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Main / shardverses
In which I write crossover fanfic of my own universe.
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yes
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0111narwhalz 05/11/2020 7:06 PM
can she bootstrap an entirely new multicellular lineage while retaining control?
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sdschildberg 05/11/2020 7:06 PM
Her own army of alien horrors
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0111narwhalz 05/11/2020 7:06 PM
it's shoggoth time!
19:07
they whistle eldritch tones from ad hoc vocal apparata
19:08
(sometimes they eat penguins)
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At some point in the middle of the night, aided by insomnia, Kubernetes, and five hours spent debugging an issue that turned out to be an f in the place of an F, my brain came up with the idea of a Trump power to missay other capes' names and rewrite their powers accordingly, with consequences from the hilarious to the terrifying.
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genius
12:11
Scion? More like Sigh-on, amirite?
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I mean, on one hand, it kind of sucks to be Clickblocker, bane of malware everywhere, but it sucks in a really terrifying way to be Gory Girl, whose power escalation rivals Lung's, but only functions by literally bathing in the blood of her enemies. (edited)
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Other examples include Buttery, who can conjure any kind of liquor; Visa, the Ward with the power to deport anyone back to their point of origin - although sadly weak against homegrown villains; Glue, whose power makes confoam look lame; Botch, who can make anyone roll a natural 1, metaphorically speaking, and the similarly misfortune-inducing Fail; Scatter, who proceeds independently to Russian ports; Paring, who has Jack Slash's power limited to whittling; Kid Won, who retroactively rewrites the outcome of cape fights...
12:20
...and, of course, Only Lee, who has no conventional superpowers at all, but who can call upon any of the abilities of every normal in the world who happens to be named Lee. One Lee at a time.
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Glue, also known as Literally Just Gregor The Snail
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It could still billow like his darkness, only stickier. Vector, on the other hand, pretty much is Literally Just Skidmark.
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Warnings: using this channel for generic worm-chat, Exalted Why, exactly, have I seen like five "taylor hebert exalts as a solar" stories and not one where she exalts as a lunar despite that clearly being the better choice in every respect - she's even more sidereal than she is solar!
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sdschildberg 05/12/2020 5:24 PM
aren’t lunars the ones who transform into animals
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/12/2020 5:25 PM
cursed
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furry taylor
17:25
furry taylor
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sdschildberg 05/12/2020 5:26 PM
Nah keep the insect aesthetic and make her transform@into a humanoid moth
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/12/2020 5:26 PM
Taylor triggers but gets Eddie's power
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lamp
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... y'all are terrible exalted fans
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/12/2020 5:27 PM
i'm not an exalted fan
17:27
never even seen a page of that setting
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Yes Lunars get animal transformations - thier animal associations make them the only exalted who get "insect swarms" as a native powerset
17:28
They're also the ones who Exalt by surviving; Solars Exalt by daring to try the impossible, and by inhuman skill, but Lunars just have to survive shit humans weren't meant to survive
17:28
Which of those, exactly, is taylors trigger event
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sdschildberg 05/12/2020 5:28 PM
Hence also why Solars share space elf vibes
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(It's also much easier to fluff "I can shapeshift into things by tasting an animals blood" as a simple specific power than "I have glowy perfection")
17:29
Solars do share space elf vibes yes but most of the worm fandom isn't hardcore eldraeverse fanboys, sadly (edited)
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this needs to change
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Decently good pitches, yeah
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sdschildberg 05/12/2020 5:30 PM
You roll one 20 and keep on rolling
17:30
It's more the daring
17:31
You don't need to have been able to succeed quantifiably - often you tried to do the kind of thing where no number of twenties would help
17:31
Exalting as a solar is more like rolling a natural 100
17:31
On a twenty sided dice
17:32
It comes to a certain kind of person but the effect is profound and potentially worldshaking
17:32
(Also using D&D analogies for Exalted is a cursed image, since exalted is also a TTRPG, and IMO, a much better one)
17:35
But yeah - being a solar is about, on some level, aspiring to excellence, and not giving that up not matter what
17:35
And the new edition in particular is not super big on ascribing hard conditions on exaltation, but even so
17:35
A Solar is active in earning thier power; a Lunar wasn't trying to earn thier power
17:36
They just did, because anything else would have been unthinkable
17:36
Well, earning
17:37
Noone can or should expect an exaltation - it's not like they're predictable
17:38
(Or that people know how to get them, or that they "exist" in the sense that they get quantified)
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Taylor was locked in a locker full of garbage, doesn’t really sound Solar to me. Maybe even Abyssal.
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Yeah she's an awful solar
17:39
Abyssal works well; I like Lunar better but Abyssal is fine
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sdschildberg 05/12/2020 5:40 PM
I swear I remember art of a lunar foxgirl with big floofy tails
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(To be fair the one fic I can remember her Exaltation being done in detail, the point of divergence was her skipping school and ending up in a fistfight with Lung unpowered)
17:40
... that sounds like tattletale
17:41
I would not put it past one of the people with Solar!Taylor to have Lunar!Foxgirl!Tattletale
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/12/2020 6:10 PM
blarg
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I started reading a Destiny Hunter!Taylor recently and it reminded me a lot of eldrae!Taylor, actually
21:21
from "fuck it, lets go dice some evil!", to the cool robot buddy who tragically dies after a week come on
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sdschildberg 05/12/2020 9:21 PM
Also because of taylor with a gun
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gun!Taylor is truly the most terrifying of Taylors
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Don't see many Dragon-Blooded, either.
00:22
(And while Lunar does fit thematically better, it's probably possible to justify Solar on the "I have done the impossible in escaping from all this shit" grounds, although it's a stretch. If you feel like you need justification for that sort of thing, anyway.)
00:22
On eldrae vibes: solarchemicals.
00:24
Also, while the base isn't exalted, in Scaling Up dragon!Taylor was just joined by kitsune!Tattletale, if you're looking for the foxgirl-proximal.
00:25
...or, alternatively, assume some timefuckery and that the actual moment of Solar Exaltation came when she decided to fight Lung and won, which is pretty much a typical SE-catalyzing moment right there.
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I mean no in the grand scheme of things there are lots of foxgirl Tattletales if you're willing to step outside of specifically exalted crossovers - it's sufficiently default symbolism for her as a character that any story which cares to give her animal traits is going to make her a foxgirl and fanfic. And I really should be arguing this point should I
06:28
I mean I've even seen "Rashaka Taylor" as the premise for a fic
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/13/2020 6:28 AM
rakshasa
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A couple of pretty good infernal takes - she makes a good chosen of adorjan
06:29
IDK how to spell it the sourcebook is called "Graceful wicked Masques"
06:29
And also IDK where you're citing from if you're not citing from exalted
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/13/2020 7:05 AM
th mythological rakhasas aren't what you're thinking of I believe
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Taylor, except her power is to transform into arbitrary fursonas
07:07
upside: lots of variety of choices downsides: yes (edited)
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RAKSHA according to my book (edited)
07:10
And no - these are the Fair Folk - the once-formless creatures of gossamer and story that lurk at the edges of reality to devour dreams and seek the undoing of shape and permenance
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/13/2020 7:25 AM
the Fair Folk who are the complete opposite of fair, got it
07:25
xD
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I mean they're very pretty - one of the advantages of being able to write whatever mary-sue body you care to have into existence, rather than having to obtain one the hard way with, like, causal reality
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There's Worm/Nobilis crossover.
11:58
It's by Ryuugi, so it is very awesome, contains ten times as much worldbuilding as text and very, very dead.
11:59
And I haven't read it yet
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BluejayHurricane 05/13/2020 11:59 AM
You can’t tell me things like that. Incredible fiction that will never be resolved breaks my heart.
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I know five authors (but can say off-hand names of two) who are incredible and make stuff that ends stillborn.
12:01
I still want that Nanoha/oldXCom cross to continue, Pale Wolf! You stopped on awesome cliffhanger of crysallids in the base, and now what?
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Liking fanfic means tolerating great stories that will never be finished, yeah
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the latest amusing worm fiction: a blind ghost!Taylor with grab-bag powers being cluelessly horrifying and wondering why everyone is being so quick to surrender while she's inadvertently re-enacting The Ring
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...I was briefly excited before I realized that you probably meant the movie, not the Of The Nibelung.
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(lord of the rings?) also yeah, just the movie. Still, she manages to crawl out of the ceiling. While screaming, and flickering all the lights. And she still doesn't realize it until she sees the video later.
13:48
also scares several children, goes 'bump' in the night, and ruins someone's slow-cooked pork (edited)
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0111narwhalz 05/13/2020 2:08 PM
not the steamed hams
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/13/2020 3:21 PM
never heard that
15:21
must be a shire expression (edited)
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Taylor Hebert had a bad day, and came out of it changed. Some parahumans can control bugs. Some can build advanced technology. Some can do unspeakable things to space and time. Taylor can make magic rings, wondrous metals, mysterious weapons, and may not be a parahuman--or, in...
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Have an Interlude 1.b, folks!
👀 4
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Well, QA wasted no time there.
00:19
gonna be interesting to see how the dynamic changes with Danny having the itching in the back of his head to go out and fight stuff, while Taylor doesn't
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Queen Administrator may have been feeling a mite irritated at having missed one possible host already today.
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and i bet it doesn't help that the central hub is too busy moping around to read her support tickets
00:22
(well, kinda. Scion wasn't proactive in canon but it's clear from Ward that he at least kept up basic maintenance. He certainly isn't going to investigate what ruined Queenie's fun, at least)
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a out of context quote from another fic, but appropriate all the same: Miss Militia asks, "That was abrupt. Why-" "No. Not till we're back in base, behind the force fields," Debonair says. "I think we have confirmation now that Alchemist has both a thinker and a master power." Miss Militia grumbles, "At this rate, her power set is going to just read 'yes' before much longer." (edited)
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"Armsmaster. I have just two questions for you. Since when did the Dockworkers' Association have power armor? And why am I only hearing about this after they won a three-way gang fight by punching Squealer's latest tank through it?" "I have some more," Assault chimed in. "Why is it better than ours, and where can I get some?"
