#massive lore dump below cut be warned

[paingoes]

I loved completely Destroyer, and I like a lot Rubies, as I am just starting to read it. I was asking if you could give like a detailed explanation of Delta or psychic powers, and how they work in your world. Because you got to understand a lot through the chapters, but sometimes gets confusing for me. Thanks! And sorry if the question seems stupid. Love your work!🫶

hi! thanks so much for the message. yes, i can try to explain it to you!

so destroyer is very much a soft sci-fi. wikipedia describes soft sci-fi as:

“[S]cience fiction which prioritizes human emotions over scientific accuracy or plausibility. Soft science fiction of either type is often more concerned with depicting speculative societies and relationships between characters, rather than realistic portrayals of speculative science or engineering.”

this is mostly to say that all of the sci-fi and fantasy elements incorporated into destroyer are secondary to the major emotional and thematic beats of the story. so it isn’t critical to have a very solid grasp on them in order to understand the story. the rules i have for delta’s powers — and for psychic abilities — are not incredibly fleshed out or detailed. in fact i doubt you’re actually missing much.

but i can still tell you how they work! because you’re right, looking over this i realize that a lot of the rules i made aren’t actually that obvious. i hope this helps clarify things for you!

general worldbuilding: there are a lot of different intelligent species in the destroyer universe. all of them are more or less humanoid, but they often have some secondary characteristics that distinguish them from other species. (paris is a porcelain doll, kitty is a cat!, etc).

psychic abilites can occur naturally in any intelligent species. some of them are more common than others. delta is from a species with a kind of unprecedentedly high amount of psychics at 15%. most are below that. I’d say only about 5%-10% of the general population is psychic. 

psychic abilities: so…what are “psychic abilities”? it really varies. i consider it an umbrella category for a whole number of powers. some examples that have occurred so far in the text are telekinesis, rapid healing, and pyrokinesis. there are other kinds, though. this is not an exhaustive list. if you like, you can kind of just think of them as super powers! there is no real scientific basis for how they occur. even in the text, it’s not a very well understood phenomenon.

(if you go to one of dr.martino’s lectures, the general vibe you’ll get from him is “We don’t know why this works, but it does.”)

It’s important to note that from that 5%-10% figure, the vast majority of those have pretty middling abilities. they’re not bad, but they’re also not that impressive. others have powers that barely work and barely anyone notices. the rest of them are the ones you have to watch out for — those are the ones with the truly overpowered abilities. delta falls into that category :)

utility: but who cares if we don’t understand them, they’re really fucking valuable! Empire — the supreme authority throughout the galaxy — values the powerful ones very, very highly. there have been many attempts to make untamed psychic energy into something useful. these are successful to varying degrees. some psychics join the service willingly. others are enslaved. others go into hiding or manage to slip under the radar. some of them get sent to castle damon to become living batteries.

the institute: the institute that delta was sent to — beldam institute — was a program specifically engineered to set apart children who showed great psychic potential and to “help” them develop it. it was designed to push the psychic limits as far as they could go. it was a huge failure. a lot of children died from the experiment. others burned out, losing their abilities completely. others just transferred, clearly not built to withstand it. 

delta: delta was their star student. he was also their only student by the end. he was pretty much all they had to show for their efforts. they sold him off to the emperor and immediately closed their doors forever.

delta’s abilities are pretty much just a very powerful and destructive form of telekinesis. he can manipulate matter with his mind! a lot of matter! he crushes a battleship in the first chapter, levels a town in another, blows up the parliament building, etc. it’s why he gets called “the bomb” sometimes. its not cause hes cool, even though he is. its cause he can set off the same destructive energy as a nuclear bomb just by thinking about it really hard.

and delta is juiced. he was predisposed to have the abilities and he already showed very, very high psychic activity levels even as a baby. but he would never be half as powerful as he was without the institute experimenting on and training him. those power levels do not occur naturally. thank god.

also his powers are very destructive to him. he’s always passing out and bleeding everywhere because of how hard he pushes himself and gets pushed. he has a really incredible ability to rebound from it but yeah the levels he was working at were notttt sustainable. 

the collar: delta’s collar prevents him from accessing the full extent of his powers most of the time. he can still use them a little bit, for small shocks and for picking things up across the room, but that’s like 1% of his power. the collar is custom built for him and can snap on and off if his handlers enter the code. the “safety” button for the collar is actually wired into Simon and Martino’s skin and connected to their pulse. if either of them were to suddenly die, the collar would immediately snap back on. that’s the failsafe. the safety also has to be held down continuously for the duration of the exercise or the collar will automatically snap back on.

in spite of how varied the powers are, they can still be viewed as coming from the same essential source. as such, there is a sort of baseline for how they can be dealt with. they sell collars at the military surplus store which can effectively cut off any psychic from accessing their powers, no matter what they are. but they have to be built for different power calibers.

the new collar they give him in rubies is commercial grade, so it only reduces his power by like 40% because nothing on the market is built with his power level in mind. it’s so weak that he can snap it off any time.

okay i think that about covers everything! let me know if you have any other question, i’ll write another wall of text! 

um! anyway! this got long. i love you :D 

[midnight-scugs]

Just a little height chart reference thing here for the hell of it + some basic design stuff + heavy iterator generation lore. Warning; this gets LONG, so the rest after the height chart is under the cut. Massive lore dump inside, be prepared.

