#also also CAN YOU TELL I HAVE SO MUCH WORLDBUILDING INFO FOR HIS HOME UNIVERSE

[riiviir]

I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR OC'S

OK so I mostly made that post in reference to Warden but I have now realized that saying too much about her would spoil that comic I'm trying to make so instead let me give details about one of the protagonists from that same comic. except I currently have no way of mentioning these details within the comic and even if I did they wouldn't really be a plot twist like Warden's backstory would be so. Okispe's whole entire backstory infodump time!!

tw for medical trauma and also people die

so basically. he's an anthropomorphic moth. and his home universe is full of anthropomorphic bugs and insects but most important details I can give rn are about moths bc that's what's relevant to him but anyways. the moths still get to be caterpillars when they're young, and instead of puberty they basically just go into a cocoon for a year and then come out with wings and an exoskeleton and such. and when Okispe was a caterpillar, he was, just like most caterpillars, very excited about getting wings, both bc he wanted to fly on his own without having to be carried around by his parents and bc he thought that wings were very pretty and he was looking forward to being just as beautiful as his mom and dad

the bad news is that there is a very rare disease called Post-Chrysalis Necrosis (PCN), in which the wings start rotting away a few days after emerging from the cocoon. so when Okispe was just barely starting to learn how to fly, before he could really do anything at all he started experiencing intense pain, went to the doctor, and found out that he will most likely never be able to fly, and also might die since PCN is deadly if it isn't eradicated before it can spread to the rest of the body.

So holes begin rotting into his wings. The treatment for PCN is to cauterize the infection, so the already-painful rotting cells are then made even more painful by being burned over and over until the infection is cured.

So he was in the hospital from age 13 all the way to when he was 20. To make matters worse, at some point while visiting Okispe, his parents caught a different deadly disease from another patient and both of them died.

Even after Okispe is eventually cured, he has a multitude of other issues to deal with. He's severely lacking in social skills, has an incredibly low self-esteem due to thinking that his hole-filled wings are ugly, has to deal with chronic pain from the burn scars, has to worry about the PCN potentially coming back, and cannot fly. And although stairs are an accessibility requirement in most of the city he lives in, the maintenance and everything is severely lacking, and some places aren't accessible at all. He also has to make up for all the school he missed and graduate late, and struggles to find a job that will actually hire him. He does manage to get a job lighting lanterns (this is a very important job with the worldbuilding I have for his home universe but that's an inforump for another time) but is paid less than those who can fly, and the job is pretty dangerous due to how close he has to get to enemy territory while put in the woods (there's a war going on).

So ableism and medical trauma and dead parents. Idk why I made his backstory so incredibly sad when it didn't need to be but uhhh. I am nothing if not sadistic towards my blorbos.

He does eventually leave his home universe to join Human and Sunrise in a life of multiversal crime but that part if his backstory actually IS spoilers. but anyways yeah that's my moth boi

[zuzuslastbraincell]

For the salty ask game: 6, 10 and 16? <3

6: Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I never used to like kataang or maiko much, but I’m good with the former and really like the latter now.

while I’m still not a big fan of the kataang (without wanting to write an essay: ember island players ruins it for me), I’ve softened on it a lot largely just from seeing the content for it on here. they’re just honestly very sweet? I don’t know if it’ll last for practical reasons, but the idea of aang & katara offering each other hope from the beginning and until the end is just lovely. 

as for maiko, I absolutely love the strength of mai & zuko’s dynamic (platonic or romantic) just from their boiling rock interactions alone. I feel like a lot of early s3 maiko very much demonstrates that they have some communication difficulties to work through together (thinking about the beach in particular here, but also the ‘are you cold?’ scene, as well as the break-up via letter interaction, that’s the big one) and in a sense mai represents part of zuko’s ‘ideal’ life as a perfect prince that he realises that he has to break from in the first half of s3, but I’ve come around to the idea that if they spent some time working through their communication issues they could really have something lovely? I do also think mai deserves a short break from the stifling culture of nobility/time to explore herself first, but after that? totally could work. like, i’m personally really attached to the gay zuko headcanon and always have been but a lot recent mutuals are maiko shippers and i’ve become very attached to maiko as well because of them (in parallel universes of course).

16: If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

so many things....

1. less racist, more sensitive worldbuilding. crucially better south asian rep, clear south asian rep. this also means including removing the caricature of guru pathik and changing the design of combustion man (and p’li) not to include a reference to shiva. the show’s philosophies and vocabulary owes so much to south asian culture and the lack of representation in that aspect alone is shocking.

2. references to the fact that there are some air nomad survivors / descendents in hiding in various and that being a late s2 / s3 subplot. (maybe aang is still the last airbender tho? but certainly his culture won’t die with him). the culture isn’t perfectly preserved / has changed with time and enduring hardships, some things have been lost, but there are still survivors clinging on, proud. maybe it’s this community that helps with him the avatar state, not a random guru? or they could help him with his s3e1 dilemma about ‘blending in’, as many of them have discarded certain aspects of appearance in order to hide? i feel like this could add so much to aang’s arc in the latter half of the show.

3. better writing of the white lotus, with the white lotus as a international resistance org that operates in all nations, that uses old man’s pai sho club as a front. they’re introduced as opposing the dai li in ba sing se, as trying to organise resistance in secret, have ties to some local revolutionary/radical factions as they have a long standing rivalry with the dai li (& part of the reason the dai li side with azula is to crush the white lotus and resistance to their reign). iroh is not grand lotus but merely gets recruited in s2, as part of a redemption arc.

4. a subtle iroh redemption arc where iroh realises he cannot simply be passive and perhaps let the treasonous thought ”hm, maybe it would have been better if the avatar fought sozin” cross his mind - he needs to take a more active role in opposing the fire nation, and he joins the white lotus. i think he also needs to reckon quite specifically with the cost of the siege of ba sing se, he needs to make amends to those hurt from it on both sides - be confronted by fire nation defectors who left after the siege because why were their deaths less important that his son’s? as well as encounter how the siege left scars on the lower ring, in a less visible way (untrained lower ring residents formed resistance militia and generally died in huge numbers; plague and starvation greatly affected the lower ring, etc.). no iroh as a moral authority here - he’s morally grey trying to become good. also he doesn’t stick around in ba sing se, he realises the jasmine dragon, as lovely as it is, isn’t true redemption either, and at the end of the series he stays in the fire nation.

5. leading into point 3 (and 4): in s3 the gaang encounters and works with grassroots underground resistance in the fire nation. i think this is a better message than ‘oh the fire nation is a soceity ridden by class division that exploits its poorer / less privileged people and its own environment as long as it doesn’t affect the elite, and turns even its most privileged children into traumatised child soldiers and is indirectly hurt by its own colonialism and imperialistic culture, and that’s deeply sad’ - i think a better message is ‘the fire nation is a society with all those problems and you can do something about it. you can stand up. even though that’s scary.’ this resistance group is around for day of black sun (in fact they’re vital to it) and then you see a key member in boiling rock too.

6. no combustion man. honestly? weak writing. would much prefer zuko attempting to ‘stealthily’ track the gaang on the false premise of a ‘welcome home tour’ where he slips out under night to try and chase them down - this would mostly be alluded to in a few scenes. i also think this would get zuko to realise how much the fire nation itself has been hurt from war. i think the main early s3 plot points e.g. the beach episode still happens, as does the war meeting. i feel like zuko would need extra firepower to be a decent s3 threat - maybe he takes mai and ty lee with him? zuko ultimate lesbian ally takes bored lesbians from the palace for a knife throwing chi blocking field trip kjfshdj i’m joking. but seriously we could also have a combustion bender on board as well as a potential new character (i’m imagining someone like a younger p’li if i’m honest, same age range as zuko), as long as they have a character beyond being a scary assassin. maybe they defect early to the resistance group before the day of black sun, tell zuko they should too (but zuko doesn’t listen)? that’d be rad.

7. the existence of grassroots resistance would basically allow for the series to end with zuko being offerred the crown, but deciding to give it up / end the royal line. rather than a power vacuum, or iroh, the existance of resistance means there are clearly people (i.e. adults) who can fill that space. maybe this is a bit optimistic of me but i would just love to set up a scenario where zuko doesn’t become a boy-king of an imperialist nation and where absolute monarchy doesn’t continue, where there’s a clear shift in system. i understand the narrative power of zuko acknowledges he has inherited wealth and power that has been gained through exploitation and imperialism, and dedicating his whole life to undoing the damage his family has done, but i think he can do this without being the fire lord? in fact not being the fire lord is a good first step. zuko finds another way of doing exactly this.

8. talked about this a lot recently but better toph s3 representation & greater ties to the earth kingdom. also, i’d just appreciate a lot more flavour from the earth kingdom as a whole, and more prominent characters from there?