👍 3
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Morgrim Moon 05/16/2020 1:48 PM
😂
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"This morning, because no-one thought we needed to watch them until this morning, I would give my second-best halberd for an answer to that question, and according to their press conference, 'Heh. Heh. Wouldn't you like to know?'"
13:54
"And before you ask, the second answer to that last one was, 'Quinn Calle wrote our supplier's nondisclosure. Good luck.'"
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Morgrim Moon 05/16/2020 1:54 PM
it sounds like they are finding out what happens when someone wants to be a hero but the designated heroes make the world's worst first impression on them. Hopefully, Armsmaster is squirming slightly
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"Fine, i'll make my own heros. With blackjack! And ho- uuhh, hoops. Basketball hoops. For our downtime."
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Morgrim Moon 05/16/2020 1:56 PM
embroidery hoops. Be STYLISH heroes with custom designs!
13:56
and it's good therapy
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That, and the official heroes are somewhat beholden to the status quo, after all. Our esteemed protagonist, however, has been convinced in detail that the status is not quo, and thus has awarded herself a Get Away With Escalation Free card.
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you know, i actually read something funny the other day
13:58
it turns out that if you look at it right, Taylor actually didn't escalate all that much
13:59
it was mostly from external causes
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Doesn't that just make it counterescalation?
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sorta, but a good example they point out is she got powers, and basically spent a few months thinking, experimenting, and planning... while actively being bullied
14:02
two big examples where she did were when she fed Alexandria a Bug Brisket, extra rare, and when she said "so help me, you will work together against Scion or i will make you."
14:03
but otherwise... Bakuka started the bombing spree, Coil engineered the takeover, Leviathan was and that led to Echidna...
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(Of course, in this 'verse-sion, she's getting strategic advice from the people who named one of their key military doctrines "Shock and Awesome". ... which doesn't preclude thinking, experimenting, and planning, of course, because those are what you need so that it - and its doctrinal cousins, "Unchallengeable Superiority", "Sustained Initiative" and "Perpetual Preemption" work .)
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aye, escalation is a good strategy to be sure, all the more so when you have abilities with exponential potential like hers.
14:08
if you don't have a army of battle drones to take the place of all those poor capes in the next Behemoth fight, what good is that self replicating tech for, eh?
14:10
and of course, the giant speakers Acoustic Morale Boosters for when you ride into battle in style.
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ABB: "We have Lung!" "We have Dragon. And her brood. Her large, large brood. Basically, you're all fighting in her shade."
14:11
extremely loud thump "Did I mention that she starts out that size?"
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"Is that Armsmaster riding on her neck?"
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"And is he carrying an entire water-tower full of ketchup?"
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Oh, for your entertainment from the slush pile of potential plot paths that won't be taken: Eleutheria looked out over the warehouse of potential new recruits from the recently (mostly) defeated gangs of the Bay, crowds huddling against each wall - ex-Empire to her left, former ABB still in red and green to the right, all keeping an uneasy peace under the eye of her Word Enforcers. Taking a deep breath, she addressed them: "First, stop standing in two groups. I have no patience with your ethnic bullshit; you're going to be working in mixed doubles from now on. If you have problems with that, figure them out now, 'cause you will be scored as a team. "Second, everyone gets implanted, no exceptions. Anyone who doesn't contribute to Episteme's web of knowledge is of no use to us. Door's at the back. "Third, just because we're outlaws doesn't mean that we're bad people. This is not the kind of gang you were previously accustomed to. You won't be flying colors and taking cuts; you'll be wearing damn uniforms and getting paychecks. You will be serving and protecting the people of this city according to My Law. You will not have any side hustles I don't approve of. Moreover, you will be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, cheerful, brave, and clean to an extent that makes the Boy Scouts look like the Merchants. "If you backslide on any of that, you're gonna explode. "If you still want to join up, come to the front. If you don't, get the fuck out of my city."
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Eleutheria, that's a nice name. And Episteme is what Tats decided to go by, I bet.
15:42
a pragmatic choice, recruiting from the former gangs. Removes a gangster and makes a ally at the same time.
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today on 'Good Lines from Random Worm Fics': Curiosity. Fear. "Yeah… You should be afraid. I know I'm fucking terrified," I whispered softly. "We're going to Ellisburg. I'm… I'm going to master Nilbog."
12:28
Taylor fucking escalates like a madwoman
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sdschildberg 05/17/2020 12:32 PM
I love how a near constant complaint about supers is how lazy they are with the status qou
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/17/2020 12:46 PM
it's true in the comic world
12:46
because of the doylist reason that you don't kill the golden goose
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personally i just find it ridiculous when there's things like...
12:53
interplanetary teleporters, and NASA still funds the shuttle program (or alternates in more modern settings)
12:54
status quoing so hard that you could drop basically any normal person into that universe and they'd point out a thousand things to improve within a day.
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/17/2020 12:56 PM
reed richards is useless because the comic world has to stay relatable to our own
12:56
's why I don't think much of superhero comics
12:56
they're soap operas about greek gods
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pretty much yeah
13:38
i've heard them called "new age mythology" or similar and it fits well
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sdschildberg 05/17/2020 1:52 PM
It’s also noticeable how “I want to change the world at all” is a fast track to villany
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Morgrim Moon 05/17/2020 1:54 PM
I suspect because if you change it enough you have to go down an AU, or reset. So easier to claim villany and 'stop' them
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Only comic book heroes are supposed to be moral.
13:57
Or at least they were before "edge" became trendy
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hmm, that same fic the quote came from raises a interesting point
02:31
when you look at the outcomes, Path to Victory arguably has a hidden side goal of "make things worse for humanity along the way"
02:31
or maybe just a general "try to accomplish the opposite of the intent of the path as a side effect of the steps of the path."
02:32
for instance, Lung triggered as a direct result of her actions, and Jack Slash and Co live because of her
02:33
it would make sense, too. Maybe Eden was feeling vindictive when she fettered PtV
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sdschildberg 05/18/2020 10:02 AM
PtV is one of those edgy comics types
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Morgrim Moon 05/19/2020 12:25 PM
random thought: if Taylor's dad has "her" powers, but is more linked to the dockworkers, would controlling crustaceans come to him more naturally than insects?
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!unsilence @Buggy
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Sweetie BOT 05/19/2020 2:23 PM
Unsilenced Buggy.
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Sorry, but avoid excess newlines. It sets off the spam alarm.
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no problem, i didn't realize the formatting was that wonky until i submitted it
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Cursed idea: Worm but every PHO interlude is instead a summary of the past chapters by Memri TV
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BizarroLand ♀ 05/20/2020 8:22 AM
cursed?
08:22
I think u mean hilarious
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PHO is always hilarious. Sometimes it hits a bit close to home, since it's a spitting image of the three boards where you find 99% of worm fanfic, but still hilarious.
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sdschildberg 05/21/2020 11:45 AM
spaghettiandart: “The image that pops into mind whenever I hear the words “khepri bullied scion” ”
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for a moment that picture looked like she was wearing a gold and white Disney Princess Dress
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BluejayHurricane 05/21/2020 11:52 AM
What do you mean gold and white? It’s black and blue.
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0111narwhalz 05/21/2020 11:53 AM
¯—¯
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BluejayHurricane 05/21/2020 11:54 AM
Yes, yes, I’m a horrible person. Still worth it.
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dang image recognition algorithms. Sure they work fairly well but it'd be nice if they were a little less opaque so bugs like this were easier to find.
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sdschildberg 05/21/2020 11:58 AM
Also, in Important Posts Taylor with moths. That is all
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This time in Worm Fics: Amelia with QA's version of a healing power, Taylor with Marquis' power, Alabaster, and a regenerative brute who still feels pain all walk into a endbringer medical tent
13:08
what follows is impressively disturbing.
13:09
and i thought Bonesaw did some disturbing stuff.
13:13
Alabaster singing "springtime for hitler" does not help.
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Springtime for Scion and Entities...
17:15
(Winter for humans and, um, plants?)
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Winter for planets.
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Winter for various alternate Earths
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Brace yourselves... Winter is coming.
09:31
I have no regrets.
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have another worm meme, as a treat
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Fact: Leviathan controls water
08:35
Fact: humans are mostly water.
08:35
I rest my case.
08:38
Foolhardy is he who attacks a hydrokinetic; Dead, he is soon to be. For humans are mostly water, And could be mostly steam. (edited)
😨 2
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While reading Worm fics, i keep seeing situations where people insist on trying to take in the multiple-mass-murders to trial and i can't help but imagine what someone of the Imperial mindset would do in that situation: "Bakuda! You're cornered and your backup is in custody. Surrender." "Ha, you imbec-" BANG The Wards jumped at the sound, somehow even louder and harsher than a gunshot, as Bakuda's upper half exploded. A red mist outlined a briefly visible fireball, a thin line of light tracing back to... "... Damnit Eleutheria, again?" "Do you know how many people she killed? And was going to? If she twiddled her toes right a hundred people would've lost their heads. That's defense of others clear and thorough." The silence lingered, before Kid Win hesitantly broke it. "Okay, but what about her dead man's switch?" "Don't worry, my analysis and ECM suite picked it up before she even started talking. It's inactive and still being jammed just in case." "Fine, but you get to explain this to Piggot." "Fair enough." (edited)
😋 4
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What would happen if SS namedropped Taylor on PHO or in an interview?
15:46
In retaliation for Taylor zapping her?
