#what even is this modern magitech world i made?

[sunriseverse]

it's been years since i made a reclist from my bookmarks, and i've trimmed down what i had and added some new things to my bookmarks, so here's a reclist, from oldest to newest bookmarks! fics beneath the cut with the original summary and my recollections/comments after. (please note that for any fics with smut, i can't comment on how the smut is, because i skip those portions.)

Tony Stark Meets an Extremely Unimpressed Time Traveler, or, Thomas Barrow Makes a Surprisingly Good 21st Century Butler by Alex51324 (87k, t, no warnings)

In which Tony Stark ditches a boring party, makes an addition to the household staff, throws a much better party, and tries not to sexually harass his new butler. Or,In which Thomas Barrow has a little trouble getting home from the pub, is generally unimpressed with many aspects of the 21st century, never thought of himself as a conservative dresser before, and may or may not be falling in lust with his new employer. tl:dr: Thanks to time travel, Thomas Barrow becomes the Avengers' butler.

my commentary: this is actually one of the earliest fics i bookmarked! i haven't been into the mcu in...........a long, long time, but i distinctly remember pulling an all-nighter to read the entire thing when i first ran across it. i'll be honest, i had clicked into it assuming it was crack, but it's not—it's played entirely earnest, and, in my recollection, does so well. and, well, what can i say; thomas was my favourite character back when downton abbey was airing (for reasons that i did not realise until much later). largely free of angst or action conflict; the issues stem largely from the conflict between thomas' biases and (mis)assumptions and the modern (well, 2010s) world.

Ain’t No Nancy Kerrigan by cleverqueen (t, 13k, no warnings)

It's 1994, and young Lisa Snart's jumps aren't strong enough for an Olympic singles skater. Thankfully, her older brother has an athletic friend who can match her in pairs. Mick Rory is hopelessly in love with Leonard Snart, though he'd never say anything about it, so he jumps at a chance to do Len's little sister a favor. If he's patient and works hard, maybe he'll even get to skate with her older brother.

my commentary: as i remember it, this fic was an absolute delight! i don't remember a lot of mick-pov fics, though i haven't............been in the dc tags in ages, let alone the cw dc tags, but it's really well-written! it's canon setting, but takes place pre-canon, and the dynamics are very well-written and enjoyable. it's even tagged "pining", which, as i remember it, applies very much so, and, well, what can i say; i have tropes i love.

and who shall wear the starry crown by consumptive_sphinx (2k, t, major character death)

Blackfoot serves Shadowclan, first and always. That is not, in fact, the same thing as serving Tigerstar.

my commentary: i think this is the only wc fanfic i have bookmarked on ao3? and deservedly so! it's a human au, and while it's short, it's so well thought out. the worldbuilding and lore that's hinted at, everything you can feel beneath the surface—so good!

The Nationwide Network of Oz by ErinPtah (3k, t, no warnings)

It's long past time Oz upgraded from the wireless telegraph.

my commentary: it's such a shame there's not a lot of oz novel fics—i truly think the series doesn't get the attention it deserves. a fun little short dorothy/ozma fic, with a dash of magitech and blogging.

Spaceships, Private Jets, and Minivans: How to Start a Global Incident in 5 Minutes Flat by Scientia_Fantasia (49k, t, no warnings)

One early summer morning in Riverside, Iowa, a spacecraft crash lands into the backyard of a highschooler by the name of James T. Kirk. Earth history is changed forever.

my commentary: i actually lost this fic for a long time and only tracked it down after a year of searching; it's a fun, teenaged star trek au—i'm usually not too fond of aus where characters are teens, but this one pulled it off very well! and it's rather funny, and the way the characters run into each other and get involved in the plot is very fun!

we make our friends, we make our enemies by ORiley42 (52k, t, no warnings)

Benji finds out he has a new neighbor. This new neighbor happens to be off-the-charts hot. Hijinks, friendship, more-than-friendship, and secret agent drama ensue.

my commentary: i actually read this from start to finish as it was updating! the author, ORiley42, is a fabulous writer, and this fic? so good. i've fallen away from the mi fandom, but i have fond memories of it, so this fic has a warm place in my heart. also, the trope of a civilian getting involved in spy bullshit? so good. and the pining. the drama.