9. okay i’m not sure there is quite honestly space in the narrative for an azula redemption clearly on screen in as much depth as zuko’s but 1. i’d like iroh not to treat her horribly, thanks, and maybe even try to reach out to her at appropriate moments, maybe we see him (comically) say a lovely warm hello during her s2 appearances, maybe we see her play pai sho with him in s3 while he’s in prison in return for some secret info he’s not actually giving her while he’s not-so-subtly suggesting she should defy her father (but it’s too little too late, he already *chose* zuko in her eyes, and perhaps he did and is only just beginning to realise that) 2. i would like some hope and optimism at the end for azula. her breakdown is truly tragic but it feels like pain for pain’s sake in a sense - i would have loved for the finale scene with zuko & ozai replaced with a scene where someone visits azula and tells them they’ll be there for her and/or they love her. perhaps iroh, perhaps zuko (though i think that one would be more complicated obviously). i would love a post-finale scene where iroh sets up a tea shop somewhere in the fire nation where we see azula out the back, finishing up wiping down/mopping the patio, and before aang goes inside to say hi to his friends, we see them bump into each other - azula bows deeply, a clear apology, and aang accepts it. then we see azula runs off to go hang out with some friends before we follow aang inside as he encounters his own friends.

basically i’d rewrite a lot of s3. i’m dearly, dearly attached to s3, especially the second half, which has some of my favourite episodes of the entire season, but i think it’s flawed.

[skoopedy]

So, now that this lad has been seen, it’s about time I introduce him!

CONTINUED WAR AU

“The war between homeworld and the rebelling Crystal Gems has been going on for thousands of years. 10-year old Steven Universe grew up knowing that he is half-gem, but does not quite know what that means about him or his future. The mystery surrounding his mother comes to haunt him when two gems save his life from an attack and say that they were friends with Rose Quartz.”

More under the cut!

In this AU of Steven Universe, the war between Homeworld and the rebelling Crystal Gems never ended; rather, it lasted for thousands of years, being prolonged for both sides after the mysterious disappearance of Pink Diamond. It was assumed that the Crystal Gems had somehow overthrew her and held her hostage, but nothing has ever been confirmed. The diamond leader had just simply vanished. With no idea of where she is or what could have happened to her, the diamonds kept sending troops to Earth as both soldiers and search parties to continue in their efforts of finding the lost gem, and fighting the rebels that get in their way. It goes on like this, in repetition, for eons… Steven Universe was born into this world. He grew up in a very small farm town that resides in the middle of the country, far away from the zones where the creatures called gems tended to fight. He was raised all alone by his father, Greg Universe, since his mother, Rose Quartz, gave up her form to have him over ten years ago. He likes to help around with the other farmers, and likes to go on walks along the dirt roads and the forests! He likes hitching rides on the horse drawn carriages to nearby settlements, and to walk down to the lake to swim or fish! He also likes to cause mischief around the place if the day calls for it! His simple life couldn’t be more simple for a simple ten year old boy. Right…? Except, Steven knows that he isn’t simple. He’s half-gem…and gems don’t exactly have a good reputation amongst humans. The townspeople know that he’s a hybrid and love him enough, but it’s not like they can tell him anything about his heritage of his mother’s gem. Rose Quartz is gone, and she didn’t exactly leave a lot of info to his dad about what to expect before she passed away. Was he going to inherit her powers? Was his destiny, if it exists, tied to the other gems that come from the sky and from the zones? Is he going to have fight too, someday? His little questions were left unanswered - until one day, his little town is attacked by a group of gems and their flying ship that have wandered too far inland. They wreak havoc amongst Steven’s town and hurt his fellow people, driving them out of their lifelong homes. Steven, having lost his father amongst the chaos, is about to be hurt by a soldier as well. However, a slender gem with a spear and a tall gem with gauntlets step in, and save his life…   ~~~ That’s about all I’ll give for now! I hope you guys like it! I really, really want to turn this into a fanfiction someday - I already have so much worldbuilding planned, and the beginning of the outline is already pages long. The last two doodles of my Steven was made in a drawpile with other members in the SU Server that I’m in! I’m currently making designs for Garnet and Pearl as well, and I’ll post them too when I’m done! Thank you so much for reading!

[terramythos]

TerraMythos’ 2020 Reading Challenge In Review - 8/10s!

See Master Post 

Here’s the 8/10s! This is basically the mid-level “stuff I liked” rating. 

1. How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin (Full Review Here)

The 8/10 on this is a little misleading, as it’s an average score among 22 stories. Anthologies are basically never going to be my highest-rated works because to me short fiction is hit-or-miss. As you can tell from my actual write-up, there are a lot of great stories here; Jemisin is just a fantastic writer. The Trojan Girl, Valedictorian, The Evaluators, The Narcomancer, and Too Many Yesterdays/Not Enough Tomorrows all live in my head rent-free. There’s just some that also didn’t click with me. 

2. All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here) 

If you peeked at the 9 and 10 lists you know I loved this series, lol. This one ranked a little lower than the others because it’s super short! Just as I started getting attached to Murderbot and interested in the world, the book ended. It was a good hook to get me further into the series but hard to rank on its own. The other novellas ranked higher since I was more familiar with Murderbot by then.  I’m very glad I stuck with it and kept reading! 

3. City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris #1) by Jeff VanderMeer (Full Review Here) 

This is the first book in the pseudo-trilogy that is the Ambergris series. It’s basically a short story collection, and boy is it weird! There’s clearly something wrong with Ambergris as a city, and it’s hard to parse fact from fiction when the stories intentionally contradict each other or obfuscate information. There’s a ton of hints that don’t pay off until Finch, which is totally bonkers. Anyway, I really liked the horror/historical stories (yes those are basically the same when it comes to Ambergris) -- The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris, The Transformation of Martin Lake, King Squid, and my personal favorite The Cage. The other stories just ranged from mildly interesting to meh. 

4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (Full Review Here)

I can totally see why this is a classic in LGBT YA fiction. The writing and love story are both fantastic. As someone perpetually closeted in real life, the struggle of Ari realizing he’s in love with his best friend hits close to home, and is clearly drawn from the author’s own relationship with his sexuality. I really like that both of the leads’ families are integral to the story, and while Ari’s personal arc is a family conflict, it’s refreshingly not due to the LGBT stuff. This book would be an easy 10/10 but something happened near the middle that totally killed the pace for me. Thankfully it does get better in the last third or so. 

5. The Siren Depths (The Books of the Raksura #3) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here) 

This book is probably my favorite in the original trilogy; I like the reveal of Moon’s past and the complicated emotions associated with that. The Fell are genuinely creepy villains played to their full potential as well. The Siren Depths also introduces two of my favorite characters, Malachite and Shade. It’s got the emotions! It’s got the action! It’s got the kinda-horror! The main thing that dragged down the score is the ending, which felt rushed and tied up way too quickly. 

6. The Cloud Roads (The Books of the Raksura #1) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here) 

As an introduction to the Raksura series, I really liked this book! There’s a sense of this huge setting with lots of interesting worldbuilding and development. I’ve said it a lot, but I like that it’s a fantasy setting with zero humans or recognizable fantasy races. It’s also super cool to have the main characters able to shapeshift and fly! Moon learning about the Raksura and their culture feels natural because he’s an outsider. I also like his arc; how he mistrusts/allies with the Raksura for convenience, then gradually finds his place among them. At this point in the series the Fell weren’t especially interesting villains, but (spoiler) the series does eventually address this. 

7. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire (Full Review Here) 

So I really like the concept behind this one -- twins created by shady alchemical experiments get tossed into the real world in order to observe their natural development. While intentionally kept apart, they manage to find each other nevertheless via telepathy. There’s this grand scheme for the villains to steal the twins’ power and become a god? And at some point the reader realizes there’s time loops and stuff where they’re trying to prevent certain bad endings (hello Zero Escape)? Platonic soulmates?! Just... a lot of interesting stuff going on. I think what kept this from a 9 or a 10 for me is much of the book reads like contemporary coming-of-age fiction, which isn’t what I was looking for with a concept like this. Technically the “ordinary” nature of the first half is a façade because Plot, but... you still have to read through it. 

8. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Full Review Here) 

This is an interesting nonfiction work that summarizes major scientific knowledge in terms a layman can understand. Bryson is actually a travel writer, but consulted dozens of experts in order to write this book and cites the hell out of everything. I think he does a great job presenting accurate and accessible information. Even stuff I learned in school is explained in ways that make more sense than how I was taught-- like ice ages. I also learned lots of interesting facts! My main issue is there’s a heavy focus on individual scientists, many of whom were boring. And while this isn’t the book’s fault, some of the info is outdated. I think this would benefit from a revised edition. 

9. Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf #1) by Ryan Graudin (Full Review Here) 

Absolutely fuckin’ bonkers concept. Alternate “the Nazis won” history, starring a Holocaust escapee who can skinshift, posing as a professional motorcyclist, trying to compete and win an annual Reich-sponsored race, in order to get a private audience with Hitler and murder the shit out of him? Probably the most surprising thing about the premise is it mostly works. I really like the deliberate pacing through the tense motorcycle race, the level of deception Yael has to maintain, and the harrowing flashback sequences. Sometimes the symbolism is a little heavy-handed, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the generic antagonistic YA love interest character Luka, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by this one. 

10. A Conspiracy of Truths (A Conspiracy of Truths #1) by Alexandra Rowland (Full Review Here) 

This takes place in a fantasy world with analogues to real-world nations. The main character, an old man named Chant, is a professional storyteller who is arrested for supposed witchcraft in the Eastern Europe-esque country of Nuryevet. While it’s clearly a farce, he’s screwed over by the local political system and imprisoned. Faced with possible execution, Chant uses his gift for storytelling to manipulate local powers, and accidentally starts a political revolution in the country. Whoops! 

I liked the book’s meta-commentary on storytelling, and it features a lot of wonderful side-stories told by Chant and other characters. Oddly enough, the economics are super interesting (a trait shared with the sequel). My main criticism is most of the political intrigue goes down off-screen; we just learn about it through other characters. While that makes sense with an imprisoned protagonist, it’s not the most exciting approach. I ended up liking A Choir of Lies more, but this one was still good. 

11. The Serpent Sea (The Books of the Raksura #2) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

Boy did I read a lot of Martha Wells this year. This is the last one! This is probably my least favorite of the series; very much a filler/side-story. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining entry on its own merits. The leviathan city is distinctively gross, and I liked the evil magister antagonist and his creepy-ass museum. This is also where we learn about Chime’s powers, which continue to be relevant through the series. But I don’t have a whole lot to say beyond that. It’s a solid entry that doesn’t change much.

[concealeddarkness13]

Powerpoint for my Isolation Story!

Tagging: @ratracechronicler​, @nightskywriter​, and @whollyart​!

I don’t know some things about this story yet, but I wanted to post a Powerpoint for it anyway. More detailed worldbuilding posts for this story: 1, 2, 3

Also, I will be putting image descriptions after each image, so I will be putting some of this under a read more.

[Image Description: a title page reading: Isolation! AKA: the story which is super sci-fi and has a lost of worldbuilding. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Overview

Some humans decided to isolate themselves completely from the rest of the universe for some reason

Hundreds of years ago, their ancestors built some defense tech (like humanoid mechs from anime); these require two people to pilot them

This defense tech has kept them safe from any invasion

At least until some new invaders show up; they fight into a stalemate, when they finally realize who the invaders are

They are humans as well, and they want to conquer the universe; they suggest/expect the isolationist humans to join their cause and help them conquer

Which leads to the humans having to decide which choice is better:

Try to fight the invaders and get them off the planet and oppose them in their conquering

Just try to fight the invaders and get them off the planet, but ignore the rest of their conquering as much as they can

Or, join the invaders to guarantee that they won’t be destroyed. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: The Isolationist Humans

Lived on a planet with perpetual light for hundreds of years, so they can’t see in the dark at all

But they can see more vivid colors than regular humans

Don’t know why they came to this planet and decided to isolate themselves

But they do let some aliens from the invasions join them, as long as they isolate themselves too

Since the planet is so deadly, they discourage exploration and try to keep everyone within city walls to monitor them to make sure they don’t send anything outside the planet

They have no idea how the defense tech works, but since it only works on isolationist humans, they don’t care. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: The Conquering Humans

They’ve been living on spaceships out in space for at least a hundred years, so they’ve developed being able to see in the dark better, but they are not able to see colors as vividly

A little bit before they started the whole conquering thing, their planet was destroyed by aliens (for reasons unknown)

This causes them to get angry, and start the whole conquering thing

They also have some aliens from the species they’ve conquered on their ships. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: The Isolation Planet

Terrible place to live

Four different areas: a fire area, and ice area, a storm area, and an earth area

The fire area literally has a giant fireball suspended in the sky, everything is either fire or fireproof

The ice area is covered in snow, too freezing for anyone to live in, has mice-like creatures that eat fire from the fire area and release oxygen so that there’s enough in the atmosphere for humans to live

The storm area is a perpetual storm, has wolf-like creatures that can generate and maybe even become lightning

The earth area is a forever shifting maze. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: The Aliens

Info on any alien species I come up with

The first is a prey species that can blend into their surroundings, and they have a photographic memory because they have extensive traps to stop their predators, so they have to remember everything

The second is a predator species:

they have evolved to be able to give their prey an order, and the prey has to do it or believe it

they are both hunters and parasitic; they hunt their prey as adults, but when it is time to have their young, they find their prey and tell them that their young is the prey’s young (so that the prey truly believes it); while the prey is taking care of their young, the young eats the prey slowly, telling the prey that they aren’t getting eaten and that they don’t feel pain

Humans have been added to the alien’s prey list

I don’t know their genders yet, so I’ll just refer to them as “they”. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Nyr

Will fight you with her fists and sarcasm (like so many of my other characters)

Rebel, she doesn’t care about isolation or staying within ciy walls

She sneaks out of the city and explores the planet as much as she can

Has made friends with some of the mice and a wolf

Everyone discouraged her from her dream of exploring, but she just ignored them

Loves hearing stories from the aliens about their home planets

Becomes a pilot of the defense tech, with Liam being her partner

Hates that. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Liam

Really nice guy

No really

No ulterior motives

He’s always dreamed of going to space and exploring the stars

He was discouraged, and he listened to them, so he gave up on his dream and now has no dream

He just makes sure to encourage everyone else in their dreams since he doesn’t want them to feel the same way as he did

He’s a really good dude

Becomes Nyr’s partner in the defense tech. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Seras

Part of the conquering humans

She loves adrenaline and fights

She takes it too far sometimes

When you meet her, she’s actually in jail to cool her head after she broke her friend’s arm during a spar

Even though she’s reckless, she makes sure none of her friends do anything reckless

Loves cooking. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Quis

Seras’ friend

He’s quiet and calm in any situation

When Seras apologizes to him, he just shrugs his shoulders and says it’s fine. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Essha

Part of the conquering humans, but he doesn’t like what they are doing, so he’s actually spying on them to sabotage them

He’s part of a group who thinks the conquering humans are taking it too far

But the group has some ulterior motives, so his intentions aren’t the best (I just don’t know what those motives are yet)

Sneaky boy, he smiles creepily too much. End Description]

[Image Description: a page titled: Hebi

One of the predator aliens that I talked about in a previous slide

They are part of the conquering humans

They are trying to find a way to protect against their own species’ mind attacks

Creepy as heck

Torments Nyr and Liam when they meet each other. End Description]

[jannaphia]

Can you tell us more about Ronan? Like some info about all the kingdoms and places? Your worldbuilding seems so fascinating I’d love to know literally everything *heart eyes*

Anon, you have no idea what a can of worms you opened up here :DSorry in advance, this will be long!

Empire of Asturia

The empire used to be a small state simply called Asturia, until its then King grew a bit too ambitious, decided to expand his realm and declare himself emperor. After centuries of warring, marrying the right people, annexing and bullying smaller states into submission, the empire has become the largest nation in the history of the continent.The empire itself is split into smaller counties, duchies & land- and margravines, loosely resembling the shapes of their initial sovereign nations.Right beneath the emperor in status are the Princes or Fürsten. None of them own land per se, but those are the people controlling the fate of the empire. The senate made up of ‘ambassadors’ from the various territories now contained in the empire has very little power, and is more often than not a farce to make them feel like they have a voice in the capital.Even though the emperor rules alone, there is one person whose words may weigh even more: a True Immortal called Salain de Avennes, who has made Karisan his patron city.

Bregón

Once the counterweight to an ever hungry empire, Bregón lost much in the last war. Among those things were control of the Harrow (the main pass accross the Wilds), two regiments of finely trained soldiers (they walked too far into the Wilds and never returned) and their reigning King (assassinated by what many believed to be an old lady - nobody knows because they never got caught). The twins who inherited the throne were too young and inept to say the least. Now the crown is struggling while the merchants’ power grows with every passing day. The trade with Koshar is lining their pockets with gold, gold which they increasingly refuse to pass on to the reign - even though the king has tried to better himself after his sister’s ‘hunting accident’ (what a classic).

Dornhan

Not much to say about Dornhan, as it mostly consist of salt marsh, normal marsh, a few windy islands off the coast, hungry peasants and at least two to three kings at a time. Generally nobody knows what’s going on up there and nobody cares. They say a Bregón king tried to overthrow Dornhan once and returned home after walking 10 feet into the country.

Altarath

In Altarath the sun is blotted out every midday by an obstruction in the sky they call ‘Okirin’. Basically, there is a small eclipse every day.It’s a dark, mostly barren and harsh land, ruled by a True Immortal called Ashishkaia Anaetta Kladia, Queen of Altarath, The Eye of Okirin, who is almost worshipped as a goddess by some. The Altheli are a reclusive people, they are rarely found on the continent, but they are easily discern-able by their white pupils.