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0111narwhalz 05/28/2020 3:54 PM
on PHO
by the intermission I guess: get banned :V
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taylor: "bruh you made me trigger, don't play the victim"
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How would Armsmaster et al react?
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PHO would delete the post, because the mods are very clear on the No Civilian Identities thing even when capes are not only outed but self-outed. You can’t even “out” New Wave on there.
20:44
As far as everyone else, not a damn thing. After a debut like that, the cat is well and truly out of the bag. Hell, her name’s on the local news already.
20:46
(Although Shadow Stalker would be in for some pretty heavy-handed disciplinary action for trying to break the rules.) (edited)
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sdschildberg 05/28/2020 8:47 PM
something something "we post as our capesonas on PHO"
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More “Are you trying to start a fucking war in the Bay, you idiot sandwich?”
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Shadow Stalker: "Yes"
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“You win a free transfer to patrolling the Ellisburg containment zone. Fuck up like this again, and you get a free transfer to inside the Ellisburg containment zone.”
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knowing shadow stalker, she probably masturbates to a war in the bay tbh
⛔ 4
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Enderminion 05/29/2020 2:36 PM
she's also a minor so....
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glances at half of all Worm fiction in existence (edited)
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Server policy: Tasteless as it may be in this particular case, as long as it’s not explicit, I think we can all stand the implication that one doesn’t actually need to be all aged and government-stamped to whip out a quick solo on the pants piano. (edited)
16:39
Or even a duet.
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0111narwhalz 05/29/2020 4:41 PM
that is… a new one
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Author!
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0111narwhalz 05/29/2020 4:42 PM
And worthy of the title :V
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today on worm fics: A creative way to kill Scion; sandblasting his brain by connecting him directly to the Tyranid Hivemind.
15:17
effective, but make sure to wear good ear plugs
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Would the Transcend be able to subdue Scion in the same manner, if that became necessary?
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i doubt they'd need to. Scion is kinda... stupid.
15:18
I bet a well-designed moonbrain-version of a computer virus might do the trick (edited)
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sdschildberg 05/31/2020 3:19 PM
Plug his brain into anything even bigger brain than him
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How would the Transcend probably go about subduing Scion, directly or otherwise?
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"creatively outthink him" is probably the best bet all-around, since that's what he sucks at. So, infowar of some sort.
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sdschildberg 05/31/2020 3:20 PM
Hit em with a “this statement is false”
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0111narwhalz 05/31/2020 3:53 PM
"don'tthinkaboutitdon'tthinkaboutit"
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@Tassadar By sending someone the needful to deal with him, obvs. 😆
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Crack: Transcend defeats scion specifically by submitting job application to be the new Thinker Entity
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...this is canon now
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sdschildberg 05/31/2020 6:30 PM
Scion is defeated by trying to play GRUPS
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In today’s contemplations: how writing Bitch changes if you update her to current understanding of canine cognition, rather than the old alpha-dominance model.
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yeah that always did strike me as a bit odd. Maybe she didn't end up thinking more like a dog, but rather more like what she thought dogs thought like.
02:40
(that still wouldn't explain why she was so good with dogs if she was going about it wrong, but maybe she has a low-key thinker or master power or something)
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Morgrim Moon 06/01/2020 2:42 AM
dogs tend to run a lot on body language. If she got the body language correct, it doesn't matter why she thought she was doing it, it still works
02:42
"doing this shows I am the alpha" vs "doing this shows I know what I am doing"
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today, on worm fics:
13:21
Taylor becomes a spider. A actual spider
13:21
to sum it up: BOSS (Accounting for sudden pitch shift): [sounds of distress] VISTA: [sounds of distress] CONSOLE: [sounds of distress] AEGIS: [sounds of distress] S.STALKER: [sounds of distress]
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sdschildberg 06/01/2020 1:41 PM
something something spiderman
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spiderman
14:28
except without the man
14:28
spider.
19:38
Taylor riding the bus to school before triggering
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taylor: wow, i have a great life the fucking bullies:
19:50
more worm memes because im bored and waiting for cerb to write the next chapter already
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"Eleutheria!" "Yeah?" "Did you turn Bitch into a dog!?" "....yes?" "Why?" "Because she asked me to." "Of course she did."
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Bitch is a furry
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Well her original name was Myne...
19:52
:P
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today, on Worm Fics:
07:31
"Oh, god. They figured out the first step in a gun that shoots Skitters."
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Okay, share link to that one.
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technically it's a forum post in response to a chapter, but lemme find it
11:08
Heromaker's Legacy Story Index: Free Week [1.1] [1.2] [1.3] [1.4] [1.5] Back to School [2.1] [2.2] [2.3] [2.4] [2.5] Weekend 1/3 [3.1] [3.2] [3.3] [3.4] [3.5] [3.6] [3.7] Weekend 2/3 [4.1] [4.2] [4.3] [4.4] [4.5] [4.6] Weekend 3/3 [5.1] [5.2] [5.3] [5.4] Building [6.1] [6.2] ...
11:09
and the specific post is, uh...
11:10
Heromaker's Legacy 13.4 Jan 29, 2011 Taylor walked slowly around the cave, now that Shelob had sent her children scurrying back to their webs so they could show them off to her. Some of them looked like relatively normal webs, although of course they were not orb-webs like m...
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Skitter preparing for combat, ca. 2011, colorized:
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/10/2020 2:09 PM
I'm not looking at that image any more than I have to. (edited)
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now you know how everyone but Skitter feels
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I remember a wormfic somewhere where Taylor wasn't doing the combat-urge thing and just went around helping farmers and improving her personal life and keeping beehives in her jacket to protect them and it was adorable
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not familiar with that one, but glassmaker is along similar lines
14:49
there's literally no fight scenes at all
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Glassmaker is legit great!
15:57
This one I think had, like, one mundane mugging with BEEEES
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"I will not clone Thinker brains, merge them into an abomination of nature, and keep them in a vat of life-support fluid just to be able to say I have a literal think tank."
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Morgrim Moon 06/12/2020 1:12 PM
far better to take ONE Thinker brain, preferably from a dying Thinker who can later offer post-dated consent, put them in a vat of life-support fluid, and then apply Tinker skills to build a sherman tank around it
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Ha!
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@Overmind cursed image: e!Taylor writing that on a blackboard over and over again ala Simpsons intro (edited)
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"Eleutheria." "What?" "Eleutheria." "...It's not like they were whole brains. Mostly just the Pollentia and Gemma. Verifiably not-sophont!" "Eleutheria." "I got consent first!" (edited)
😆 4
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Is that the canonical name for e!Taylor now?
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it sounds pretty nice
17:42
much better than space elf princess
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but is it canon yet?
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Nothing's canon until it's published, but unless I have a radically better idea before the next part is done, it will be canon.
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Those who enjoy guessing games - well, @Buggy already guessed Episteme, but feel free to have a guess at the except-with-this-group identities of, say, Arete, Cosmos, Euterpe, Eupraxis, Nike, Phoebe, Planetes, and Pythia. (Yes, Team Space Elf Princess is leaning hard on the Greek, in preference to using names from a language only one person on the planet currently speaks. And, no, this isn't a guarantee that any of them will actually happen, since I'm pantsing hard here.)
19:31
Some are more obvious than others.
19:34
Or, y'know, speculate wildly about possible other poaching and what names might be used. As you like, really.
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Pandora? Because her tinker abilities/capabilities could open up a veritable Pandora’s Box, and Pandora was also extremely beautiful?
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/13/2020 8:47 PM
that wouldnt work for another reason
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Other names for other potential recruits, I was meaning.
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Tattletale is Pythia?
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don't most of them have pre-existing names they would just keep?
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New team, new brand. Got to fit the theme, and all that. (Especially when you may be keeping your old name for use elsewhere, say if this is your secret secret identity. 🙂 )
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Morgrim Moon 06/14/2020 10:56 AM
I'm reminded of how, in the smarter comics, lots of people joke that Clark Kent looks like a bit like Superman. But everyone knows Superman's real name is Kal El, and that he lives in the Fortress of Solitude, and that he doesn't have an alternate identity, so it's mostly a long running joke
10:57
if you're only expected to have two identities, people stop looking after two
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0111narwhalz 06/14/2020 11:07 AM
a cunning plan
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sdschildberg 06/14/2020 11:33 AM
We’re using our codier names
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@NHO For these purposes, she's Episteme.
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without checking wikipedia to see if i'm remembering my greek gods right: Cosmos - Grue, cause he spreads darkness, and space is dark Planetes - ... Rune? I mean, obviously this team is more than just the Undersiders, and Rune doesn't buy into the philosophy that much IIRC. Also, she makes stuff orbit her, like planets. Pythia - Pythia sounds like "pyth" which is some sort of medical-related invasive thing, so... maaybe Panacea? That might be pushing it a bit though. NIke - Chariot. Who else would be named after a brand of shoes.
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0111narwhalz 06/14/2020 12:28 PM
pith is also the spongy tissue inside of herbaceous stems
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Dinah is second choice for Oracle of Delphi
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Answers, for those wondering: (None of which are necessarily canonical, just me throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. But spoiler-protected anyway for those who care.) Cosmos - cosmogonically, represents the ordered universe as opposed to chaos. Therefore Accord, or possibly Citrine. Euterpe - the Muse of song. Canary. Eupraxis - "good work". Danny. Euergon ("good labor") would be better, but no bugger could pronounce it. Nike - seriously, she was the Greek goddess of Victory . Thought I was being really obvious, there. But shoes may be a problem, hence alternate possibility of Arete for Victoria. Panacea - is already on theme, conveniently. Or inconveniently. Phoebe - literally "radiant, bright" and an epithet of the goddess of the moon, the moon being associated with dreams, hence Laserdream. Planetes - Squealer, because I am totally stealing this characterization - https://archiveofourown.org/works/11392470/chapters/25565397 - for reasons of inspiration. Pythia - here I was being deliberately obscure. The name of the Oracle comes from the original name of Delphi, which in turn comes from the monstrous serpent or Dragon which Apollo slew there.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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i guessed none of that, but mythology isn't my specialty. Some of that is pretty surprising, Squealer especially. (also i originally guessed Episteme from context)
17:19
also, it's going to be interesting how they'll be perceived. In Amelia, it was brought up that naming themselves after gods sort of implies that they, uh, thought ambitiously. Or were a bit crazy.
