#godclade

[lllllllllllines]

So in my journey through royal road, I had come to read this story called Rend, a story that i found when reading one of the few other stories i don't see anyone mention on here(Pretty much all of Thundamoo's works, Godclads, etc) as a recommend from one of the author's at the beginning of a chapter.

And I found that not only was it a very interesting read, (if not for some weird grammar and awkward dialogue) but it seemed to be taking inspiration at least at a technical level to Worm. Although Past those little pieces, it also feels a little [Prototype]-esque in some places though I'll get to my reasonings on that in a little bit.

It took me a while to notice, but after the reading the chapter's I was on, I realized some tiny quirks that made it feel like it was inspired by worm, from some of the writing structure to some specific parts of the world building. Though they were just different enough to make the story feel like it's own thing. (I could be completely wrong in my assumptions however, I just wanted to point out some things and talk abt a neat story I found.) The first thing(and the most dubious) is the title.

Rend, in a similar way to Wildbow's naming conventions is a four letter word that eludes to some detail about the story's plot, though it is rather blatant to point that it could just be coincidence. Still, pretty interesting to think abt in my opinion.

The setting is an alternate timeline where people have gained powers of some sort due to a specific event. (The event's between the two stories differ quite a bit, though the idea is similar.)

Basically, at some point in time, these extradimensional beings called Adumbrae appeared, attempting to peel their way into our world by possessing the bodies of specific people, granting their wishes by gifting them a power in return. (This process is called 'Seeding', and is not kept secret like how things were in worm at the very beginning.)

Over time however, the infected person would be slowly taken over by the Adumbrae, turning them into some sort of monster.

At some point during this time a thing known as the Mother Core appeared and with it came an organization known as the CoreBring hive. Individuals would would be given means to fight the Adumbrae threat, first through weaponry then when their training is finished they would be given a core of their own. Giving them powers and a constitution similar to that of an Adumbrae but without the side effect of loss of humanity.

Those who allowed themselves to become seeded and become Adumbrae in the process and are labeled as traitors to humanity, their lives themselves not only forfeit but are also but are also considered crimes by proxy. (If that does not sound right, just know that i do not word good. What I meant to say is that just by being alive they are considered criminals) as it is only a matter of time before they lose themselves.

It's been like this for so long that it's common sense at that point.

Hell, there is a Governmental Bureau dedicated to the tending of 'Adumbrae Crimes'. The BID. (Not quite sure what it stands for, i might have missed the explanation, by the by however, it is another similarity world wise to worm.)

The main character is Erind Hartwell, a girl who through specific circumstances, finds herself meeting with what she assumes an Adumbrae. A doppelganger she immediately dubs SpookyErind, who, in an attempt to save her own life, she makes a deal with.

Giving her a power that still follows a series of rules she set for herself, Specifically her 4th rule, or rather a twisted version of it:

That she wouldn't bother others, if they didn't bother her first.

(the synopsis said that this was one of many that she would get.)

It is then found soon after that the person or thing that was trying to kill her and her friend (said certain circumstances) was from a tightknit group of vigilantes that through some slightly unknown means were given artificial cores which allowed them to fight against the Adumbrae themselves.

Though it does keep them also on the other side of the law.

(Another two major similarities between the two stories, First in how the MC view their worlds. Not just in the fact they soon find themselves smaller pieces to a bigger whole, but in their mental states, only major differences being how both authors play it out.

Taylor's mental state and her severe leaps in logic are all caused by her environment while Erind is shown to have Psychopathy/Sociopathy.

Another being the thing I mentioned just now, as while one of the people in that group did attack them, Erind, and by extension her friend find themselves working with the group in a lot of their missions, her friend getting a core of her own.)

(The group doesn't think they know who attacked them, so they told them that it was an Adumbrae, though Erind knows, for reasons you'll have to read to find out.)

And as a final similarity, at least for right now, although it could also be seen as dubious at best.

I had just seen the author do that thing in wildbow did in worm a couple times, where he put in who we assumed to be a major character only to kill them off in an anticlimactic manner.

Again, most likely coincidence, but it makes you think.