Norotvoi Islands

South of Altarath, the storm tossed Norotvoi Islands are also under the shadow of Okirin. The Norotvoi are excellent seafarers and explorers and the only people who somehow made something like a democracy work. A new leader is chosen every 6 years at a special gathering and every citizen over the age of 20 is allowed to vote (unless they stand on the deck of a ship).

Fervir

Fervir borders on eastern Asturia, and is a rather rough and archaic land. Early attempts by the empire to overthrow the state were thwarted immediately and so a peace treaty was installed, which both countries have kept to this day. It might be, because Fervir is mostly mountainous, with little means to grow resources, and their most notorious export is a steady stream of fearless warriors (getting a Fervir body guard has become somewhat ‘chique’ in Karisan). The country is divided between Arls, who rule their lands in family clans. The High Arl is seated in Falkanger, and is a chosen member of one of the many Arl families. 

Lattvhila

Desperately cold and frozen, especially in winter. Nomadic families roam its tundra, who sometimes make the bothersome journey to Fervir, to sell furs, silver and whatever strange things they found under the ice.

Zaferya

‘The Bridge to the East’ is covered by steppe and desert, but that hasn’t stopped its people from building tall, tower-cities all over the planes. They always sit on top of a well, and the water is distributed evenly through a system that outsiders would describe as ‘this shouldn’t even work’.

Koshar

Koshar’s climate is rather subtropical, bordering on a desert farther inland. Its coast, however displays a much more temperate, mediterranean climate. Koshar is essentially a monarchy, lead by a man they call Adar-Malik. The Kosh are gifted artisans and craftsmen, and their pigments are in such a high demand that merchants travel as far as Norotvoi and Altarath to sell them.

Other important places..

The Wilds

The Wilds are a vast expanse of mountains and forest smack in the middle of the continent. They could almost be described as another realm, as nobody has been mad enough yet to claim ownership of them. That is why there is practically no border between Bregón and the Empire, except for a few mountain passes where the two nations meet.The Southern Wilds are a lot tamer, and not completely infested with everything straight out of your worst nightmare.

Norik

Norik, or formerly the sovereign confederacy of Norik, is now a province of the Asturian Empire, located in the north and bordering to Fervir. Its governmental system used to be similar to that of Fervir, only that it was ruled by Lords, who only chose a High Lord in times of crises. Such a crisis arose when the Empire came knocking on their door. Before the decisive battle, however, a treaty was strung up and the High Lord blackmailed into signing it, which turned out later to enable the Empire to take over the whole confederacy without compromise.

Naturally the entire population felt betrayed in such a way, that the first rebellion formed a mere week after the annexation. Ever since the Empire has been trying its hardest to gain control over its most unruly province, which continues to revolt.

Cara Reka

For some ungodly reason Cara Reka escaped the Empire’s notice when it was looking for new conquests. Maybe because the little kingdom was too small, or maybe because it lies even behind Norik and the generals just couldn’t be bothered anymore, or maybe because their cavalry is deadly and made up of Rivenhorses.

Kirchenfal

Kirchenfal used to be an independent, theocratic country, west of the Southern Wilds. They believed only priests are permitted to study and learn magic (it’s called the Pulse but that’s a whole other thing so I’ll just call it magic here), which put not only the role of leadership, but also their military and guard into the hands of their church. Back then the land used to be rich with Hakkon Silver - a mineral that shortly enhances one’s magical abilities - and when the Empire started expanding its eyes soon fell upon them.Led by greed, a general named Alos de Brevi raided the country, overthrew the trifecta church, ordered every priest and monk executed and mined the silver until there was none left to be found. Despite the Karisan court being in uproar over the cruelty of the undertaking, the money and power the silver brought soon quieted most critics and Kirchenfal has reluctantly been absorbed into the empire as county palatine, ruled by the de Brevis. Robbed of not only their main source of income, but also of their ruling class and any way to learn magic, the Falese soon surrendered to their fate, although sparsely uprisings occur and many young people flee west into Bregón or south into Koshar.

Taifa of Inezra

The little mass of land at the very western tip of the continent had been gifted to a Kosh general called Inezra al Yanin, who aided the King of Brégon in a battle against southern raiders. It was subsiquentially named after her, and when she retired from the army she set up residence in a small port she re-named Abderral. Under her patronage the small seaside town soon grew into a bustling harbour city and a haven for artists and scholars. Its library surpasses even the Karisan Archives in size and its five universities are renowned, not only on the continent, but also overseas.After al Yanin’s death, her son took over ruling the taifa, holding up his mother’s values.

...I think I’m gonna stop here lmaoYOU SAID YOU WANTED TO KNOW EVERYTHINGThanks for asking haha ♥ 

[permian-tropos]

Hi! you said you only like particular types of Kylux, do you have any stories to recommend? How do you feel about gingerpilot, hux/rose (hose?) and hux/cardinal?

It’s actually been a few years since I shipped kylux. My absolute ultimate Star Wars OTP that has consumed 50% of my waking thoughts has been gallirae, which is such a teensy Imperial rarepair. Even with it being so teensy, just myself and some friends, I haven’t run out of ways to explore it. There’s so much untapped potential. I’ve shipped it for longer than I shipped kylux. Rae Sloane in particular succeeds at being the villainous archetype that a lot of people including myself had to work to transform Hux into. An ambitious, talented, career officer and underdog with reasons to passionately defend the system and other reasons to doubt or resent it. 

Back when I was more kylux-exclusive, once I got into the idea of creating my own content, I was very fixated on that and found other fic to be somewhat distracting. Also lately my attention span when it comes to reading fanfic has drastically improved. (Going back on ADHD meds has... been part of it). So back in the day, I noticed plenty of cool stories, including stuff friends of mine wrote, but struggled to read it. My impression of fandom was more the stuff that wound up on my tumblr dash. Plus I did a ton of RP. There’s probably a lot of really good kylux fic out there that I never got around to reading, also a lot of good kylux fic I read but forgot. I didn’t keep good records on AO3. I just now checked my bookmarks list for you and the kylux fics on there? I do not remember anything about them and I really did read them ages ago. I don’t even have enough links to fics my old fandom friends wrote. I really just wasn’t much of a content curator. 

I think my ideal kylux (The Fic I Never Truly Wrote) would be something with a truly sci-fi, fantasy, or paranormal plot. Something besides romance is going on, danger and intrigue especially coming from extraordinary sources. There’s a whole chunk of worldbuilding, intrigue, suspense or danger. Kind of action-adventure buddy-dramedy-ish (I said kylux isn’t like ineffable husbands in personality but that doesn’t mean they can’t be thrown into slightly alike plot circumstances).

That being said. There’s one kylux fic I still remember liking AND remembered enough identifying info to find it again on AO3 (there’s a couple of others that I just... FUCK... I can’t remember the author or fic name even though a lot of other stuff is really clear in my mind. Sorry. I was depressed and disorganized for the past few years). I’m not saying this one’s the best of everything I’ve read, or exactly what I might have been looking for. But I remember it. It’s quite old by sequel trilogy fandom standards. Also if it turns out to have been right about Palpatine possession being the endgame thing, that will be neat as heck.

Saint by @ofcorsetstrash​ lol I think I’ve told them once before that this is inexplicably one of my favorite fics (not that it’s inexplicable because it’s not good but that I read it very early on and it remained memorable with how huge the fandom got) it just resonated with me maybe I really liked the way it represented mental conversations with use of text formatting, that’s something I did in one of my first fanfics and it’s a very cool and vivid technique.

Also there’s these fics my best friend Mads @honeypothux wrote a while back: 

Seasons Greetings From the Solo-Organas -- a holiday comedy with a cool background element of a modern AU with Star Wars infused history (I’m a sucker for modern settings that are like what medieval fantasy is to medieval Europe -- very similar normal everyday life, very different geopolitics and history. It has the same intrigue for me as magic realism.) 

When the Crypt Door Creaks -- sadly unfinished but it’s young adult Kylo and Hux in a haunted Disney ride adventure. The Haunted Mansion itself. A lot of cool ideas, reminds me a teeny bit of a Henry Selick animated film. 

And the ones of mine I like:

Flashburn -- very very weird context for this one, fandom got obsessed with tentacle rape for a brief while and I found it squicky and started a fic to work through that squick by taking the idea seriously, but it’s not at all explicit, it’s about as implicit as you can get without actual ambiguity. Rated T but check the warnings. It’s more about Kylo and Hux discovering ways to not hate each other. 

Our Wicked Home -- maybe my favorite kylux fic I’ve written. Senator Hux returns to the abandoned Arkanis Academy as part of a truth and reconciliation, alongside his Jedi bodyguard Ben Solo. Hux doesn’t have a bad relationship with his family in this (and his parents were happily married), and it’s hard for him to cope with having nostalgia for a place where there was so much suffering.