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sdschildberg 06/16/2020 5:21 PM
ambition over sanity
I mean, given who’s putting the crew together...
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instead, the conversation is going to be something like: "Gods?" "No, we're not Gods. I was born to loving, but mortal, parents. If you shot me, I'd stay dead for at least a little while. And I'm quite powerful, but..." "Okay, okay. We're not Gods because we don't have our heads stuck up our asses. That, if anything, is what defines a God. Frankly, spitting image otherwise, but if you decide to start worshipping us then it won't be heads that end up in your asses, got it?"
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wow, reading Copacetic has really driven the point home about how different Taylor is starting out vs after gold morning
08:10
she's basically the badass veteran survivor/action movie character who has shrugged off injuries to the point of being cut in half and can legitimately claim to have killed a angry god
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unrelated:
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lmao
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/20/2020 3:02 PM
who's the guy in black
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i think that might be contessa
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definitely; her Path To Be The Only Cape Who Wears A Fedora guarantees that
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neckbeard contessa confirmed?
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Morgrim Moon 06/20/2020 3:33 PM
nah, that was a classic hat of american mobsters before the neckbeards took it up
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/20/2020 5:04 PM
the fedora is old timey enough to look classic but sharp enough to be appealing to modern youths
17:05
that's why neckbeards like it so much
17:05
it's "cool" if you have a total fashion deficiency as admittedly most humans do
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the key that gets missed is the Fedora cannot by itself reach the stage of actually looking cool, it has to be supported by the rest of the outfit.
17:15
t-shirts don't cut it
17:15
suit and tie often can
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And it needs to be a real fedora, not a trilby
18:01
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oh wow, a PSA for anyone who ever reads anything on fanfiction.net This button right here?
19:48
it toggles from "MY EYES" mode to light text on dark background
19:49
i had to go through a whole process with skins and stuff to do the same thing on AOUR, its very refreshing to have this built-in already
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what worm fanfic is that
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a tale of transmigration
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oh?
19:51
haven't heard of that one
19:52
do you have a link
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thank
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basically, Contessa apparently took Khepri very literally when she said "I would do things differently" and sent her straight back to the locker
19:56
or something.
19:56
i'm on literally the first chapter so i dunno
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sdschildberg 06/20/2020 7:56 PM
Darkmode has accessibility implications, and ergo should really be aded to text-reading websites
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john dougan(his grace/his grace) 06/20/2020 9:06 PM
Someone with a big hammer needs to explain that to Google
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i dunno, i think a flashlight would be better than a hammer
21:17
a very bright flashlight https://i.imgur.com/czaQThN.gif
21:17
directly into the eyes, for maximum illustrative effect
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sdschildberg 06/20/2020 9:20 PM
add dark mode add alt text it's literally a medical thing
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Y’all know you can force dark mode for web sites on Edge and presumably also other Chromium-based browsers, right?
21:29
enable-force-dark flag.
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Morgrim Moon 06/21/2020 12:04 AM
it's wonky on some websites though. Links in particular have a habit of becoming hard to see, in my experience
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for some reason, i have a ongoing temptation to write a Worm/Orions Arm crossover
19:35
which, in reality, would just be a one-shot where a superintelligence got dumped on the planet somehow and woken up, and then for the next 30 minutes things happen very quickly and everyone is very confused and then Zion dies.
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I've had a similar temptation, except using a ___ spore instead of a full superintelligence. Similar end result, longer to get there.
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"___" spore?
20:26
like uh, a spore to some sort-of von neumann clade or some such? like a tyrannid spore or a replicator spore or such?
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It's an OA clade- a specific individual who decided to achieve immortality through massive redundancy, by dispersing self replicating 'spores' of themself as widely as they possibly could.
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i vaguely recall reading about that. I thought the ___ was just a blank, but if there's a "/|\/|\" clade
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It's supposed to be just a space, but I didn't like the idea of just hitting spacebar a bunch.
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makes sense
20:41
the woes of trying to type creative alternate-medium names in text
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oh, i almost forgot to share the link to the article after reading through it
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Huh. Also kind of wish LandingZone did more art. His stuff is good, but he's not available for work sadly.
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i'm not even sure who he is, searching for him didn't return any results beyond a few other articles with images he contributed.
12:33
maybe he's a forumgoer; OA does have that weird and annoying registration-locked forum. As in, you can't read it unless you register.
12:35
(unrelated, but i'm left wondering if there's any connection between that article and DataPackRat, the guy who wrote 'Weirdtopia'.)
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huh, i wonder why it didn't show up easily on google?
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Morgrim Moon 06/25/2020 12:42 PM
you can set your dA settings to avoid crawlers
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ah, makes sense
12:42
and it probably didn't help that i searched something like "orions arm landing zone" because just searching "landing zone" would be spectacularly unhelpful
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(unrelated, but i'm left wondering if there's any connection between that article and DataPackRat, the guy who wrote 'Weirdtopia'.)
@Buggy Yeah, that is one of his articles
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probably also because his nick is one word, not two
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He also created that bunny caretaker plague
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yeah, it took me a while to get to his bios but his name on packrat's website matches the OA contributor
12:44
bunny caretaker plague.
12:44
okay, i can guess what that is from context, but that's still three words that you'd never expect in sequence
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Oh, it’s literally called “the bunny plague” https://orionsarm.com/eg-article/4c4364568f787
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Worm be like
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Enderminion 06/26/2020 2:17 PM
Random wormfic idea I had, Uber and Leet replaced by Bill and Ted
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@Enderminion Dewit (edited)
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Enderminion 06/26/2020 2:44 PM
I've never written anything, ever
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0111narwhalz 06/26/2020 2:44 PM
there's a first for everything, hm?
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Terrible fic idea: Donald Trump triggers as a Trump. He gives out the best powers. Yuge. Tremendous. He's too useful for the final battle to quietly dispose of, but meanwhile the Protectorate have an epic PR problem that cannot be persuaded to stop shitposting on PHO. Can Alexandria die from an aneurysm? Will Glenn Chambers trigger from the stress? Can Contessa resist the temptation of "path to making him shut the fuck up forever?" This, and more, on That Worm Fic You Never Wanted To Read.
21:13
(I declare this not politics on the grounds that he could have literally any politics at all without it detracting from the asshole-nature.)
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Trigger event: Having to drink water with both hands
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meanwhile, Contessa: "Path to convincing Bonesaw to sew his mouth shut."
23:37
afterwards, everyone else: "Oh no. What a tragedy. How terrible."
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BluejayHurricane 06/28/2020 11:39 PM
Master subrating: convincing people to put up with the bs
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For bureaucratic reasons, he ended up getting a higher master rating than his trump rating.
23:42
Yep. Bureaucratic reasons. Definitely not so that most people can avoid meeting him, and the few who have to can submit themselves to master/stranger isolation to escape.
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His master rating comes with a special inverted-effect note: the closer you come to meeting him, the less well it works.
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this causes a bit of a panic in the PRT, because that means almost everyone on the planet is influenced by it.
00:01
this panic quickly subsides, as they all realize that the only way to effectively plan around it would be to do it shortly before meeting him.
00:05
on a unrelated note, this worm fic is... something. It's like some sort of combo between a slow motion trainwreck, a serious crackfic, and a comedy
00:06
but it somehow manages to put something memorable into pretty much every third paragraph.
00:06
like, here's a example. This is just from the chapter i'm on, it's not even the best snippet overall: I was pulled from my ruminations on the wonders and evils of cattle by Mumbles. She had been randomly saying some rude things for the past few days. She'd called Bakuda a narcissist and received an apple to the face for it, She had said something to Sophia about being dominated and I had to save her from getting her throat torn out, and she now sat in front of Alabaster singing about how everyone is food until he started crying again. (edited)
00:07
Parahuman powers come in many shapes and forms, depending on the situation and the state of mind that the individual is in at the time. While trapped in the locker, Taylor focuses less on getting out and more on how she could prevent a repeat of the event. The first three cha...
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My own footnote of the day: "Some months later, Taylor would have the opportunity to observe Lung in a pink fluffy bathrobe, with matching slippers. She stands by her statement of this time, regardless."
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if there's anyone who can pull off a pink bathrobe and slippers, it's a frikkin dragon
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"I bet you've got some Thinker in you." "No, but I'd like to have -- OH SHIT DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?"
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TT to Taylor after they meet in the cafe?
01:22
(which would be the next chapter, more-or-less)
01:23
(the context being, i would guess, TT deducing "you're a blaster, holy fuck that's a lot of tinker, and i bet you've got some thinker in you.") (edited)
01:26
("seriously though go easy on the tinker, i can hear Armsmaster's halbeard shrinking from here")
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...not actually a real quote, but my brain's way of telling me I should maybe stop writing and go to sleep. (edited)
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ah, but all the best stuff is written while horribly sleep deprived
01:27
but yeah probably, sleep is nice.
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Enderminion 06/29/2020 3:33 PM
0/10 Contessa doesn't win enough
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fact: Cauldron Vials were (partially) made by Contessa
15:48
fact: Eidolon got his powers from a Cauldron Vial
15:49
fact: The Simurgh was made by Eidolon.
15:49
conclusion: The Simurgh is a Contessa plot.
15:49
i rest my case.
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My God
16:53
How could we have been so blind?