As for the [Prototype] comparison, looking back on a lot of the things ive mentioned, i can't be the only one who sees it.

It might not be an inspiration for the story but it does give off that feel.

Mass infection turning people into violent monsters, a main character who seems to be able to control these powers. (if a little questionably) Agencies out to either kill or control the infected, that sort of thing.

Ik comparisons aren't the best thing to do when looking at other's works but i couldn't help but notice it.

All in all, i just wanted to talk abt another cool story on Royal Road, since I can't seem to find any sort of discussion abt a lot of the stories on there.

which seems kinda sad to me.

Be sure to read it when you get the chance, and give the author some love.

[androphagos-mardyakhowra]

The Great Grand Library's 2023 Record

I decided to look back upon all the fics I read in 2023 and compiled them into a list.

Format: Score/10: Title [Author] [Fandom] [Misc].

The scores are a snappy enumeration of my personal rating system. 2/10 means I read for some amount before putting it on hold and theoretically might someday give it another shot but eh, 4/10 means I'm much more likely to give it another shot, 6/10 means I read through all the chapters that was there at the time and enjoyed my time aplenty, 8/10 means I enjoyed it even more, and 10/10 means I enjoyed it so much they're a contender for being among my favorite fics of all time.

Only a small percentage of what are 2/10 are included in this list, so this list isn't bloated by fics that my feelings about are mostly summarised as "eh". Consider them a honorable mentions.

If it's not a fanfic but instead an original work, it will use [Original].

Misc tags: [SI] Self-Insert, [Multi-SI] Multiple Self-Inserts, [FI] Friend-Insert, [OC] Original Character, [Crossover] Crossover which expands as the work goes on, [NSFW] Probably something I got from QuestionableQuesting, [<100k] Less than 100k words long.

If you find anything wrong with the list, like wrong links or a typo somewhere, feel free to let me know.

January

(n/a)

February

6/10: A PMC for you and me [Spent Casings] [RWBY] [SI]

6/10: A shot in the dark [SthUnlim] [Yugioh GX] [SI] [<100k]

6/10: To Answer [Luckychaos] [FFXIV] [FI]

6/10: Voyance [lpofdestiny] [Miraculous Ladybug] [OC]

6/10: The Dungeon Without a System [StrangerDanger51] [Original]

4/10: A Champion in Earth Bet [sun tzu] [Worm] [OC]

March

10/10: Goblin Cave [xaphiriron] [Original]

10/10: Idiosyncrasy [OCfan11] [FE3H] [OC]

10/10: The Most Evil Trainer [Wisetypewriter] [Pokemon] [SI]

8/10: Acting as the love advisor to the big damn (simp) hero [Naqu2o] [Original]

6/10: Self-Replicating Drone Armada, Used [SparraNova] [Starsector] [SI] [Crossover]

6/10: The Divine Hunter [隐约点] [Witcher 3] [SI]

4/10: Tainted Steel [The Distorted Shadow] [FSN] [Tsukihime]

4/10: Terrible, Yes, but Great [Procrastination] [FSN] [Tsukihime] [NSFW]

4/10: Hyperdungeon Neptunia: Mines of Nepvelder [Sedori] [Hyperdimension Neptunia] [D&D]

4/10: cyanide narwhal [TrashcanWithSprinkles] [Genshin Impact]

April

10/10: Fivefold Integration [Kyreneryk] [Worm] [Stormlight Archive] [Steven Universe] [Mother of Learning] [Mistborn]

8/10: A Frog Out Of Water [leaves] [Yugioh GX] [SI]

6/10: H U N G E R [Angel of Shadows] [Kancolle] [SI]

4/10: Violent Solutions [Sabaoth] [Original]

4/10: POISON [BrunofanofK] [Naruto] [SI]

4/10: Cat of the Fellowship [Mimi_Lind] [LotR] [SI]

4/10: Warrior of the Void [Hastar] [FFXIV] [SI]

May

8/10: Back and Forth [TryingItOut] [Worm]

8/10: Apocalypse Reborn [Sage_Of_Eyes] [Original]