Memory of Snow -- quiet alpine angst post-canon with hermit Kylo finding outcast Hux has tracked him down 

Moving on: 

How I feel about gingerpilot? Never really felt like my thing. 

Hux/Rose? I have never seen it called Hose that’s hilarious omfg. I didn’t passionately love it at first but my pal @tobermoriansass got me into it. I definitely don’t ship it in all possible configurations. Not as a cutesy sort of ship, definitely. Something raw and rotten and intense. I have a half-finished Hux/Rose fic that I wrote for a fic exchange. Still feel guilty about not completing it. But I kind of gave myself a writing injury trying to finish it, pushed myself too hard. I’ll come back to it when I’m ready. 

If you want a smut rec here’s a wild ride of a Finn/Rose/Hux weird alien psychic bond threesome 

Hux/Cardinal? I haven’t read Phasma yet, just had other people tell me about it. I’d kind of like to ship them as brothers. This is mostly because I don’t like canon Brendol Hux having no complexity in his relationship to his son. I think he was once an interesting character who could have been even more interesting and who can’t be interesting when he’s too repulsive to linger on for long. So having Cardinal and Armitage develop a strong brotherly bond adds to a complicated family backstory. Deep down I want to do a Fullmetal Alchemist AU for them where Cardinal is the disembodied suit of armor brother to Armitage the shrimpy irascible genius, though they’re far less heroic than the Elrics. 

Ummmmmm

I think that’s about it except that one major reason why I don’t read kylux is that I’m absolutely obsessed with my OC of his mom and I so vastly prefer the universe where she exists because she’s like a weird overpowered feral ocean witch. If only canon had invented her instead of me. 

OH ALSO I FORGOT THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION ANON YOURE VERY LOVELY HOPE YOU ENJOY THE FICS I JUST GOT SO FOCUSED ON ANSWERING I FORGOT I WAS VERY HAPPY TO GET YOUR ASK LOL

[81scorp]

Constructive criticism: Justice League (2017)

(Originally posted on June 9, 2018)

Ah yes, Justice League. The comic with some of DC`s greatest heroes coming together to form a team that made Marvel so nervous that they created their own superteam: Fantastic Four. Fast forward a few years later, Marvel started to not only make their own movies but they they also created a shared cinematic universe. Warner Bros, owners of the film rights to DC, became eager to strike while the iron was hot and make their own Cinematic universe. It could have gone well if WB hadn`t insisted on paying catch up with Marvel. I do not envy the makers of this movie. Filmed pretty much directly after Batman v Superman only to find out that Bvs did not sit well with audiences so the film makers were forced to do changes mid filming. Add to that a family tragedy that forces the original director to step down and be replaced by a director with a different style. Sure, I don`t think any film productions go flawlessly, all have a few hiccups, and in some cases they can lead to a better movie. This was not the case for Justice League. Personally I didn`t hate it, it made more sense than BvS and I found it more enjoyable. There has been talk of a "Snyder Cut" and people are convinced that it would be a masterpiece. Judging from Snyder`s previous work and his tendencies to always believe that "darker is better" I doubt that. I`m sure it would have been more in tone with Batman v Superman, but would it have been good? If I could run so fast that I could screw the laws of physics, travel backwards in time and change these movies, What would I have done?

Contains SPOILERS for Batman v Superman and Justice League

Secret identities

Bruce, Clark, Barry and Hal should have one. Victor, Arthur and Diana doesn`t have to have one. That`s right, Diana could be open about her superheroing and still keep her day job. (Hey, it works for Jennifer Walters.)

Wonder Woman and the Male gaze

Don`t do the male gaze on Wonder Woman. Nuff said.

The Amazons bikini armor

Give them practical armor that doesn`t expose their midriffs.

The Mother boxes as rare, super important Macguffins

The movie doesn`t have to be superfaithful to everything in the comics but this time I`m gonna be one of that "In the comics" guy. In the comics the Mother boxes are pretty common things on the world of the New Gods. One of their many functions is opening "Boom tubes" to travel long distances. Like the teleportation portals used in this movie. How about this instead: The rare Macguffins are round spheres instead of cubes, and they`re called "Worldbuilders".

The Parademons

Make them a little more green. Once when I watched it there were a few scenes where Cyborg was fighting them and, to be honest, I had trouble telling him apart from them.

Steppenwolf and Cyborg`s CGI

They could have used practical effects mixed with CGI. The metal on Cyborg`s face and the upper half of his torso could have been practical.

Superman being dead

Killing him off in BvS was way to early. Even if JL had been a better movie than it was I still would have written a CC bringing it up. This was also the hardest part of writing this CC. Coming up with a plot where Supes isn`t dead but at the same time keeping the stuff from the movie that could still work.

I`m biased here, but I`d like to think that I did OK.

Plot

3 years ago: A group of scientists dig up an ancient, otherworldly, seemingly high-tech, spherical artefact. Present day: Coast City, Ferris Aircraft: Carol Ferris has finished working for the day and is going home, she notices something (or someone) floating in the air above her. She looks up. It`s Green Lantern. He has been busy keeping order in the galaxy and has been away from Earth for some time. He wonders if anything interesting has happened while he was gone. As if to answer his question we get an opening credit scene to a montage of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash and Aquaman doing what they do best to heroic music, in slow motion. (The style of Zack Snyder can be good if you know where and when to use it.) In one part of this montage Superman should save a kitten (or a puppy). Why? Because he`s frickin` Superman! That`s why!

Gotham: A burglar robs someone`s apartment, Batman shows up and beats him. Bats has the upperhand but gets attacked by a parademon. The parademon has the upperhand but gets attacked by Superman who tries to restrain it. The parademon, fights like a maniac to get out of Supes grip but realizes that Supes is much to strong, so it self destructs. Bats and Supes talk a little. The attacks by these flying creatures have been happening more and more around the globe. Possible invasion? Supes hears that he is needed elsewhere and flies away. The Burglar thinks that Bats has forgotten about him and reaches for his loot but Bats steps on his arm and looks at him as a way of saying "Oh no, my friend, I haven`t forgotten about you". The burglar is left tied up outside the nearest police station. Bats calls Oracle and asks if she`s made any progress. We see a woman in a wheelchair in front of a couple of computerscreens. One of the screens shows info about Barry Allen being the Flash (Yes, Batman knows Barry`s secret identity, because he`s Batman!) On the computerscreen there`s a photo of Hal Jordan (from when he saved Carol Ferris`s life) and a video log made by Silas Stone, where he documents the process of trying to save his son`s life by giving him cybernetic limbs.

Oracle: "Nothing new about the flying, green guy I`m afraid, but I`ve found something about the guy with robot limbs."

She tells him that the young man is Victor Stone, a promising athlete and very intelligent. He was injured in an explosion. The other man is Silas Stone, Victor`s father, who tried to help his son by replacing his lost bodyparts with cybernetic prosthetics. Cybernetic legs and arms (from Lexcorp*) and a bionic eye (from S.T.A.R. labs) to replace one that he lost. It`s rumored that Victor didn`t survive the procedure. She says she`ll look into it more.

Metropolis, S.T.A.R. Labs: Silas Stone is going home for the day, A janitor (let`s call him Bob) gives him his condolences (because of what happened to Victor). Silas goes home to his apartment where his son, Victor is (who is very much alive). Silas talks to him and tries to offer support. Victor tells him that he`s having trouble adjusting to his new body. We get a little backstory through a flashback. After the accident It took him some time, but eventually Victor started to adjust to the idea of living with robot limbs. Then came the day when some scientists brought some unknown, small, high-tech rectangluar device (a Mother Box) to S.T.A.R. labs. When it was put in the same room as Victor it came alive, grew in size, disassembled itself and reassembled itself as a robot body around Victor. The difference between his new cyborg body and his old cybernetic limbs is that the new body is changing, upgrading itself. Everyday he wakes up with something new, like the ability to fly for an example. He also has images of a sphere-shaped object in his head. He`s a stranger in his own body, and it scares him.

Central City: Barry visits his dad in prison and tells him that the investigation has reached a dead-end. His dad, having no hope of ever getting out of jail, tells him to not waste all of his time on his case and move forward with his life. But Barry is determined, he`s not giving up on his dad. Paris: Diana is working in the museum, talks a little to her co-workers, one of them shows her the news where a professor living in Paris is missing. Diana goes to investigate. She arrives at the professor`s apartment. There`s police tape on the crime scene, a big hole in the wall that leads out to the streets and the whole place is a mess. Suddenly she`s not alone, a parademon shows up. She fights it, binds it with her lasso, it tries to break free, can`t, selfdestructs. Wonder Woman knows what it is, and realizes she has places to go and people to see. Metropolis, S.T.A.R. Labs: Bob the janitor is about to leave and go home, hears something, goes to investigate, is ambushed by a parademon.