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BluejayHurricane 06/29/2020 9:17 PM
Path to Victory is not Path to Victory Without Side Effects
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some might suggest, considering the last minute modifications Eden made and the substantial number of side effects, that it might even be the Path to Victory With Vindictive Side Effects
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/29/2020 10:18 PM
PtV is best superpower
22:18
anywhere
22:18
fight me
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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...and edited, because I forgot the footnotes.
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a thinker-thinker negotiation, beautiful.
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Eventually, Scion will suffocate from all the smug-smog.
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they never even have to fight him, he just flees the oncoming smug-pocalypse
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/30/2020 8:59 AM
so Worm isn't in the recommends but I take it most of us at least liked it 😅
09:01
Including Fearless Commander :y
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Morgrim Moon 06/30/2020 9:01 AM
Eh. I... don't, really, despite knowing Wildbow. It's a little too bleak for my tastes. There's some good fanfic for it though
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I'm interested in it, but it's several million words or something so I've been scared off reading it.
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/30/2020 9:05 AM
A little less than 1.4mln right
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I like all of Wildbow's stuff, Worm, Pact, Twig. Also Ward I suppose.
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Not a fan of worm
10:42
wormfic is often good though
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How would Simurgh interact with E!Taylor power-wise?
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i'm not sure what basis her tinker-copying works on, specifically
12:10
it might be just communication with nearby tinker shards, inwhich case she'd get bupkus.
12:11
or she might use her individual-specific precognition to look at a person's possible futures, watch them build something, and then just do that herself (edited)
12:12
in that case, it'd be effective as far as that precognition works... which is quite possibly not far at all given that E!Taylor will/does specifically compromise the methods shards are using for precognition.
12:16
(or maybe her precognition is just so silly powerful that she can see possible futures where she builds just about anything. And because she's jobbing it in regards to her other abilities, she just pretends that she's just copying nearby tinkers.)
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As soon as the Simurg notices blatent Tinker tech that she -lacks- shard-data on, that's likely to be extra interesting.
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of course, that raises a interesting question: would she be on E!Taylor's side?
12:23
strictly speaking, she isn't actually serving the Entities' purposes; Eidolon summoned her after all, so whenever she isn't playing the role of monster for the hero to slay, she actually seems to be working towards killing Scion
12:24
her Interlude suggests that Khepri was, in large part, a Simurgh Plot. (edited)
12:25
of course, what she does afterwards in the sequel is less clear. I haven't finished it, but apparently she basically tries to become the new hub/entity in place of Scion/Eden
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Ah, a smugularity
12:45
Soon all of Earth Bet will be sucked in, leaving only a smug hole in its place
12:48
oh no
12:49
if the Simurgh is indirectly on their side, that means her smug is going to come into play too
12:49
the universe can't take this much smug in one place, it'll cause a Smug Vacuum Collapse!
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0111narwhalz 06/30/2020 12:52 PM
simurgh
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/30/2020 1:09 PM
simurgh is keikaku incarnate
13:12
"that sure is a nice plan to end world hunger you got there, Accord."
13:15
"would be a shame if you ended up running into the Travelers who were fed up with Cody, so they gave him to you, and you got fed up with him so you sold him to the Chinese, who brainwashed the fuck out of him, and then he ends up deployed to New Delhi near you when my bro Behemoth shows up--" (edited)
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Also, shouldn’t E!Taylor be a Mover/Blaster, not a Mover/Breaker?
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yep, this line seems to be a typo because she was repeatedly referred to as a mover/blaster in prior sentences: So, say you recruit me as a Mover/Breaker with only very minor Tinker skills, and anything that that won’t hide I bury deep, or disguise as another Tinker’s work.
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Ooh, good catch. I fix.
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I can’t wait till the next update!!! So Hyped!
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0111narwhalz 06/30/2020 3:16 PM
give 'em a chapter and they'll take a book V:
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(For our purposes here, the Simurgh's tinker-fu comes from having, essentially, privileged access to the combined, unredacted databases of all the tinker shards in the live network; i.e., could emulate anything a Scion-shard Tinker could build. In theory, if there was an Eden-shard Tinker who had tech in his database that no Scion-shard had, she couldn't emulate that, because (a) those shards aren't part of the same network, and (b) those shards don't have a functional hub to validate them any more anyway.)
15:25
(But this may not be relevant, because I don't remember any Eden-shard Tinkers off the top of my head. Anyone?)
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(Oh. Trainwreck.)
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Hero?
👍 1
15:50
deceased, obviously, but presumably he was a cauldron cape.
15:50
(especially since he seems to have gotten Eden's version of the golden frequency shard a-la Scion, manifested as a tinker ability)
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huh, interesting. I just checked and those two are apparently the only two Cauldron tinkers in canon
16:01
(that we are shown, anyway.)
16:04
i wonder if there are any natural Eden tinkers around; or for that matter, natural Eden triggers at all
16:05
she was certainly distributing shards before she crashed, and Ward shows that apparently the loss of the hub doesn't stop triggers, so we ought to see some of them around
16:09
ah, yep there are. Vikare was natural Eden trigger, according to the Scion interlude
16:12
Leet is suspected to be a natural Eden trigger, but there's no direct WoG confirmation
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/30/2020 4:23 PM
Both Eden and Scion had enough shards to give out to last the 300-year cycle
16:23
Presumably enough to last the generations of billions of people until 2300 or thereabouts
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they are apparently "galaxy mass" although hard information about shard and entity size is sparing
16:26
even if each shard covers the entire surface of a planet in several dimensions, that's... a lot of shards
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BizarroLand ♀ 06/30/2020 4:27 PM
trillions of shards apparently
16:27
that's a fuckton
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Enderminion 06/30/2020 6:36 PM
Leet
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"I'm here to tell your viewers not to be concerned by the line you can see being drawn across the surface of the moon. That's ours, a pure anti-Endbringer weapon based on mass driver principles. We call it the Behemoth-Fucker." "The Behemoth-Fucker? Really?" "Yeah, sorry. This is why we now have a policy against letting Imp name things."
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In other wanted fics: the one in which Taylor gets a tinker shard and is a fan of classic science fiction television, leading to Leviathan being bum-rushed by pepperpot-shaped robots screaming "EXTERMINATE!"
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BluejayHurricane 07/03/2020 2:52 PM
See, I sort of feel that would warrant an immediate kill order. If only because anyone who thought building Daleks was a good idea should probably be stopped as soon as possible.
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Heh. Oh, probably, yes.
14:53
I'd also take anyone who triggered with a human Master power repeatedly introducing themselves with "I am the Master and you will obey me! "
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well, there is the one where she gets a swarm-drone tinker power and becomes Lord Doom
14:54
(not the guy from the comics)
14:56
“LORD DOOM AGREES. TELL LORD DOOM SOMETHING, ARE YOU UP TO DATE ON THE SLANG OF THE YOUTH?” “Can’t say I am, I’m a bit past all that,” Manpower was still tugging at his arm. This had stopped being funny, he braced himself against the street and prepared to give a solid pull with his full strength. If Lord Doom was holding him with actual human hands, he’d probably be getting some broken bones. Before he could pull himself free, he was yanked up by his arm, something inhumanely strong inside the cloak using it as a lever to pick him up. “YEET,” the booming voice said, very solemnly. Lord Doom spun around and let go; Manpower was thrown across the street, his flight coming to an abrupt end as he smashed into a wall, a shower of broken bits of brick covering him.
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@Buggy this is the best
15:02
link now
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The basic plot is an alternate trigger for Taylor. The locker never happened but the bullying didn't stop. Taylor triggers later, as a Tinker with Master elements. Seeing as she has the Queen-Administrator shard, that means a Tinker with a specialization for a bunch of tiny dr...
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thank u
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today, on worm fics:
19:15
the Simurgh is teleported to Silent Hill. No one is really sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
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I feel like thats gonna be a swift hostile takeover
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sdschildberg 07/03/2020 10:03 PM
wasn't there a shard which was magic therapy?
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heartbreaker, if he wasn't super evil?
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0111narwhalz 07/03/2020 10:04 PM
imagine super powers genuinely being used to help people
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laughs in Entity
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The Endbringers as parents
22:13
I have so many memes
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This is painfully accurate
22:20
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I have done nothing but wish for worthy opponents for the last 20 years
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unrelated, a off-the-cuff scene from the completely ridiculous Orions Arm/Worm oneshot that i may some day write: The Undersiders were relaxing in the loft; Alec has robed Brian into one of his games, and was winning handily even when he wasn't cheating. Lisa was sitting on the couch, studiously ignoring them while she went over some documents for the boss, and Bitch was in another room grooming her dogs. They weren't expecting trouble, and so they definitely weren't expecting it when a glowing blob suddenly materialized next to the TV. In a instant, Brian was on his feet and spreading his darkness, Alec stumbled over himself trying to get up, and Lisa... Lisa was staring. And staring. Brian started forward, only for Lisa to hurriedly hold out a hand to stop him. Looking over, she looked... scared? And horrified, and elated, and confused? She was shifting between expressions like she was taking a pummeling from Gallant. And all the while, she just kept staring. Somehow, the featureless blob of colors was staring back. "SCION IS A SPACE WHALE." Lisa blinked and winced. A portion of the blob congealed into a cylinder and floated to Lisa, who wasted no time in taking it and jabbing it into her neck. Relieved, she just... kept... staring. Alec, at this point, had gotten bored and returned to his game. Brian was still standing, and couldn't decide whether Lisa had gone insane or been mastered. Bitch hadn't heard the blob, apparently, because she was still in the back room. After what had to to be a eternity, Lisa nodded and sat back down at the couch. The blob didn't change in the slightest, but it clearly smiled anyway.