The Long Con by harleygirl2648 (19k, t, no warnings)

There are two kinds of cons: long and short. Short cons mean short-term gain, with smaller rewards, mostly just everything you have in your pocket at that moment. Long cons mean lots of time, effort, costumes, masks, props, sets, and other characters all looking to set up the downfall of the mark and take them for all that they've got. Con Artist/Thieves AU: Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter are both interested in acquiring a Botticelli, but both of them are quite fond of each other's short games. For both of them, it's the deception and thrill of the game that's worth more than the payout. And well, after all, aren't the easiest people to scam are those who think they are smart enough to not get scammed?

my commentary: it's an art heist au, what more can i say? it's funny, well-written, and, crucially, fun.

deus ex machina by coloredink (26k, t, creator chose not to use archive warnings)

"What the hell?" said Katz. "Is that--" "Yeah, I know, it's kinda flashy." Will shut the car door behind him and patted his pockets for the little fob to lock the car. "Isn't that Hannibal Lecter's car?" The car beeped to indicate it was locked. "Yeah, I guess so." Will walked away, toward the field, Katz on his heels. "I needed a new car." "So you bought the cannibal car?" ----- You asked for it: the one where Hannibal is a murderous self-driving car.

my commentary: every time i talk about this fic, people are like. [newt geiszler voice] w—wh—whhhhattttt? and, yeah, okay, i get it, i do, but i swear to you, will graham x the luxury car possessed by hannibal lecter the cannibal's soul is, in fact, a fantastic fic. it's so well written, so funny, so novel. it's the cannibal car!

The Man Who Invented Sherlock Holmes by Calais_Reno (15k, t, no warnings)

John Watson, struggling young doctor, doomed to live an ordinary life, dreams of writing detective fiction. If he can just figure out his hero's name, the story will practically write itself.

my commentary: look. i am, at my core, a lover of experimental, weird concepts. and "john watson accidentally brings a fictional character into being and they fall in love" is, in fact, precisely something i would like. and, and, and! it's acd canon, and written in such a charming style! it is truly one of my favourite fics.

A Really Private Person by astolat (18k, m, no warnings)

The end of the world started on a Wednesday in March.

my commentary: i don't have many poi fics bookmarked, but this one is absolutely the best out of all of them. the emotions i will always associate with reading it are that of being half lucid and experiencing something just so utterly satisfying it makes you smile like a cat.

I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York) by gyzym (19k, t, creator chose not to use archive warnings)

Arthur's a corporate lawyer, Eames owns the coffee shop across the street, and all good love stories start with a quadruple shot latte.

my commentary: an ode to struggling out of sunk cost fallacy, finding people who love you, and slowly, slowly building a better life. also the cafe food all sound so so good i would love to eat there.

Atonement by acedott (9k, t, no warnings)

I know how lonely you must be. All by yourself in that room. Morgana’s words stuck with Gwen long after the enchantment was broken. She recognized the veiled vulnerability in her tone from years as her servant. She hadn’t sounded like that in so long; she’d trusted Gwen with her every thought since they had both come of age. But when she first arrived in Camelot, when they were brought together as mistress and servant, Morgana had not known how much to trust her. Gwen, in turn, had not known how much to trust her new mistress.

my commentary: written by the fabulous lovely wonderful @owengrose, this fic makes me feel So Many Emotions. it's written with such care and purpose, and made me cry when i first read it. read it!!!

On the Risks and Rewards of Being Seen by acedott (8k, g, no warnings)

The year is 1815. Karla Gottlieb, the lady of the Gottlieb estate, rekindles an old friendship with Vanessa Haile, the groundskeeper’s daughter.

my commentary: yes i am putting another one of my friend's fics on here, but listen: risks and rewards is just so, so good. i can't even give further commentary beyond "it's so good" because it's just that good. it's historical, it's carefully-crafted, it's lesbians! what more could you want? go forth and comment.

Of Madness and Mammals by Briarwitched (series, four works, 619k, t-m, no warnings)

this series doesn't have a summary, but more or less: alex, suffering from horrific hallucinations and trauma, is discarded by mi6 and tossed into prison—where he meets yassen once more, and, once again, yassen tries to look out for hunter's son.

my commentary: this is, in my opinion, the best set of works i've read in the alex rider fandom. it's one of the best series i've read period. it is so well-crafted, well-plotted, and well-executed. it's a shame that the fandom isn't larger, because the series deserves more attention.

Beginning Where You Are by TF Grognon (gloss) (15k, t, no warnings)

"There's no such thing as magic," Dove-Gray said. Min snorted and flexed her fingers. "Tell that to the magic bloodthirsty soulsucking sword that lives in my hand."