Central City: Barry is on the phone with Iris. He talks to her about the situation with his dad and how he can do nothing to help him. Iris wants to help. Her best suggestion is that he goes for a walk to clear his head. Barry thinks it`s a good idea. He goes for a run as the Flash, ends up on a rooftop, takes time to reflect. Someone is being robbed, Flash pauses his thinking, stops the robber and goes back to his thinking.

The next day, Maine, Amnesty Bay: Diana is standing on a pier waiting for someone. Arthur shows up. She tells him that they could use his help. Arthur has heard about the flying creatures and wants to help but his hands are tied by the Atlantean royal council who think that he shouldn`t care about the surface world and focus on Atlantis. He tells Diana that he`ll do his best to convince the council but he can`t promise anything. Then he dives into the ocean and hitches a ride on an orca.

Themiscyra: Steppenwolf shows up to steal the worldbuilder. The Amazons put up a good fight and do their best to keep the worldbuilder away from him but in the end he gets away with it. The Amazons send the flaming arrow signal. Diana (who is travelling through the US to tell Bruce about what she knows) and Oracle both see the signal on the tv news.

Bat cave: Bruce is working on a big airship, Diana comes in and wants to talk to him. Alfred reveals to Bruce that it was he who let her in. Diana tells the story of the first time Steppenwolf tried to take over Earth. 1000 years ago the Amazons, the greek gods, the Atlanteans and a guardian from the stars (the Green Lantern who guarded sector 2814 back then), joined forces to defeat him. The worldbuilders were kept separate and the one given to the humans was buried.

Gotham: Oracle is searching for info on Victor. He contacts her, tells her he`s aware that she`s looking for and wants her to stop. She manages to convince him to let her talk to him. He doesn`t want to leave the apartment however and she`s not very mobile herself, being in a wheelchair and all. She tells him that she`ll send someone to speak for her. After giving it some thought Victor`s OK with it.

Metropolis, Daily Planet: Clark and Lois talk a little, about the flying aliens that have shown up recently and people that have been kidnapped. Could there be a connection? If so, what do the creatures need the people for? Clark hears something and excuses himself (looks like a job for Superman), he leaves and Lois gets a phonecall. A little later Supes lands outside a building where a group of reactionary terrorists have taken people hostage. They believe that the invasion of flying creatures is a sign that the world needs to be purged with fire. Not only do they have a time-bomb but they also start shooting at the hostage. Superman is fast and protects the hostage from bullets, as he reaches the time-bomb there`s only one second left and... The bomb is suddenly surrounded by a green forcefield that takes the force of the explosion. It was created by a flying masked man in a green suit. It`s Green Lantern.

Silas Stone`s apartment: The person who comes to talk to Victor in Oracle`s place is Lois Lane.She tries to convince him to join in the fight and reminds him of when he helped her find evidence that saved Supes`s life. Victor`s final response is "I`ll think about it".

Atlantis: Steppenwolf invades Atlantis, fights, defeats and kills two guards. Fights and defeats Mera, Fights and defeats Arthur, takes the worldbuilder and boomtubes away. When Arthur recovers he tells the Atlantean royal council that now is a time for action. Mera supports him. The council admits that they`ll have to get more involved and not distance themselves too much from the surface world. Mera gives Arthur a trident and assures him that she can take care of Atlantis in his absence.

Metropolis, S.T.A.R. Labs: Silas Stone gets kidnapped by a parademon.

Gotham Police Department: Commissioner Gordon is, together with another cop, looking at police reports. He says that with the things that has happened lately he`s starting to wonder if Batman`s help is enough. Heck, soon maybe even Superman`s help won`t be enough. Might be a good idea to call Batman tonight, see if he knows something they don`t.

Metropolis, Silas Stone`s apartment: Victor realizes that his dad should have been home by now and accesses the internet. He hacks into the Police`s database and finds out that his dad has been kidnapped. He takes the big step of stepping outside his apartment.

Central City: Barry gets a call from Bats who tells him to meet him in Gotham. Flash suits up and runs to Gotham.

Somewhere in Russia: We see a town where people and families do everyday stuff, cleaning their houses, reading the news paper etc. In one of the families (lets call them the Dostojevskis) the daughter sees something in the sky. Parademons! Their little town is now under siege by parademons. The people hide in their houses.

Gotham City: Commissioner Gordon turns on the Batsignal. Bats, Wondy and Flash show up. Gordon hopes that Bats has figured something out, he has. Based on where the kidnappings have taken place Bats has deduced that they will most likely find what they`re looking for on an island outside Gotham.

"Count me in!" Arthur shows up.

"Me too!" Victor shows up as well. The gang`s all here it seems... except one.

"Mind if I tag along?"

They look up, it`s Green Lantern. He introduces himself and tells them that Supes is busy elsewhere and may come later. They travel to the island where they go through some underground tunnels. Some of them talk a little, Barry is bothered by the fact that Bats knows his secret identity but he doesn`t know Bats`s

Batman: "I may tell you someday in the future."

Flash asks Bats one last question.

Flash: "What are your superpowers?"

Batman: "I`m good at detective work."

They find Steppenwolf interrogating the kidnapped people. Among the hostage they find the professor from Paris, Bob the janitor and Silas Stone. Flash zooms in and gets a few of them out, Steppenwolf and the parademons react, a fight starts, Flash saves the rest of the hostage. Green Lantern gets knocked out. Steppenwolf realizes that Victor`s body is a Mother Box and uses his own MB to scan and extract possible info from Victor`s body about the whereabouts of the final worldbuilder. Victor`s robotbody resists, but doing that is painful to Victor. Steppenwolf gets the info he needs, blows a hole in the wall, causes a flood and boomtubes away. Things look grim for the heroes but Supes shows up and gets them out of trouble.

A secret base a few miles outside Metropolis: Steppenwolf shows up via boomtube, breaks through the safety doors, the parademons kill the guards, Steppenwolf gets the final worldbuilder and boomtubes away.

The Batcave: The heroes take some time to recharge and come up with a plan. Victor knows that it`s not his fault but he`s still angry that Steppenwolf found the worldbuilder through him. Determined to make things right he goes online to search for any info on where Steppenwolf could possibly be. Flash asks Bats:

"Didn`t you use to have a sidekick? I think I read something about it."

Bats opens up about how he adopted a young cirkus acrobat when his parents died. The kid found out that Bruce Wayne was Batman and wanted to fight crimes by his side. Bruce agreed to train him but made sure that the training would be hard and challenging in the hopes that the boy would give up the idea of becoming a crimefighter. The boy persevered and became Robin. Years later the boy grew up and he and Bats went their separate ways. Bats found a new kid who became the next Robin who sadly was killed by the Joker. This turned Bats down a dark spiral. Flash understands Bats`s pain.

"It`s Bruce by the way, Bruce Wayne."

Bats finally reveals his secret identity to Flash. Alfred shows up, is surprised that Bats has brought company but quickly adapts and asks if he can get them anything to eat or drink. Flash would like something to eat.

As he`s searching databases for info on Steppenwolf`s whereabouts Victor once again comes in contact with Oracle. She gives him her backstory: Batman inspired her to fight crime. She called herself Batgirl and wore a bat-costume of her own. Then Joker shot her and made her a paraplegic. She has fought crime from a distance in a wheelchair since then. The doctors say that there`s a small chance that she may be able to walk again (because in this universe Joker didn`t shoot her directly in the spine). Victor understands Barbara.

Somewhere in Russia: The russians (among them are the Dostojevskis) are still hiding from the parademons. Steppenwolf unites the third worldbuilder with the others and activates them with his Mother box. They start to charge up. We get a little backstory about how he once fought for Darkseid in a war against New Genesis. He made a mistake that helped the forces of New Genesis get the upperhand which lead to them stopping the forces of Apokolips from taking over their planet. Because of this Steppenwolf was demoted and would only get his general-title back if he conquered a number of planets in the name of Darkseid. (We get a flashback where we see Steppenwolf kneel before Granny Goodness, but we don`t get to see Darkseid.)

The Batcave: Victor has found Steppenwolf, the coordinates point to an old town near an old powerplant in Russia. The gang gets ready and they fly to the place in Bats`s airship. Victor tell them how to stop the worldbuilders during the trip. They arrive and come up with a plan. Supes and GL takes care of saving and evacuating civilians, the rest of the team attract the attention of, and fight the parademons to get to the worldbuilder. The League charge into battle. The worldbuilders are fully charged and start to terraform the environment around them. The Dostojevkis are in trouble

The League fight their way through the parademons, the terraforming continues, Supes and GL save and evacuate civilians, the Dostojevskis are still in trouble.The League fight their way through the parademons and reach Steppenwolf, the terraforming continues and it`s getting worse, Supes and GL save and evacuate civilians, the Dostojevskis are still in trouble and it`s getting worse. The League fight Steppenwolf, the terraforming continues, Supes and GL save and evacuate civilians, but it looks like no one is gonna help the Dostojevskis, they`re doomed.But then: Superman saves the Dostojevskis!