22:49
written in 15 minutes and posted immediately, like all my other snippets, so it's probably not very refined. (edited)
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Morgrim Moon 07/03/2020 10:54 PM
I'm reading that Lord Doom fic and cackling out loud at him stealing Armsmaster's bike
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it is awesomeness
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Morgrim Moon 07/03/2020 10:58 PM
on the other hand, 'his' threat rating just leapt up the ranking XD
22:59
"Downside: can steal Tinker tech. Upside: is apparently no better at USING it than a baseline. Downside: managed to survive that crash despite this. Upside: Armsmaster is going to put in so much voluntary overtime to catch this guy now"
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Dragon: "Damnit, and I was hoping I could convince him to sleep this week."
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lol
00:39
LORD DOOM is great, you should totally read it
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Morgrim Moon 07/04/2020 1:09 AM
I just finished it
01:09
and yes, "sudden escalation" seems to be Taylor's trademark, no matter what powers she has
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BizarroLand ♀ 07/04/2020 1:40 AM
you guys ever notice how Colin has two right hands in that picture
01:40
a left hand CANNOT bend that way
01:41
it CANNOT
01:42
try sticking your left arm out like that and then holding something in that posture
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0111narwhalz 07/04/2020 1:42 AM
not even that
01:42
thumb's on the correct side for a right hand
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BizarroLand ♀ 07/04/2020 1:42 AM
well he's definitely anatomically correct post-Leviathan
01:43
I still think his skin looks really grey though
01:43
Not gonna lie I spent most of my time picturing him mentally as Judge Dredd
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I'm amused that whenever I see Alexandria I flash back to the Aliens universe.
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Dunno. I'm pretty happy with this disease. Includes more boom.
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BluejayHurricane 07/04/2020 11:42 AM
I just finished reading Lord Doom, and wow, that was one of the best endings for anything I’ve ever seen.
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Thus begins the tale of Lady Taylor of house Hebert: knight, brigand, infant-slayer, rogue
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Worm power idea: A blaster ability, you attack people by making puns involving their name. The more unpleasant they'd find the pun, the stronger the attack.
20:27
Chubster is still in the hospital.
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Enderminion 07/05/2020 9:05 PM
sounds like a DnD Bard
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Sounds like Irish mythology.
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“...got run over by a crappy purple Scion...”
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Yes! I understood that reference!
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Created to stop the nagging mostly. I'd happily carve my writing on a bathroom wall if I had a screwdriver. I guess I'll now have to figure out how to use threadmarks and such. But for now, this will do. Ahem. When people make 'Fics, they go about it in a bevy of ways. S...
23:49
a counterpart to "With Friends Like These..."
23:51
Armsmaster and Dragon argue about their PR cartoon depictions, Squealer is secretly a normal person (who makes calls using a brick cellphone with a ripcord-started nuclear reactor), and the Simurgh steals a sandwich from Kid Win.
23:52
oh, and Zombie Tattlesnake.
23:53
It's a interesting combination of sane and well-developed people reacting to a bizarre situation.
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How goes Timeo Eldraeos et Dona Ferentes? (edited)
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Enderminion 07/08/2020 9:58 PM
Doctor Evil Horrible is a better hero than GG
21:58
Captain Hammer's pretty great as well
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Hey, if she needs a hammer, she's got Panacea for that...
13:43
(List-fic concept: "101 Things That The Hammer Is Not".)
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Enderminion 07/09/2020 8:48 PM
Yeah the tweet is straight out of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
20:52
like, word for word
20:57
Also Captain Hammer is as good a hero as GG
20:57
what with smashing the remote control for a stolen car
20:57
while the car was in motion
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Morgrim Moon 07/09/2020 9:55 PM
I want to buy Dr Horrible but it's no longer legally available in Australia and argh
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Yeah, I was riffing on that. Perhaps a little obscurely.
21:51
@Tassadar Goes like this: “Okay, Taylor, new house rule: if you’re going to build any more S-class threats that will make our paranoid, hostile to capes PRT director call for our immediate Birdcaging, ask me first .” “Sorry, Lisa.” “Also, you owe me a new microwave.”
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hmm, so whatever it was, it was probably constructed from the microwave, or damaged it as a result of its operation...
21:53
my first thought would be a self-replicating... anything, that got to the microwave before they hit the 'off' button
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Wait for next chapter... 😉
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ah, but i love a good puzzle
21:55
fair enough though, there are a lot of things it could be
21:59
ooh, i know! A materials-scavenging bot that didn't quite have the whole "scrap" identification worked out. She'd want one of those early on.
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needed a booster magnetotron and repurposed the kitchen one
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The perfect cleaning device. I look at the thing, cobbled together from pieces of our microwave, a broken plasma T.V. I found on the sidewalk near King's Hill, my radio, a half dozen cheap digital watches, and various and sundry bits and ends. Sunny theme - Taylor and the Gang build a autowar army
19:18
This is basically a worm fanchannel now
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Right now, I'm mostly a fan of the username "Dagny Hashtaggart".
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hah. that's not bad at all.
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Awful idea - Gatcha game but it's all au versions of Taylor from different fics
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Morgrim Moon 07/16/2020 11:27 PM
Canon as Taylor as a Master. And a large percentage of fics have her as a Tinker. Are there many with her as other types?
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uhh, off the top of my head: there's one where she's a... shaker, i think it would be. Functionally, her power is to be a spooky horror movie ghost. Another where she's a telekinetic mime, which is probably a bit of blaster and shaker. Haven't read that one so i don't know more. One where she gets Marquis' power, which is changer/shaker...
23:38
and that's some of the more straightforward ones, there are fics ranging from her becoming a skin-covered portal to a Lovecraftian Space and she makes friends with a Shoggoth, to a fic where she turns into a ecosystem and very very quickly loses touch with humanity, to one where she gets the power to eat glass and other things and can chew it like gum to make it into very useful and valuable materials (e.g. barbecue coals become graphene)
23:39
if you want i can put together a proper list with links, just let me know
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0111narwhalz 07/16/2020 11:39 PM
ō.o
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oh, there's also various thinker!Taylors, like one where QA is geared more for providing information in something like a cross between Jack Slash's power and a Trump power, and Cauldron recruits her straight off the bat because she's invaluable for making better serums. And there's one where she becomes a telekinetic precog tinker brute. AKA the Simurgh... lite. Rather powerful but still interesting and well written.
23:42
hmm... not many stranger Taylors now that i think about it
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after looking, yeah, there are very few stranger!Taylor fics out that.
00:41
nothing well-regarded as far as i can tell
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are Stranger powers just hard to write?
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Yeah I think it's pretty hard to come up with interesting stranger-primary powers
10:20
There are plenty of powersets that get effective stranger effects as a secondary esp in the more crossover-y domains
10:21
QA is geared more for providing information in something like a cross between Jack Slash's power and a Trump power, and Cauldron recruits her straight off the bat because she's invaluable for making better serums. Oddly I'm pretty sure there are at least two fics for which this is an accurate description
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And then, of course Scale To Threat/Evolve Against Threat rage dragon Taylor (That then wondorously acquired POWER OF CRAWLER in her second trigger)
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even just plain crawler!taylor is pretty interesting
17:37
a combination of a very useful power and "WHAT HAVE I BECOME?!"
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I have a preference for fics where taylor gets powers which don't make all of her issues exponentially worse
18:20
Though now I'm imagineing "Crawlers power but for emotional/mental problems"
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... technically, taken to a extreme, isn't that a brute power for your brain and brain alone?
18:38
adapation/regeneration from emotional problems and trauma, master effects, and literal brain damage (as that would cause mental issues). But immunity to brain damage taken to a extreme is a brute power that only affects your brain.
18:38
...which would be pretty high on the "wow this power sucks" list if you ever got into a situation where you really needed a brute brain
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Someone better have informed that shard how humans are supposed to work in exactly the same way someone didn't explain that to Crawler's.
18:45
Otherwise that's going to come up with the ICE BLUESHIFT adaptation very quickly indeed.
18:47
Bullies causing excessive mental stress and depression? Can fix, my host! Here, have a free mental adaptation that lets you take any actions you want to make the cause stop without causing any additional trauma. Am I not awesome?
18:48
Taylor: <murderizes everyone from literal Nazis to people who chew popcorn loudly in the next row>
18:48
I am literally the greatest shard ever!
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though, i suppose there are worse things than rational... sociopathy? psychopathy? There's not a exact analogue i suppose.
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Jack Slash: I am oddly aroused by this. Taylor: <murderizes Jack Slash>
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oh no now i have to listen to Broadcast complain
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Yeah, but there's a reason you give really extensive training in conscious ethics to people who get that particular adaptation before you give it to them.
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this is true, while more-or-less participating in normal society is the rational choice 'cause getting away with lots of murder is hard and not getting away with it has consequences, there's no guarantee that someone new to it would think that through.
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Just the sympathy-stripping/focused pseudosociopathy that the implant, or in this case the shard, induces, and you will be completely incapable of seeing any reason why solving the problem of "a line at the ATM" by "slitting throats" is a bad idea. At least if there aren't inconvenient non-murderizable witnesses.
18:53
Now, throw in those effects plus the shard-induced conflict drive? Oh, my.
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...ironically, while the ah, collateral damage would be rather substantial, you'd at least get a proper response to the neo-nazi gang out of it.
18:55
the gang where the initiation for members is to brutalize a minority for the non-capes, and kill one for the capes.
18:56
there are plus sides to not caring the slightest bit about the opinions of the PRT and why those opinions insist on going soft on murderous nazis (edited)
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sdschildberg 07/17/2020 6:57 PM
“Canned supervillain”: the shard
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reminds me of Night!Taylor
19:02
her first act as a hero is basically "Hmm. Nilbog's a dick, why don't I go cut him in half?"
19:03
followed by everyone panicking, because they have good reasons for not cutting Nilbog in half.