The height order of the main iterators mentioned in this AU, from tallest to shortest, is Wind > Suns > Moon > Pebbles > Sig > UI.

UI is pretty much around as short as iterators get, Suns is around as tall as normal iterators get. For comparison; UI pretty much comes up to around mid chest height on Suns.

Wind is a special case and is one of the tallest select few because they're a patriarch. For another comparison, Suns comes up to their shoulder at best. The tallest patriarch however, and iterator as a whole, is Omen; they're at least a solid head taller than Wind.

Patriarchs, who mark the beginning of the first generation and the creation of iterators as a whole, are absolutely massive and are just generally quite bulky due to technological limitations so early in, making the progress towards a more streamlined design a later trait. They're built to last over to look good. There's more dramatic head shape variation in patriarchs than in other iterators. They tend to have dull main colors, often shades of gray, with bright markings.

Patriarchs are the centers of regional groups (multiple clusters of local groups forming a broader region), in charge of keeping watch of and keeping order in their regions. They're the ones who big issues are brought to, and their cities can pass laws that effect the entire region, although this level of involvement is rare.

Patriarch examples include:

Wandering Omen; they have a light gray puppet with green markings, a more blocky/squarish head shape, and short, straight gray antennae.

Chasing Wind/Grey Wind; they have a medium gray puppet with orange markings, a longer face (think that common Pebbles design trope type of head design), and long, mostly straight gray antennae.

Epoch of Clouds; they have a dark gray/nearly black puppet with light blue/cyan markings, a very round head shape, and gray antennae with a curled/curved shape starting about halfway to the tips.

First generation iterators are generally on the taller side and are rarely below where falls Pebbles in height, most being around the same height as Moon give or take a bit. After the time of creating the patriarchs, the rest of the iterators in this generation were generally designed with a very friendly appearance in mind, to help further increase public favor towards iterators. They often have a more rounded/"soft" looking build, although there are a few rare exceptions, and they typically have softer features and friendly looking design traits such as rounded or circular heads, vibrant or pastel color schemes, and big antennae. Not a lot of points and edges, lots of curves.

First generation iterators typically hold important roles in their local groups, and are usually the first sources younger iterators go to for guidance. Quite a few are group seniors; the heads of local group who act as leads of sorts, ranking directly below their patriarchs and reporting to them any issues that need greater interference than what they themselves have authority over. They are as vital to the functions of their local groups as patriarchs are to their regional groups.

First generation examples include:

Secluded Instinct; they have a light dusty blue puppet with yellow markings, a head shape similar to Moon (but a bit more tapered at the chin), and short, rounded dark gray antennae. They have a slightly slimmer build than a lot of first generation iterators, but still a bit rounded/"soft" looking. They're a local group senior under Omen.

Sliver of Straw; she has a dull cream puppet with darker cream markings, a round/circular head shape, and long, thin, straight antennae shaped similarly to thin rods. Her rather muted color scheme is notably somewhat rare for this stage in the generation. She has a similar build to Instinct. She's a local group senior under Epoch.

Looks to the Moon (we all know more or less how she looks); she has a turquoise(?) puppet with red markings, a rounded face shape, and somewhat rectangular light gray antennae. She has a more rounded/"soft" build that's typical of her generation. She's a local group senior under Wind.

Second generation iterators vary heavily in design overall, from height to build to colors to common traits. This was by far the longest generation, spanning at least 1000 kilocycles, and it shows in the sheer number and variety of iterators created during this time period. Quite a few of them have more unusual physical traits, as during this time the Ancients experimented with just about anything at least once. Technology was improving and changed heavily over the duration of this generation.

While iterators of this generation are typically no longer group seniors, early second generation iterators are also common sources of advice to turn to, and they may temporarily fill in for their seniors for certain tasks in the case of said senior being away, incapacitated, or otherwise temporarily occupied.

Second generation examples include:

No Significant Harassment; he has a green puppet with lighter green markings, a rounded face shape, and light gray antennae bases with no "proper" antennae. He has a very rounded, stocky build, more so than even a lot of first generator iterators such as Moon. He has a screen/LED type display for a face in order to make him more expressive; looking too closely or when his display is off can get creepy however, as what resembles pupils in the display are actually typical iterator eye cameras that are more visible due to the screen. He at one point filled in for Moon and acted as her replacement for a rather important project she couldn't supervise at the time.