He takes them somewhere safe, far away from the warzone. He takes a moment to breathe and gather his strength before he gets back in the fight. The Dostojevski daughter says "Thank you" in russian. Superman says "You`re welcome" in russian. Steppenwolf fights the League, he`s getting the upperhand, GL joins the fight and gets the upperhand for a moment. Steppenwolf gets the upperhand back but then Supes joins the fight. The two of them are pretty evenly matched. While the rest of the league fight Steppenwolf. Victor (with a little help from GL) manages to shut down and separate the worldbuilders, ending the terraforming. Furious, Steppenwolf punches out GL and tears off Victors leg. The league fight him again and destroy his axe. Steppenwolf realizes that he has lost and boomtubes the hell outta there with the rest of his parademons. The heroes have won and the civilians are safe.

Later, somewhere in the U.S.A: Remember the scoutship from Man of Steel? Supes does. He`s found it, placed somewhere in a remote place in the U.S. and it`s gonna become their new HQ. Bats says they should have a round table with seven chairs.

"With room for more." adds Diana.Central city: Barry visits his dad and tells him that his case is moving forward again. His dad wonders how it`s possible. Barry tells him that he has a friend who`s good at detective work.

Metropolis: Victor has joined a kind of big brother mentor program where he teaches basketball to kids.

Batcave: Bruce is reunited with his old protègè Dick Grayson, who now calls himself Nightwing. Apokolips: Steppenwolf bows and apologizes to Granny Goodness, she reminds him that it`s not her that he should apologize to.

Earth: We get Lois`s speech about hope and darkness as a voiceover to a montage where we see Oracle, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern and Batman and Nighwing in their natural element. The montage ends with Clark Kent walking the streets of Metropolis, he looks up, walks away from the crowd to avoid being seen as he opens his shirt to reveal the Superman logo. Superman flies off into the sky.

The end

Not great but hopefully not bad.

* In my CC I wrote that Lex mentions that a young athlete who got into a terrible accident is now able to walk again, thanks to Lexcorp`s advancements in the field of bionics. I felt I had to keep some of it because I want to have a little continuity.

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff - THE TROOF ABOUT STEVEN UNIVERSE - Part 3

WARNING: I have a part 2 and a part 2 1/2 and I’m not afraid to use them, goshdarnit. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

Steven Universe is a charming, popular show with a quad-polar fandom, and I’m only here to point out what I say is legitimately wrong with this cartoon. Simple enough? Fair enough. Previously, I talked about how their handling of villains has disrupted their focal story. And now, point number 3:

BEACH CITY:

Okay, before I provide attention to our main gem heroes, I thought I’d give their home of Beach City a vocal point to express the diversity they offer and what makes them an essential drive for Steven and the Crystal Gems to protect the Earth by any means. I mean, they offer such valid representation for the show’s world building and can offer plenty of stories to tell to give us that slice of life vibe the show really needed. But I believe, after seeing Beach City time and time again over the course of 4 years, that I can summate its presence in the show with a single- Nay. With two simple yet comprehensible words.

Who cares? 

Whooo CARES?

Thank you, respectable actor Elaine Stritch. Rest in Peace

To continue, don’t get me wrong. Worldbuilding is more than essential for a story like Steven Universe, Berserk, Friendship is Magic, Legend of Zelda, and so on. Whether big or small, expanding a setting is important to giving characters a versatile way to look at their world in a differing light than before. But suffice to say, what world has Steven Universe built for itself?

*A populated province in the East Coast?

*A barn?

*Ancient ruins?

*Distant Gem Territory?

Aye, this troof is gonna be hard to explain. We just have locations, people. That’s it. They’re no special than the mini Galaxies from Super Mario Galaxy 2, only on Wii, Rated E for Everyone. A place can look cool and a population there can bring life to it, but they should have something for the characters to interact with and visibly wonder about what they might get into as they adapt and progress in some way. And by some way, I don’t mean insert plot devices that help make the characters do significant looking things, and I’ll get to that a bit later. But to sum it up, Steven Universe present locations, but those locations lack identity and coordination.

Stick around, Link, I might need your example

I got a short story to tell. True story. And this story provides my reason, above all else, for why Beach City doesn’t hold much water anymore when talking about world building, specifically after the show’s first season (or Full Disclosure).

There’s a comic book TV show called Preacher, premieres Mondays @ 9, only on AMC. Essentially it’s about a criminal turned Priest, possessed with a supernatural power, going on a cross country road trip to find the physical form of God with his his mate who’s also a vampire and his ex-girlfriend. Pretty vivid premise, but see for yourself. The first season however sets up the road trip where the priest, his ex, and vampire friend stay in a small town in Texas to not only introduce them, the power that the priest gets, and the type of humor throughout, but flesh out a few citizens they encounter pretty well in a thematically connected turnabout for ten episodes straight. All seems good.

Up until the entire town loses their minds, after losing all faith in belief, which eventually leads to a methane nuclear sized explosion that wipes out everybody except the three main characters who exited a few scenes before.

The End.

Now, let’s talk relevance. If I ran Steven Universe, and I don’t think I can, and I pulled 👆👆 that on Beach City at season 1′s end. Erase everything you’ve seen, every citizen will be forced to disappear except the major plot oriented characters, basically resetting the structure. If I did that, how much would it change? What would we really lose? The diverse Beach citizens that don’t and can’t do shit against the enemies we’ve see unless they’re forced to get involved in some way which rarely happens? 

You can put as many people of color and as many personalities in your world all you want, but effort should also be put into not just making them NPC levels of value to the point where a reset button wouldn’t put much a dent to the “world building”. The worst part is that it’s not like Batman’s Gotham City or Spider-Man’s New York; places where the villains are plotting while they’re within city walls. Steven Universe’s enemies have to either be brought out somewhere (gem monsters, Lapis) or brought to (Jasper, that red Eye, Aqua and Topaz) Beach City for the place to provide any significant or value. So...

Just saying.

Now if the whole series was like season one with the non “To Be Continued” slice of life episodes, then it would’ve work. Phineas and Ferb, Foster’s Home, and Friendship is Magic has done this well with keeping their main location (The Foster House, Danville, Ponyville, etc.) as their central hubworld for casual stories with a venture outside of them from time to time. I would’ve been okay with Beach City being the spot for Steven and his limitless squad to grow together like Rebecca intended at first. Then I’m reminded that there’s an world expanding story in this, with bigger consequences and threaded arcs, and I’m stuck between investing in the many things they give me, complaining towards full episodes that add up to nothing and went nowhere special, and whining about the lack of reruns it gets on TV compared to Teen Titans GO.

Bottom line, you had/have your comic series to commit to your slice of life genre instead of trying to keep it in the show.

Now, I’m at a disadvantage here. If I want to talk about the actual “SCIENCE FANTASY WORLD BUILDING”, then I’ll have to talk about the Crystal Gems’ involvement in them and I wanted to save that for another day. Luckily, I don’t have to, for SU has unintentionally played itself: when it comes to the Gem oriented locations outside Beach City, they tell but never really show. And turns out I don’t need Link’s example, but Samus Aran’s. Namely, her universe in the Metroid Prime series.

A key element to world building is the control and fun in exploration where you find and somewhat interact with aspects of an environment’s purpose and history while you’re on the go, giving the place more of an identity. Metroid Prime does this well where you journey through different parts of the Galaxy and with your scan visor, you can catalog and figure out the intricacies of the settings, the enemies within them, and info that seem trivial at first, but can offer much in progressing ahead in the game. Note the example before you...

And don’t stare deep into Samus’s blue eyes

Sure it’s an optional part of the game, and you can still trek on with or without having to continuously research the world’s lore, but it offers that versatility where you’re well in control in how to experience the game. Then again, this is a video game, where your skill in figuring things out is the only way to progress anything. What cartoon has this similar level of versatility? I mean, what else?

What else?

Gravity Falls may have stayed in one place, but it gives the characters and audience so much to explore and theorize on. They don’t tackle “everything” the world might have offered (bigfoot), but still give you so much to look out for without ever holding your hand or giving a cliffnotes version on a mystery of theirs. Hell, the fandom was hollering on Tumblr over predicting one of the show’s biggest mysteries being confirmed long before it aired. Hirsh didn’t just give those theory nuts what they wanted, his crew eased us in on how the narrative is taking a turn to someplace different and new without really forcing it on everybody. There was still that enjoyable sense of control that resonated in both the show’s direction and the audience’s experience.

I mean come on, this just oozes the moment of truth

Don’t get me wrong. The crewniverse offer very interesting locations and things that resonate with Gem stuff. My final problem with this is that when I think they might utilize these different places and things, they hold back to sharing but a glimpse of anything the show has plenty of utilizing potential for. Like...

Could this control room present more information about Homeworld’s plans for the gems than just the Cluster? “Probably not, it fulfilled its purpose. Let’s move on.”