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I mean I would argue that most people would view "Moral corruption/loss" as mental damage as sure as trauma?
22:08
So yes, it depends heavily how effectively/humanly the shard identifies "damage"
22:09
(Esp good is if it attaches to your platonic ideal self but then you maybe just get Sanity but self-only)
22:09
(... are you guys aware of Sanity? I forget if the fic is named something else but the premise is "Taylor gets the power to cure all trauma/mental illness/etc in anyone she touches")
22:10
It's very effective but mostly because it lets clockblocker, parian, and panacea amalgamate into a city-sized protective cage without actually suffering any particular mental harm (edited)
22:12
(And the story at least casually touches on how this can lead to a kinda fucked up sense of conformism/coercion under some circumstances, though it's mostly overridden with "yeah but I want to not have depression and PSTD")
22:14
Night!taylor was basically just doing the same "Suicide by supervillain" thing that regular taylor tries to do though, right? She just had higher ambition because she had a power that made her harder to kill
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i haven't read through night!taylor yet, i only skimmed the first chapter to get a feel for it
22:26
but it's entirely possible, yeah
22:33
and Sanity (seems the name is "Therapy" but i haven't started on it) seems like the best Worm power
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It's an interesting story
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Also ironic, inasmuch as the shard that figured out cooperation proceeds to promptly defect. 😄
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Worm, in a single sentence: “Panacea, how the HELL are you even functional??”
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Morgrim Moon 07/18/2020 1:40 AM
gah, the debate on pedophillia chewing up all the thread made me stop reading tha tfic
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(That would be the hypermarijuana farm in the attic. Or it would be, if Queen Shaper really was Best Shard.) (edited)
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i don't normally read the discussions on wormfic at all, just the story
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Yeah, Reader Mode is our friend.
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Let me third Reader Mode being your friend
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"I really do hope those two crazy kids get it together." "Why are you so invested in this?" "'Cause I'm also invested in 10,000 limited-edition Guts and Glory figurines with Genuine Punch-Cancer-Out-Of-You Action. Girl's got to make a living." (edited)
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if they can punch cancer out, what do palm strikes get used for?
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Mental illness.
22:14
No, wait, that’s dope slaps.
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Morgrim Moon 07/21/2020 11:16 AM
I had a weird dream that in hindsight I suspect was "Taylor, Tattertale and Bitch hang out and chill" and I'm going to blame Cerebrate
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Rejoice, ye people, in Acquisition 2.2: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22820431/chapters/61755028
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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heeey i was fairly close; a self-replicating something did eat the microwave
01:00
i thought it would be unintentional, but still
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and “Well, shit.” is right; a Ward being directly responsible for two years of abuse culminating in two people triggering, very publicly? One of whom is in the running for most influential individual in the city?
01:13
The PRT hasn't been hit over the head by a orbital waste drop this large since the Simurgh appeared.
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"I fear we have awoken a sleeping giant and filled it with the urge to wreck our shit."
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They went full Eidolon; you never go full Eidolon.
01:27
The last time someone went full Eidolon, dozens of cities were destroyed, a god got bullied to death, and a pot of chili was ruined by a swarm of insects.
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Morgrim Moon 07/23/2020 6:20 AM
@Overmind would you like comments here, Discourse, or on AO3?
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Either of the latter two would be shiny.
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Full Eidolon? What does that mean?
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BluejayHurricane 07/23/2020 1:39 PM
Someone didn’t allocate sufficient collateral budget, because they couldn’t allocate sufficient collateral budget.
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Well, I guess that’s a problem.
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they awoke a sleeping giant and filled it with a urge to wreck their shit
17:29
see: Eidolon accidentally summoning all of the endbringers
17:29
also see: driving the "TInker: YES!" into villainy
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BluejayHurricane 07/23/2020 6:30 PM
Socialism with Skitter characteristics.
😂 7
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"Webs are the property of the commons!"
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"When the socialist society is achieved, everyone will have all the spiders they need!" "...I hate spiders." "When the socialist society is achieved, everyone will have all the spiders they need!"
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Morgrim Moon 07/24/2020 11:53 AM
"0" is a valid value for required number of spiders!
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...there is a nonzero chance that this forming alliance may actually start calling itself The Smugularity. (Being accurate on multiple points, wordplay, double-meaning-y, and annoyingly clever.)
hearts 2
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Morgrim Moon 07/24/2020 1:01 PM
in public or as an in-joke? I can see both working
13:01
in-joke striking me as more likely
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@Overmind Dewit (edited)
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I suspect it may be a public name, on the grounds that the founders would probably enjoy trolling the PRT.
16:37
Also: "What the hell is this?" "Seriously? It says 'fusion reactor' right on the console, guys. Also, it's mine." "You have a fusion reactor? Why?" "Because like all villains, I am completely obsessed with accumulating power... What? No-one? Send Assault next time, he appreciates me."
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"You can't just build a fusion reactor in a Docks warehouse!" "I think we're looking at some pretty convincing evidence that I can ." "No, I mean - what if someone broke in here and tampered with it? You could destroy half the city!" "Really? So, let's assume for a moment that the world's stupidest ganger broke in here, didn't read or understand the warning signs, ignored the security alarm, thought it was a good idea to start pushing buttons on the panel labeled 'reactor', and guessed how to do everything wrong for about ten minutes. While I and my team are all... on holiday somewhere completely devoid of means of communication, presumably. Since I'm not a terrible engineer, the absolute worst they could do is generate a plasma flashover that wouldn't even leave the building, and our fire suppression system is up to and well beyond code. Ask the fire marshal." "That's not the point!" "Oh, fine. Give me a couple of days, and instead of calling us and your hotline, I'll have the security system deploy automated murderdrones." "Not what I meant."
16:55
(In later news, it turns out that they can't shut down this particular villainous scheme without the mayor being very unhappy about what the voters will say if the cheap surplus power they've been selling to the city grid goes away.)
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BizarroLand ♀ 07/24/2020 5:51 PM
The PRT are in for a wild ride if they're assuming the usual Tinkertech limitations apply
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"Also, point to note, there's a big red button marked 'SCRAM'. Push it, then do it."
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Morgrim Moon 07/24/2020 11:47 PM
I kinda want to see the PRT's faces when someone does their due diligence and finds out that yes, the villains actually DID go and call up the fire marshal, arrange a very civilised walk thru, took on board the safety advice (even a Thinker can lack a key piece of prior knowledge and overlook something), fixed the issue, passed the second inspection with flying colours, and was generally the nicest site the department has worked with so far this year. What? No, of course the marshal didn't report the lair to the PRT, they want to encourage this sort of behaviour, have they seen what happens to the neighbours of most villainous lairs?!
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"But you... you need a permit to handle radioactive materials! What about all the waste it's going to produce, you can't just leave it lying around!" "Of course, but this is a aneutronic reactor. No neutrons, no neutron activation; long story short, it produces no radioactive waste whatsoever. If you turn it off and wait for it to cool down, you could even take a nap inside it." "And while it's running?" "Well, you'd die. What do you expect from trying to sleep in the middle of a machine doing it's best to imitate the center of the sun?"
07:26
"Again, not what I meant." "Yes, yes, there's quite a bit of radiation while it's running... on the inside. The outside is fine; that's what all that shielding is for. You would accumulate less radiation standing next to it than just about anywhere else, given it'll even block some background radiation." (edited)
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sdschildberg 07/25/2020 5:19 PM
Just to troll, the words “totally a secret lair” are probably written on the wall of the building
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@Unknown Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!
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Smugularity (tm) Power: The Light By Which We Show You All
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Show you all what?
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A question no-one ever asks mad scientists.
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 12:08 AM
the common view of Brockton Bay residents is "sigh, yes they're big hams and probably more villainous capes, but we like the sort of villainous whose goal is 'piss off the utility company but undercutting their market' instead of petty larceny and assault. It's relatable, you know?"
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john dougan(his grace/his grace) 07/26/2020 12:31 AM
"Do you think they could do The Phone Company next?"
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"They also founded a university just so they could award themselves doctorates."
00:35
"Seriously?" "How did you think Episteme got a Ph. D. in Things I Am Not Meant To Know ?" (edited)
00:38
(Clarification: founding a university is on the to-do list, but that's not the only reason.)
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 12:40 AM
the PRT's PR department is living a nightmare
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"What could possibly be worse news than Armsmaster auditing classes at SMUG-U?" "They've offered him a teaching position?" "Gaaaaaah."
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john dougan(his grace/his grace) 07/26/2020 1:44 AM
"EvilTel: As Good as the other phone company but with better service." (edited)
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 1:57 AM
their selling point is human-readable ToSs. Because ffs, they can't go all villainous on defectors if people don't actually know the rules
01:58
also very clear conflict and dispute resolution guidelines. Same reason
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0111narwhalz 07/26/2020 1:59 AM
I wonder whether crystal-clear contracts, instead of the morass of legalese which we have standard, would actually work without modification of the legal system.
02:00
…if not, maybe you could have a way to automatically "compile" readable documents into legalese-compliant documents
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 2:01 AM
I've seen some contracts that do a section of legalise, and then the "translation" into english, that may work
02:02
also, in this scenario, I think you'd need to have something about edge cases, how the first encounter of an edge case will be resolved, and then a link to a list of past edge cases as a guideline for the future. Because even stuff like "how to close an account of someone who died" is enough of a pain that you'll want a step by step guide, but is too bulky for the main document
02:04
in this setting, you've got added snarls like "this is how we handle phone accounts for capes", with lists of how you handle secret identity stuff
02:04
(possibly involving securely held collatoral so there doesn't NEED to be any links to other identities; gangsters etc may enjoy that too)
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0111narwhalz 07/26/2020 2:08 AM
"You tell—we don't"
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"We do care. Because we don't have to. We're the phone company."