A disgraced scholar and well-meaning mercenary forge an unlikely partnership.

my commentary: i found this while trawling the sci-fi tag, and honestly, i'm so glad i did, because it's just so good. the worldbuilding and lore and character dynamics and every other bit of it is just. god. so good. also, one of them literally has a bloodthirsty soul-sucking sword in her hand.

You're Dead (and Outta This World) by TheOceanIsMyInkwell (10k, t, no warnings)

“Holy shit!” shouts the EMT at his side. His partner on the other side of the gurney--the other side of the body bag--follows up with a well-deserved holy fuck and stumbles backward over her boots to sag against the back of the open ambulance. “I’m fine, I’m fine, oh God, I’m sorry,” Guillermo babbles. His knees are trembling. He wriggles out of the body bag and hops to his feet, feeling like his legs are a cross between jello and underbaked macaroons, and he repeats his litany of apologies as he bounces from one foot to another to restore circulation. Pain shoots through his joints from the roots of his toes. He ignores it, instead pivoting his head from side to side wildly seeking the detritus of his phone and groceries. “Sir! Sir! You were--sir, please get back here! You were dead!” “Not today, sorry!” -- Or: 3 times Guillermo came back from the dead, and 1 time Nandor was there to see it.

my commentary: this fic preserves the horror-comedy of the show so well, and you can see poor guillermo having a longform breakdown across the fic. it's so fun.

and yet we still bloom by gdgdbaby (110k, e, graphic depictions of violence)

When the Crown Princess of Xian Le, Her Highness Xie Lian, saved a tiny street urchin from falling to her death during the nation's biggest parade, she could never have predicted that same street urchin would eventually become her greatest spymaster. Xie Lian hadn't anticipated the heavens-upending events that followed the drought either, but sometimes these things just happen. OR: Xie Lian and Hua Cheng save their country and save the world.

my commentary: i would say this is easily one of the best tgcf fics, and it fulfils so many of my desires: lesbians, fix its, slow burn, and woldbuilding/lore! i cannot recommend this enough.

rare as the glimmer by Euphorion (24k, e, no warnings)

“Do you—” Quan Yizhen started, and then on the other side of the room Pei Ming started up his jackhammer, so he waited, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and then said all in a rush, “doyouknowHuaCheng?” Xie Lian blinked. “You know—him?” she asked, in case 'San Lang' was some kind of private name, a secret code just for her. She liked the thought of that. Quan Yizhen shook his head vigorously, his curls bouncing. “No!” he said. “But Yin-ge said you were with him at Home Depot and you left together!” Xie Lian stared at him. One of the employees that had helped her a few weeks ago had been called Yin something, she was pretty sure, but that’s about as far as she could follow what was happening here. “Yizhen, if you don’t know Hua Cheng, why is this… notable?” “He’s famous. Or like. The bad one. Infamous. I thought—” His eyes gleamed. “I thought maybe you fought him.”  + Retired (read: disgraced) famous boxer Xie Lian meets a helpful stranger while at Home Depot attempting to fix her collapsing roof.

commentary: lesbians! modern aus! butch!xie lian! everything about this fic is just *chef's kiss* it makes me lose it every time. the dynamics and writing feels so true to canon, and reading it is just. so so good. i'm trying to come up with more comments and i can't, it's just. so good.

We Stan Scrap Gege! by PaidSubscription (31k, m, no warnings)

“San Lang…are you sure about this? Life on the road, storage units…it’s not glamorous. There’s junk and there’s gross fluids and roaches and raccoons and meth labs, and one time I got lead poisoning and- oh! Another time I accidentally got locked inside a unit with five families and loaded on a truck and then I think technically we were human trafficked-?” “Gege. I’m in this, all the way.”

Scrap Collector’s cancellation is inevitable. Once, Xie Lian was the most popular face in reality TV. After the...incident, Xie Lian is banished to 2am cable, and turns to making a different kind of show: storage hunting. But in his final season, he suddenly acquires a new producer: a Youtube star named San Lang. And San Lang- along with his legion of fans- is determined to save the show. 📺🎥💕

my commentary: this concept is both utterly batshit, and weirdly sensible for the characters? i loved the interspersing of social media format between the prose, and the dynamics between all the characters, especially hualian, are so on-point!