Pleading Intellect; they have a pale gray puppet with orange markings, a slightly tapered head shaped (sort of a heart shaped face look), and long, mostly straight dark gray antennae. They have a medium to somewhat thin build.

Seven Red Suns; they have a light yellow puppet with red markings, a tapered head shape (their face more resembling a mask in a way than anything), and long, outwards pointing triangular dark gray antennae. They have a very thin, almost lanky build. They have quite a few odd traits. They have expressive antennae that are mobile sideways, unlike normal iterator antennae. They have very unusual eyes with colored "iris" lights in the usual black eye; the right is red and has an actual camera capable of zooming and taking pictures, the left is gold/yellow and actually has fairly poor vision due to only being intended to give them a proper field of vision and depth perception when not using their camera eye. They're also the last or one of the last few iterators in their generation, and they have some third generation level technology as a result.

Third generation iterators are usually on the shorter side, with most ranging in height from as short as Unparalleled Innocence to around as tall as No Significant Harassment. They're typically very slender, being quite sleek and streamlined in build, with a few sporadic models with a slightly bulkier build mixed in. Their colors vary heavily varied in range, with everything from muted monochromes to bright vibrant hues and anything in between. In a more canon leaning timeline this would be a very short generation, not even 100 kilocycles before ending in mass ascension, but mass ascension didn't happen here so it could theoretically last at least a good bit longer than that.

Third generation iterators have no real notable positions in the chain of command; they're simply made to iterate and get their tasks done while doing so. Unintentional built in flaws or outright oversights and careless design traits aren't uncommon in this generation, having started to pop up at the tail end of the second generation and becoming more common at this point.

Third generation examples include:

Five Pebbles (we know more or less how he's gonna look too); he has a pink puppet with yellow/gold markings, a longer face shape, and long, mostly straight gray antennae antennae. He has a thin, almost too skinny looking build. His appearance, especially head shape, is notably odd among iterators of his generation; this is this is because he was modeled after Wind, with intent to directly resemble them, and as a result he heavily looks like a smaller, more streamlined version of them with different colors, down to having the same forehead markings. This is also why he's the tallest in his generation.

Unparalleled Innocence; they have a white puppet with light teal markings, a rounded face shape, and two small to medium sized, gray inwards pointing triangular antennae on each antennae base. They have a sleek/slender build that's typical for their generation.

[marsamoo]

Ask and ye shall receive: why is "this is war" life series coded? 👀

First of all, thank you for asking me, I am literally in love with you now.

Second, massive info dump warning below the cut.

OK so!! First of all, the song slaps. The actual music itself is such a vibe. It's kind of that weird space between positive and negative - like, "we're going to die, so fuck it". Like you're on a battlefield, about to charge in and fight for your life, and you're probably going to die, but the adrenaline is pumping and you're surrounded by people you know, so why not charge in with everything you've got?

The lyrics themselves as well!! I feel like they work quite well with secret life.

It's very secret life to me, because that's the season that feels the most chill. Like, it doesn't have the same horrors of war as 3rd life or last life. The players aren't clawing each other apart, fighting to stay afloat. They know they're going to die, but they don't care. It's like...a mix of nihilism and optimism.

Leader = Gem (she led the zombie apocalypse and the quest to the end)

"The liar, the honest" works with the dynamic of secret tasks in secret life. Are they two different groups of people, or are they the same? Liars to some will be honest to others, and vice versa. Who can you trust?

Pariah = Pearl (Pariah means outcast, calling back to Pearl's double life thing), but it could also be Scar, because they're two sides of the same coin

Victor = Scar (the winner of secret life - but did he really win?

Messiah = could fit anyone related to the canary curse, but if you want to get watcher lore-y, I could also link it to the secret keeper

Nothing is certain. Is it a truth or a lie? Are going to live or die? Will your allies betray you? Will you make it through the night? No one knows! The only thing that's certain is that you're going to fight to the death, so get ready.

This (to me) feels like a moment of hopefulness. It's the mid-game daydream when things are still peaceful and the death part of death game doesn't feel real yet. It's the hopeful "maybe things will be ok. Maybe we can just stay paused in this moment forever and no-one has to die."

It's the promises, the wishful thinking, the 'I won't forget you's, the 'we'll be okay's, the 'maybe one of us will win'. The little white lies that you know aren't true, but you say them anyway because you want to believe it.

But time marches on and tensions rise (symbolised by the "moment of truth, moment to lie" motif echoing in the back) until doomsday arrives and then it's too late to care about your little wishes because someone is running at you with an axe.

TLDR: The music invokes such in me, and it really gets that "we're going to die, but I don't go care" vibe that's somewhere between nihilism and optimism. I really associate it with secret life because of the lyrics, but also because that (to me) is the season where the horrors of a death game are felt much less. It's no longer fear, just...acceptance and resignation.

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk and listen to this goddamn song please :)))