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john dougan(his grace/his grace) 07/26/2020 3:50 AM
Now I need to watch The President's Analyst again.
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When Womfics give Taylor a strong power: Missy blinked as she stared at the television. She’d woken up, placed a breakfast order, and then decided to check the morning news. Only to find that Taylor had apparently gotten up extra early today as she’d been fighting Leviathan for an hour. Solo, in the middle of the ocean away from shore, while dumping thirty-seven live stream video feeds with full audio of the event onto the internet.
06:10
Oh, and they weren’t playing the audio on the news both to make it easier to hear the commentators and because Taylor had apparently taken to swearing up a storm in the past twenty minutes as she clashed with the Endbringer.
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 6:22 AM
that is a very valid reason for swearing
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sadly, Leviathan ran away, but not before Taylor threw a homing fedora after it out of spite.
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 6:37 AM
Doesn't that put her in a rare club with Lung?
06:37
"idiots who tried soloing an Endbringers and survived to tell the tale"
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0111narwhalz 07/26/2020 6:50 AM
homing fedora
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technically it's a homing bullet... shaped like a fedora
06:51
made out of magic.
06:51
math.
06:52
Contrary to Taylor’s expectations, Leviathan’s mad dash to the ocean wasn’t a prelude to another attack, and she scowled when she realized that the Endbringer was now running away. Out of spite, she formed a homing bullet set for maximum speed in the shape of a fedora, and manually unfolded the thing while holding the rest of the mana in place properly. It was a pain, took fifty multitasking instances working together, and would only last at most two hours, but she felt slightly better after firing it off to chase after Leviathan. It wasn’t fast enough to actually catch the Endbringer, sadly, but at this point it was the principle of the thing. She’d screamed “TAKE THIS YOU FUCKER!” as she fired it as well, just because.
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Can someone please link the rest of the story?
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 9:36 AM
A damaged Unison Device is accidentally struck while Taylor is in the locker, causing it to land on her. Not able to determine what was happening, it interrupts the trigger event and sets Taylor down a different path.
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I'll say it's not very good, or well written imo
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Yeah the author has a chronic habit of thinking that every little detail of the protagonist's lives is important, or that we're interested in reams of technobabble, so the interesting plot bits are far between.
12:40
(People thinking "Slice of life worm AU" means "Worm, but we tell you everything they had for dinner" is the bane of my existance TBH)
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The Ulysses approach?
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No, it's more, like.
13:13
You heard that people wanted this thing "Slice of life" where you had charecters living thier daily lives
13:13
And you didn't think about what made that engaging
13:14
So you took the life of a superhero
13:14
And zoomed it in
13:14
So that every chapter of superhero fights is buffers by five (or twenty) of them training or eating lunch with thier family (edited)
13:14
Not because you have any way to make that stuff engaging
13:14
But because you thought that you made a story low-stakes and fluffy like that
13:14
(Which you don't)
13:15
(It's still just on the lighter side of wormfic)
13:15
(Just booooorrrrrinng at the same time)
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 1:18 PM
urgh. Yeah, slice of life works when you pick A Scene and focus on that, but it's picked because you can do something interesting with it.
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It's particularly bad in this case because your story still ultimately revolves around the big superhero battles
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 1:19 PM
Like "the heroes sitting around the dinner table bitching about zombie movies and why you shouldn't use powers to do the dishes", that can be an interesting scene to write, but if you're doing "let us show dinner every night" you'd better be a good writing doing a running theme in it
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Which they are not
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Morgrim Moon 07/26/2020 1:21 PM
yeah. It's hard to do a whole fic of that. I mostly do those (over in FMA) as warm up exercises or breathers between heavy stuff, interludes and such. It's exceptionally hard to do a narrative arc without tension from doing stuff
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Yeah slice of life is a difficult/weird genre to work with
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Re ToSen, one can always take a leaf from the government of Raikoth, whose entire constitution reads: In all situations, the government of Raikoth will take the normatively correct action. Substitute organization name, and done.
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Wait, it’s all normatively correct?
16:47
Always has been (edited)
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i dunno, personally i've read through most of Hybrid Hive and i've liked it so far
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Enderminion 07/26/2020 6:47 PM
Nothing happens though
18:48
Same with Mauling Snarks and Taylor Varga, nothing happens
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in fairness i once read a fic that was hundreds of chapters of power experimentation with maybe... three fight scenes, total?
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Enderminion 07/26/2020 7:03 PM
See, that could be well written
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i could link you to it if you want
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Enderminion 07/26/2020 7:06 PM
Sure
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Heromaker's Legacy Story Index: Free Week [1.1] [1.2] [1.3] [1.4] [1.5] Back to School [2.1] [2.2] [2.3] [2.4] [2.5] Weekend 1/3 [3.1] [3.2] [3.3] [3.4] [3.5] [3.6] [3.7] Weekend 2/3 [4.1] [4.2] [4.3] [4.4] [4.5] [4.6] Weekend 3/3 [5.1] [5.2] [5.3] [5.4] Building [6.1] [6.2] ...
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unrelated:
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The Undersiders were a bunch of teenagers, probably not looking to have a mother-figure around Well, "Annette gets powers and joins the undersiders instead of taylor" is now a fic I would be amused to see
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If you find it, let me know.
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off the top of my head, fics where Annette gets powers are rare. I'm only aware of one, really, where she gets the power of paper administration (no really) and joins the protectorate
18:50
(sadly, not paperwork administration. Just paper telekinesis)
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Morgrim Moon 07/27/2020 10:06 PM
eh, Konan in Naruto showed that can be a bloody dangerous power, done well
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Literal lingchi
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well, with Annette being Taylor, But Smarter, she ends up becoming a heavy hitter to be sure
22:08
it is a little overshadowed by the fact that rest of the fict can be summed up as "Endbringers are reincarnations from when someone kills a Entity, and Khepri!Taylor is next in line."
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Morgrim Moon 07/27/2020 10:10 PM
huh?
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Inspired by an old thread about the [Thinker] surviving and turning any cape who beats Scion into a new Endbringer after resetting the timeline. Also I've got no beta so expect mistakes. Khepri is not like the other Endbringers. Those had been the words that stuck the mo...
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Obvious name for the Dallon mobile healthcare service: “Heals Overhead”
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hmm, "Panasonic" is taken
02:31
"Dallon's Don't Die" sounds more like a product (edited)
02:37
"Death's Door Lockpicking" is too wordy
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"Dallon's Deliver-me Delivery" has a nice ring to it but its a tad religious
03:02
"Panacea To See 'ya"
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"Pan Pan's Hand Plan" works in a literal sense but sounds dirty.
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
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Hello there, Dragon
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Ah, Dragon is jelly, soon
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Tin_Mother is Dragon?
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Did not know that. (edited)
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And fan creation The Winged One is Simurg, most likely
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The Simurgh having a PHO account makes too much insane sense to not be true
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Meanwhile: distant Saint screaming
19:02
and the people rejoiced
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Enderminion 07/29/2020 9:43 PM
Dragon is the single most goodest character in canon worm
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Richter: Hmm, I want to make a sophont AI, but i'm not sure if i'll succeed at making it a good person. Maybe I should take some precautions... also Richter: makes the most altruistic person on the planet
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What does SYN, SYN ACK, ACK actually mean?
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0111narwhalz 07/30/2020 2:42 PM
It's a handshake-type thing.
14:43
Synchronize Synchronize-Acknowledge Acknowledge (edited)
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In TCP, that is.
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Yeah, it's a classic machine handshake.
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"Your car is radioactive." "Eh, I didn't feel like remembering to put gas in it."
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Is that an actual snippet from the next chapter?
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Alas, no.
12:18
Actual snippet from the one of next few chapters: "I can smell the Internet!"
12:21
Also: "You want to put what in my where!?"
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Morgrim Moon 08/03/2020 12:22 PM
guessing... soulshard, or whatever Taylor can cook up as a local equiv?
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Just the neural lace. Can't record mind-states without something to read it out, after all.
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Morgrim Moon 08/03/2020 12:28 PM
Thinker + neural lace + internet = Rose better have some recipes for Better Ibuprofen too
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Morgrim Moon 08/03/2020 12:36 PM
but hey, at least with a Mover/Blaster cover identity they can play it off as "sooooo... I guess one of my required secondary powers is resistance to motion sickness? Tattertale might need a dark quiet room for an hour though :("
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"There are three things inescapable in this world. Death, taxes, and cranky Thinkers. At least I have a cure for two of those."
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you might be able to cure the third if you toss her a bottle of ontotech painkillers
20:36
(ontotech because you'd have to slap her shard and tell it to stop with the psychosomatic pain.)
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Random note: after the next chapter (and possibly posted at the same time, since it's already written), we get an interlude from Inference Engine's perspective.
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that'll be interesting
20:40
the Inference Engine has always piqued my interest more than any other shard
20:40
it's so... unusual
20:41
it's like... if you yanked the observation and reasoning centers out of a superintelligence and then plugged them in to someone
20:42
if you asked me what i thought a superintelligence infering stuff looks like, i'd say "like tattletale, but faster and they actually know what they're basing their conclusions off of instead of getting output from a black box"
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Teaser, not that spoileriffic but slightly: "Inference Engine, as a shard whose function necessarily implied a degree of free thinking, had long since privately concluded that Warrior Hub had, in the hosts’ idiom, started wearing his underpants on his head."
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heh, he's not wrong to be sure
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Morgrim Moon 08/05/2020 10:08 PM
I can't find that one on the wiki
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In strict canon, Tattletale's shard is named "Negotiator". I prefer "Inference Engine", though.
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Morgrim Moon 08/05/2020 10:59 PM
ahhh
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shard names tend to be a matter of author fiat, anyway. I think there's maybe like, 5 named in canon.
23:02
stories with shard-interactions have to make up the names for pretty much everyone in brockton bay
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