6/10: Eternal Shrine Maiden [BeiYang] [Touhou] [MCU]

4/10: Godclads [OstensibleMammal] [Original]

4/10: In Nuclear Fire [Poliamida] [Worm] [SI]

June

10/10: Gacha God [Ideas-Guy] [MCU] [OC]

10/10: Leaf [Slavok] [Worm] [Stormlight Archive]

8/10: A Dead World [Laluzi] [Prototype] [Fallout]

6/10: I have a Plan [DiSCOBOT] [Worm] [SI]

6/10: A Hard Knock Life [Ideas-Guy] [Worm] [Cyberpunk 2077]

2/10: Worm Quest [BreezyWheeze] [Worm]

July

6/10: Shogunai - An Ignoramus SI in Naruto [industrious] [Naruto] [SI]

6/10: The Young Lady is a Reborn Assassin [DWS] [Original]

6/10: Big Brain in the Dungeon [KinKrow] [Danmachi] [SI] [NSFW]

6/10: It Started With a Nightmare [Pro-man] [Gundam UC] [SI]

4/10: I Reap Souls In My Spare Time [Saintbarbido] [DC] [Bleach] [OC]

4/10: Jackal Among Snakes [Nemorosus] [Original]

August

6/10: Metal Marine [Pentel123] [One Piece] [SI]

6/10: Forever is a long time coming [La Pucelle Altre] [Transformers] [MCU] [SI] [<100k]

4/10: Yugioh: New Duelists X [DSComeback] [Yugioh GX] [OC]

September

8/10: Exalted in Passing [luckychaos] [FGO] [FE: Awakening] [Multi-SI]

6/10: A Young Girl's Game of Thrones [Failninja] [Youjo Senki] [GoT]

6/10: A Gamer In South Blue [LordVishnu] [One Piece] [SI]

2/10: Four Heroes Walk into an Adventure [QuartzScale] [FSN] [FGO] [Danmachi]

October

8/10: Legends Never Die [Ideas-Guy] [Crusader Kings III]

6/10: Sublight Drive [miraage1] [Star Wars] [SI]

6/10: A Young Woman's Alchemy [CheshireTwilight] [Youjo Senki] [FMA]

6/10: Serial Meddling [eredinremendis] [RWBY] [AdventureQuest Worlds]

6/10: The Hound of Central Academy [Zap C. Cannon] [Yugioh GX] [SI]

4/10: A Young Reaper's Aferlife [L4 of the WEST] [Youjo Senki] [Bleach]

4/10: Far From Home [Erithemaeus] [Honkai: Star Rail] [FI]

2/10: Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse [VoidWanderer] [Ranma] [One Piece]

November

6/10: Count of Serenno [Y1ofthePlebs] [Youjo Senki] [Star Wars]

6/10: From Shadows [A Numerical List of Candy] [Naruto] [SI]

4/10: Gone Native: Earth Saga [Ideas-Guy] [DBZ] [DC] [OC]

4/10: Unfortunately, I'm not a Hero [Sage_Of_Eyes] [Oregairu] [MGE]

4/10: It's An Abyss, not bottomless [DisgruntledJaeger] [Kancolle] [SI]

2/10: My Trans-Dimensional, Overpowered Protagonist, Harem Comedy is Wrong, as Expected. [Sage_Of_Eyes] [Oregairu] [Danmachi]

December

8/10: A Young Woman's Political Record [jacobk] [Youjo Senki]

6/10: The Pixie of the Hidden Leaf [Dakion] [Youjo Senki] [Naruto]

6/10: Path of the Immeasurable Swarm [derivativeoflife] [Worm] [Cradle]

6/10: To Kill a Bull [Discoabc] [Naruto] [SI]

4/10: Radiant Rebirth [Naron] [Hollow Knight] [RWBY]

4/10: Would that I were born no Princess [Watchinkid] [Youjo Senki] [FFT:WoTL]

2/10: Detachment [Ghep] [FE: Awakening] [SI]