Knowing Only This by CatMouse (dioscuridevotio) (31k, m, no warnings)

Bai Yutong is handling it. Ever since he was fifteen years old and realized that the horrible, sickening, aching feeling he got in his chest whenever he looked at his best friend wasn't a sign of early heart failure but instead a warning of something much worse, he's been handling it perfectly fine. With full maturity and dignity. He's the head of SCI. He's the best cop of his generation. He's the pinnacle of self-control and an expert at compartmentalization. But sometimes—Sometimes Zhan Yao doesn't make it easy. In fact, it's times like these he's convinced Zhan Yao is determined to make his life as difficult as humanly possible.

my commentary: a wild sci fic emerges! poor bai yutong is going through trials and tribulations of being in love, and it's so so fun to read. i laughed and gasped and was on the edge of my seat while reading (well, metaphorically; i was laying in bed). it's just very very good.

codify my wasted youth by lungache (6k, t, no warnings)

“We're way too caught up in the race with time It's getting hard to take it in We're tryin hard to be the first in line Just wanna be a kid again, a kid again”

An Origin Story “We should start a band!” “Holy shit, we should totally start a band!”

my commentary: the fabulous @lungache wrote a marvelous band!au, and i wish i could eat it like a fine dessert. why does it only have ten comments. it deserves so much more. read it. comment on it. now. that is not a suggestion.

The Tiniest Heipaoshi by tehfanglyfish (6k, t, no warnings)

Jiajia was already handling a good number of Professor Shen's lectures and labs, fielding office hour questions, and all of his online correspondence. Why not add a few more responsibilities into the mix? It wasn’t like she needed to sleep. OR The one where Jiajia impersonates the Envoy.

my commentary: i'll admit, i don't go here, so i can't give a fully accurate commentary, but i stumbled across this somehow (perhaps someone else's rec list? who knows) and the few chapters of the novel plus the episode or two of the show i watched gave me just enough knowledge to enjoy this fic. and, anyway, the concept of "exhausted TA pretends to be a terrifying non-human political entity" is, in my opinion, universally appreciable.

I Love You (I Want Us Both To Eat Well) by freakesque (6k, m, creator chose not to use archive warnings)

In which Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan take it upon themselves to make sure Xue Yang eats regularly, and Xue Yang finds out he’s actually not a twink.

my commentary: @xueyang's fanfic which i got to cheer them through writing and then read; it's so so good. it will make you Feel Things and Have Emotions. read it. now.

And the gentleness that comes, not from the absence of violence, but despite the abundance of it by lucientelrunya (39k, m, graphic depictions of violence)

It's him. It’s really him. For a moment Zhang Rishan looks up from his phone again, letting his gaze wander over the pool and then the shoreline behind it. There is still no trace of the merperson, but he had come to save Zhang Rishan. Again. He smiles to himself. So he is still here, still saving drowning people. That means Zhang Rishan can start step two of his plan. To the humans who hire him, Zhang Rishan is a proficient hunter, one of the best to hunt the rare magical creatures, the yaoren. To Ba Ye, Zhang Rishan is a stranger, a poor human he saves from drowning, not a hunter that has been tasked with catching him. Their meeting will change them both and alter the course of both of their lives drastically.

my commentary: am i using this rec list to recommend my friends' writing? perhaps. but also, this fic is just so good! the worldbuilding and dynamics.................so so fun. and it gave me the perfect excuse to dabble in conlangs again. also i regularly think about the mer lore, so. @lucientelrunya did a fabulous job here and i WILL make you hear about it.

Confidence Trick by duty_free (21k, e, creator chose not to use archive warnings)

"Your umma was going to die instead of you," Jae Ho said as one of his guys dragged Hyun Soo out of bed. Another guy stood waiting by the door, his back to them, looking down the corridor and smoking silently. "But it's smarter to kill you." He gestured at Hyun Soo. "So here we are."

my commentary: yes, i'll admit it, i watched the film and then immediately went looking for fics because the ending killed me. this one soothes those wounds at least partly; i like how it keeps the fucked up elements of their relationship while also still having them, well, fall in love trust. and it's such an interesting canon divergence concept, one that i think is executed excellently.

alright, that's everything, for now, anyway! i hope you can find something on this list you're interested in!

[paragonrobits]

so one thing i’ve been thinking a lot about lately is characters from Avatar the Last Airbender as Exalted from the tabletop RPG Exalted, a fantasy setting where (to simplify it to the point of it being kind of embarassing) mortals are given power by autonomous shards of divine power that give them great power without much regard for what they USE that power for, being heroes in the classical sense (doing GREAT things, not specifically GOOD things, though the latter is an option of course)

and while most of my thoughts have outwardly been Azula as a Green Sun Prince, an Infernal Exalted, the question comes to the central character, the title character, the one person whom all of Avatar revolves around; the Avatar himself, Aang.