What about these drills? Could we personally see how one works, like accidentally reactivate it to see how it functions? “Nah, they’re all dead. Let’s move on.”

Or what about the holes? Could we have some kind of flashback depicting how a gem leaps out the ground? “Nope.” Not even the off col- “NOPE.”

What’s that supposed to be? Is it something important to Homeworld? “We’ll get to that later. Let’s move on.”

Ooh, are there more ships like this the CGs could use for space travel? Maybe spruce ‘em up with Pearl and Peridot’s technical abilities? “Nah, this is all we got and Centipeedle lives there now so... Sorry.”

Man, this place looks cool. Connie might consider this since she handles weapons and might want something new, like armor or throwing weapons. “Look man, this tour is scheduled. You’ve seen it, we’ll get back to it later. Moving right along.” This tour sucks. “You paid for it, my friend.”

Egoraptor said it best: I’m not witnessing an adventure, I’m a guest at their theme park. This is Kingdom Hearts levels of dragging it along, and I know... “But Monkey Network, they might come back to all that stuff soon. It’s called foreshadowing, you whiner.” To that, I say HA! There’s a huge difference between foreshadowing and giving us cameos. And that is in...

PRESENTATION!!!

Long story short, if it’s subtle and holds a threatening or vague presence, THAT’s foreshadowing. If it’s already out in the open and is not given a lot of screentime or detail, that’s cameo-ing and waiting for more. The last thing a show should do is hold back and have its audience wait like shoving a secret box in our face, and that’s all Steven Universe has been doing. That’s why so many rant about what’s filler or not. That’s why so many theorize on the most reaching of details. That’s why people proudly growl at what could be the crew’s simple decisions. Because when everything must come back to Beach City, post “Full Disclosure”, exploration can be limited, detail can be limited, and it’ll be up to the audience to speculate/construct the world-building for themselves, making the control and experience for the show feel one sided, therefore UNFAIR. To summarize, I can present the fandom’s frustration...through song.

Like I said, the things I’ve seen offer so much to think about, but Rebecca Sugar sack could’ve done better with presenting them in a better light than a dim mode. The fate of Steven Universe’s future is a mystery to me, and I don’t know what they’re gonna cram in season 5 this fall. All I know is MJ (or Mystery Girl) is fine as fuck and we’re all gonna get something good eventually. My man Ian Jones-Quartey said good world building takes time, and they sure are taking their time.

And we will be waiting, that’s for sure

[juleskelleybooks]

TIPS #2 - Back That Dump Truck Up

Providing background is one of the areas where writing original fiction varies greatly from writing fanfiction. Most of the time in fanfiction, your readers are coming to the story with the same knowledge of the background that you, yourself, have. They know the mechanics of the universe. They know the character arcs. You don’t have to explain anything. You can just go on your merry little way and trust your readers to keep up with you. (If you’re writing a really ambitious AU, you might have to do a little more worldbuilding, but that starts treading the line of original fiction anyway so stick with me on this one.)

But if you’re writing original fiction, all that information in your head? Your readers don’t know it. And it might be tempting to tell them everything all at once so that they can get on the same page as you, but the thing is, almost nobody reads fiction to learn things, and after about two sentences, their eyes are going to glaze over.

So how do you provide the information you need the readers to know without boring them? You bake a cake.

Writing and baking are both a little bit like alchemy. You take small parts, raw ingredients (ideas, words, eggs, flour, etc.) and you mix them together in such a way that they become something bigger than the sum of their parts. And I don’t know if you’ve ever baked anything, but it turns out there’s a big difference between slowly adding one ingredient to another and just…dumping the whole thing together. The same is true for writing.

And the thing is, your book might be all right with a few info-dumps in it, but it’s kind of like biting into a cake and finding a little pocket of flour that didn’t get mixed with the other ingredients very well—it might not ruin the whole cake, but it’s an unpleasant bit of dryness that you honestly could have just done without.

So here are some simple do’s and don’ts to help you gently stir all that dry information smoothly into your other ingredients.

Don’t: Explain your world up front. In books with a contemporary setting, this isn’t as big of a deal as it is in fantasy or sci-fi, but it can still be a problem. I really, really don’t want to spend the first two paragraphs hearing about how your main character lives in a penthouse in San Francisco that he bought with the inheritance his great-grandpappy left him, or how the ancient kingdom was once peaceful and technologically advanced but now it’s war-torn and in ruins.

Do: Sprinkle little details here and there that paint a picture. Give them a purpose. Make them a part of the story. Use contrast to make them stand out. For the San Francisco penthouse, have him stress about the ever-rising property taxes. Have him examine the seams of his shirts to be sure they’re going to last until his next paycheck. Contrast this with a breathtaking view of the bay or the bridge or Market Street or whatever. Something doesn’t line up here; there’s a glaring mis-match between someone who is running out of money and someone who lives in a sleek apartment in San Francisco (because let me tell you how expensive SF is). Let that mis-match intrigue your reader. Let it pull them along. They’ll want to know why.

For the war-torn kingdom, have your main character come into conflict with leftover souvenirs of the peacetime technology that doesn’t work anymore. A state-of-the-art glass elevator is now just an empty cage blocking a shaft that could have been used for stairs. The railroad tracks are a great place for a horse to break a leg, now that all the coal is being used to make weapons instead of fuel train engines. Show the gap between two areas of contrast, but don’t explain how things got from Point A to Point D. Discovering what B and C are is going to be what pulls your reader in.

Don’t: Give me your character’s entire life story right up front. “I was born in a cabin in the woods to loving parents blah blah blah snore snore,” to borrow a quote. Nobody cares. Only people who consider themselves self-important think that anyone cares about hearing the minutiae of their lives, and it’s because only people who are self-important spend that much time thinking about themselves in that much detail! Your novel is not an interview with a biographer (probably…I mean, you could make that format work if you tried really hard). Your novel is a peek into a character’s thoughts and personality and daily life, and most people just do not think about themselves in that much detail on a daily basis. They think about the things they’re in conflict with. They think about the things that give them problems. And you know when they think about them? When they come into conflict with them.

Do: Just get right to it. Jump into the action of their lives. Give me the point of your story right up front. Maybe not the main point. Maybe just a teaser. What’s your main conflict? Your main conflict is an ancient race of sentient machines invading to harvest all organic life? (Listen, just go with it, I love those stupid games.) Don’t tell me about the damn machines. Tell me about the day they found something those machines left behind last time they were here. Why did they find it? Were they on an archaelogical dig? (Then I can surmise your character is an archaeologist.) Did they find it because they responded to a distress call from someone whose computer got fried by it? Etc.  You don’t have to tell me on the first page that your character is an N7 commander or what that means. You can sprinkle that in somewhere along the way. “Commander Shepard! Dammit. Those N7 marines, always running off ahead of everybody else.”

Don’t: Stop the action to explain something. Please. Please do not. I mean, maybe, if you’re really good at prose, if you’re freaking Douglas Adams and you’re playing it this way on purpose, you might can get away with it. But let me tell you about the time I had to read “A Barn Burning” by William Faulkner in one of my English classes and write a “reaction paper” to it. And let me tell you about how my entire reaction was just how fucking angry I was about the stupid paragraph where Faulkner interrupted the pivotal moment, where Sarty is racing up the hill, lungs bursting, legs seizing—to tell me about how the fucking cows in the fucking barn remind him of his fucking sisters. I promise you I still want to murder William Faulkner over this moment and he’s been dead for years. (My English teacher found my paper hilarious and gave me the only perfect grade she handed out to anyone the entire semester. But Faulkner is still on my shitlist.)

Do: Bring up relevant details to remind the reader of something that might be easily forgotten. Make sure it’s something you’ve explained earlier in the story so that you don’t HAVE to stop and explain. Does your pivotal moment hinge on your main character being able to hit a small object very hard with a big stick? (Look, I don’t know why it would, you’re the one writing this story.) Don’t pick that moment to spend a paragraph on how hard she practiced to try out for the hockey team when she was a kid. Tell me about that earlier, and choose the pivotal moment to just mention it, briefly, in passing. Bring up one or two relevant details that bring it to mind.  

Don’t: Overexplain.

Do: Let the reader infer some things. I don’t need to know what a womp rat looks like, their evolutionary development, or their life cycle to get the gist of Luke Skywalker saying, “I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home.”  But does referencing a “womp rat” that’s “not much bigger than two meters” add some richness to the story? You bet it does. It also sure as hell tells me a lot about what a redneck Luke Skywalker was growing up without having to spend any time on that particular bit of background.

TL;DR – Make your background details a treasure hunt, scattered through your book. Use contrast and conflict to make them stand out when they’re important. Leave some things to the imagination. Readers like filling in a few blanks here and there. It’s engaging.

And most of all, do not pull a Faulkner and make me come kick your shit-I-need-to-make-my-wordcount ass.

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