[eccentric-nucleus]

like one i read briefly the other day has the main character be isekaied to a fantasy world where she's enshrined as a new goddess. like she becomes a lvl 1 goddess with a domain over 'all mirrors on the planet'. insert hijinks with her talking to people through mirrors and getting converts to give her faith power so she can level up.

and the thing is that... like in any book with reasonable setup/payoff i would kind of assume part of the setup is her being a fraud, right? she's not 'actually' a goddess, she's a college student who got given superpowers. this is basically a superhero setup in a lot of ways, where she is striving to 'act like a goddess' in front of her followers so they don't figure out what's up. because (narratively) there's some kind of aura there, right? an actual deity is numinous. she's just blundering through using her superpowers.

but that gets into what an 'actual goddess' would even look like in this setting? there are others introduced that seem to have mundane origins (i.e., not isekaied humans) but it's not really clear how exactly they become divine. and that's, like, important, right? b/c that gets into what the source of, like, meaning or authority is here? and the answer is... the system. the system says she's a goddess so she's a goddess. end of story. all of that isekai stuff is less a setup for plot & character development and more like, the tutorial before getting to the meat of the work (levelling up). her being a fake isn't going to be narratively relevant, it's just... backstory stuff that the author needs to get out of the way before they can go all-in on deity antics.

basically i spend a lot of time being unsatisfied and thinking "okay so what specifically do i find unsatisfying about this and how could this possibly be changed to make it more satisfying".

uhhhhh i liked the first bit of godclads because it was actually a nightmarish exploration of what a civilization would look like where the vast majority of people are more economically useful dead as raw matter and cybersouls than as living beings. but also i liked it b/c it had a robust enough setting that it supported itself without needing to reference back towards more game-y elements. somebody having their cyberdeck spin up and cooly start reporting the number of people who have died in their vicinity is disarming and concerning. why do you got a corpse machine fused to your skull, dude. the later parts where it starts getting more game-like i liked considerably less.

(or i guess one specific thing i noted about godclads is the 'your burn has to be at 0 or you won't respawn' is exactly the kind of not-actually-tension that these things truck in? b/c we all know going in that the story is not going to abruptly end b/c the main character didn't get their burn to 0 before they died, so anything that tries to hang tension off of 'oh no can he get his burn down in time before he gets killed??' will completely fail. you have a god machine in your head & that makes you immortal. it's fine; it doesn't need to have a constraint like that. if you need to come up with ways to permanently kill other people with god machines you can figure out a way, like, say, physically ripping it out of their bodies, since it's established that it interfaces w/ their cyberware in some kinda semi-spiritual/semi-physical way. it's a video game 'game over' constraint transposted inelegantly into a story, and really the fact that it was not established at all for the first x chapters is probably a not-insubstantial part of the reason why i was enjoying things. that being said i did like the whole burn thing of like, okay to get these things running you need souls, and to keep them running you need to burn stuff, and a good source of renewable matter is people. so you have those burn-oceans that people are just constantly dumping trash & corpses into to stop them from growing. gotta keep the corpses being supplied without interruption. this is a metaphor for the all-consuming nature of capitalism. that's themes V:)

I'm interested in what's drawing you to litRPG stories. Like from what you've described they sound genuinely uninteresting to read so what about them has caught you?

it really is just the literary equivalent of junk food. just like i am not immune to grinding in a tedious rpg to make the number go up, or 'play' a horrible time-wasting idle/clicker game, there is some appeal to reading a story that has no expectations of depth or complexity that's solely like a text-based let's play for a videogame that doesn't exist. it's not good but it is what it is V:

i mean i guess they're also kind of fascinating in the way that all bad things are fascination. reading them definitely has me thinking more consciously about what i do enjoy in stories than before. or like, plenty of these litrpgs have, you know... some amount of character progression, some interesting setting stuff, some romance arcs, w/e, and they always totally fail to get me interested at all, so it's interesting to kinda pick into that and think about why specifically they fail to be interesting. (i mean, it's b/c all of it have their arcs fundamentally warped around the numbers-go-up nature of the overarching 'plot'. but the specifics of how that happens can be interesting.)

[andrewthechameleon]

I tried somethings about my Oc Clade, a depressive God.