful rulers and independent warlords are able to carve up their own little nation. The most powerful are starting to be seen as gods.

Age of Gods: I'm honestly not sure what would happen here.

Keep in mind these are just predictions on how this would play out.
 
Have people considered the possibility that those people who Trigger and gain powers would be made nobles?

You know, because it seems strange that the nobility in Westeros would completely avoid trying to get the people with superpowers on their side.
 
So who do we think triggers? I would say Jaime when he kills the mad king, bran, rickon and sansa for obvious reasons. Maybe sam. Saenarys could when she immolates herself. John when he dies. Cersei when her Tommen kills himself.
 
A Fusion Fic would work way better than any kind of crossover.

Noble houses based on their powers, ie:
Starks have variations of the QA shard, they have powers that let them sense and control animals, much like the Greenseers in the original. Arya is now Skitter, you may panic.
Lanisters tend towards Thinker powers, Tywin has Number Man's power, which fits perfectly with his financial success and his cold and calculating outlook. Cersei with Accord's power? I mean, she's a conniving woman - and more than a little cray-cray.
Baratheons are Blasters like New Wave. Renly gets Glory Girl's powers, and Stanis is obviously Carol - amirite? :D
The Iron Born worship bloody Leviathan himself as their drowned god.
The Doom still rules Valyria - Behemoth loves to recline upon his Volcanic throne.

Entities = the Gods. We have two lone entities whose cycle is them competing against each other on every world they take. Planetos knows them as the Lord of Light and the Great Other. Except this type, they fucked up and their competition got out of control and caused way more damage than they were expecting, so they went into hibernation for a while: the first Long Night and the subsequent loss of 'magic'.
The Seven are similar to the Zion/Eden pair, each entity specialized in a certain area, all working together toward a common end.
Or maybe there are only the Lord of Light and the Great other and the other gods are just made up by people.
 
Jcogginsa said:
and Rob as Glory Girl.
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Doesn't really fit his temperament through... and it leaves us with no interesting options for Arya, which is... just unacceptable.

Unless we suppose the Tully's are New Wave, in which case we can sort of have both master and blaster powers coexisting.

Jon - Amy.
Catelyn - Carol.
Arya - Skitter.
Bran - that dude who could control birds?
 
Crazy Tom said:
Doesn't really fit his temperament through... and it leaves us with no interesting options for Arya, which is... just unacceptable.

Unless we suppose the Tully's are New Wave, in which case we can sort of have both master and blaster powers coexisting.

Jon - Amy.
Catelyn - Carol.
Arya - Skitter.
Bran - that dude who could control birds?
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Well, both are good people who are a bit reckless.

I'm not sure if straight analogues would be the best way to go though
 
There are definitively weird things in Westeros that could be the result of Entity-mindfuckery, besides the Others and anything associated with them of course: the Shrouded Lord in the Sorrows, the Shadow Lands, the unknown (fish?) people who built in black oily stones, the Church of Starry Wisdom, the Old Ones sealed under the island of Leng, etc.

Personally, I had the idea that, instead of parahumans being part of the history and world of Planetos, powers come to be a fairly recent thing, coming about when the red sky passes through the sky. Admittedly, it is a less cooler idea, but it makes for a different dynamic than if powers have always been there.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't cycles take place over three hundred years?
Crazy Tom said:
The Doom still rules Valyria - Behemoth loves to recline upon his Volcanic throne.
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That would be pretty cool and make sense.
Crazy Tom said:
Entities = the Gods. We have two lone entities whose cycle is them competing against each other on every world they take. Planetos knows them as the Lord of Light and the Great Other. Except this type, they fucked up and their competition got out of control and caused way more damage than they were expecting, so they went into hibernation for a while: the first Long Night and the subsequent loss of 'magic'.
The Seven are similar to the Zion/Eden pair, each entity specialized in a certain area, all working together toward a common end.
Or maybe there are only the Lord of Light and the Great other and the other gods are just made up by people.
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It's sad that this would make for a more interesting portrayal of religion than in canon ASOIAF.
 
Jcogginsa said:
How so?
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Well he's always at a bar or whorehouse, which he is not the leader of, right? At least at the beginning of the story. He's kind of amoral, which the merchants certainly are. The fact that mush's ability works with trash is something that would make him be regarded with contempt by classier capes/nobles, vaguely parallel to the dwarfism thing and/or the reputation of being weak among nobles due to not being able to protect his past love interest.
 
all fictions said:
There are definitively weird things in Westeros that could be the result of Entity-mindfuckery, besides the Others and anything associated with them of course: the Shrouded Lord in the Sorrows, the Shadow Lands, the unknown (fish?) people who built in black oily stones, the Church of Starry Wisdom, the Old Ones sealed under the island of Leng, etc.

Personally, I had the idea that, instead of parahumans being part of the history and world of Planetos, powers come to be a fairly recent thing, coming about when the red sky passes through the sky. Admittedly, it is a less cooler idea, but it makes for a different dynamic than if powers have always been there.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't cycles take place over three hundred years?

That would be pretty cool and make sense.

It's sad that this would make for a more interesting portrayal of religion than in canon ASOIAF.
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Perhaps Shards came around during Robert's Rebellion?
 
How do thinkers work? If they make technology hundreds of years before their time, are they going to be sporting gatling guns?
 
Jcogginsa said:
Perhaps Shards came around during Robert's Rebellion?
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Perhaps. It could work with how, when the books begin, it has been a new status quo compared to when the Targaryen reigned, just even more now because there are parahumans.
rogthnor said:
It's been a long time since I read the books. Does Tommen not kill himself in those?
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Nope, he is still alive. So is Myrcella.

Tonmen is the current king just as the first snowflakes have reached King's Landing.
 
Honestly, I see Tinkers just making "Magical" Items-Swords that can cut through plate with ease, impossibly tough and light armor, Ships that can sail against the wind with ease, etc. There's no reason they'd be making stuff like modern tech because they have no concept of it, and frankly just having them have standard tinker tech strikes me as both uninspired and very easily leading to the massively boring and cliche scenario of technological revolution just because. I could maybe see Tinker created Gunpowder becoming a thing and spreading to non Parahumans as a sorta kinda counter to Parahumans-sorta like Worm Canon's Containment Foam. Or maybe even something like Magic Potions to temporarily increase one's capabilities.



Another thing to tie into the Nobles having Powers-we know Powers can "Ping" off of eachother, gaining aspects of other powers that were nearby when the user triggers (Like Glory Girl getting an Emotion effecting Power from Gallant). I could easily see this being a good reinforcement of the fostering system actually-get your Noble sons (And possibly Daughters) to hang out around Powerful Parahumans, hopefully gain some of their power for your line! I could even see Maesters trying to work out the optimal combinations, leading Marriage alliances and relationships between houses to grow a new dimension as they maneuver to get their Parahumans to be the very best.
 
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The problem with the idea of just integrating Triggers into existing power structures is the same as the problem of integrating new Capes into official lawenforcement on Earth Bet - the way you become a cape is stacked against it. You trigger on the worst day of your life, when you are most likely NOT going to be very receptive to arguments of the divine right of kings and nobless oblige. The odds are you'll either set up as a robber baron or start an uprising. Because villains outnumber heroes.
 
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