Now, Exalted DOES have elemental super soldiers, in the Dragon-Bloods, people with a genetic tie to five elemental dragons, and gaining great power should the bloood ignite in them. However while Avatar WAS explicitly a bit influence in them, I feel that Aang maps poorly to them at least in the sense of being the Avatar, with the bagge his role carries, the specific purpose he has to the world, and his characterization doesn’t particularly mesh with the Dragon-Blooded, who are super-soldiers built for war. While you could make a great character by using Aang as a basis and making him a sort of cultural rebel by the setting’s standards, its not the neat translation that makes the idea alarms go AWOOGA

but you know what does?

Let us discuss my personal favorite Exalted, quite possibly the single WEIRDEST among them (and that’s saying something); the Alchemical Exalted.

Unlike the other Exalt types, these are not exactly mortals given great power. They were made for their purpose, and that’s not a metaphor. They are literally crafted and given life. The Alchemicals have the souls of mortals; countless reincarnations of a single mortal who has proven heroic and done great service for other people, laboring for the good of others and dying for causes they thought were noble, across many lifetimes. This soul is infused into a human-like body of clay, treated with magical metals, and this soul carries the divine power of their patron, the Great Maker (who is also a giant world of living machinery, mad genius and a terrible sickness that empowers him by drive of motivating him to work around his weaknesses, but that’s a whole other story).

Alchemical Exalted, in short, do not learn magical techniques as most of their kin do. instead their powers are actual magitech devices attached into their bodies, altering their forms and empowering them with magical technology that often acts as their bond to the communities they protect and help, for it is that community that creates these artifacts. Without their people, an Alchemical is no hero, and they are DEFINED by their community, to the extent that the epithet of the Alchemicals is ‘Champion’. Champion of the people, their nations, homelands, or simple groups of people with whom they feel a kinship.

So imagine a heavily AU variation of Aang as an Alchemical Exalt; perhaps one of the first, a great creation to prove that champions could be wrought from the human spirit. There is some similarity to his canonical nature as the world spirit, for though Autochthon is a world unto himself, he is still a part of the world, a mighty and sickly titan whose champions protect his people even as he slowly succumbs to his disease and torment. Aang with the scattered memories of many lifetimes among a nation near and dear to his heart, but one that vanished into the mists of history so long ago no one knows who they were, what they sung, the languages they spoke, or that he bears faces like people who ceased to meaningfully exist so long ago the modern world doesn’t have a word for how long ago that was.

Yet, he endures. Yet, he exists as a champion for people now, forging communities across nations, endeavoring to bring harmony and peaceful accord to all, with ingenuity, charisma, wit and the magical might of a Champion of the Great Maker.

[here-there-were-dragons]

what i’m getting initially from the lore is that the arcane flight in ancient times had a decent burgeoning capacity for aethernaut technology and there is a non-zero chance there are other unfathomably ancient early space age artifacts of a fallen past dragon civilization in the sky, and that following the astrolab’s launch the entire planetbound aether civilization was wiped out with little trace by some unspecified cataclysm, likely warring with another primal race, leaving the scientists on the makeshift generation ship as the only survivors.

perhaps aether was not their original name, but over untold tens or even hundreds of thousands of years isolation the remainder of their species, descended from their lost landbound counterpart’s trained aethernauts, shortened the title further and further into simply “aether” and with enough time (and book-eating) further simply forgot there was ever more?

and they get all their battle tactics knowledge from their poorly organized larp sessions of old-enough-to-be-fossilized tapes saved from their lost groundward civilization of ancient dragon star trek and name things like they work for god damn aperture science. “material emancipation grille”. and they’re literally sparkledog mary sues. who the fuck let them name themselves. why did they start naming themselves “xxxdarkstarxxx” i can’t decide if it’s numbly dismaying or numbly fucking hilarious (as all emotions are numb and distant for me these days) that that’s canon and there is now a canon mary sue sparkledragon breed like have they literally just been doing nothing but spinning their wheels creating warrior owlcats rp forums up there since the rest of their species died. when they sent all their best and brightest up there was it like how the entire modern real world tech infrastructure is held up by about 30 furries that if any one of decided to disconnect their pager for a few hours the entire internet and literally civilization itself would collapse in a fire and now all that’s left of their breed are all descended from that.

their culture seems to be clan-troupes, likely descended from specific maintenance teams, of distorted half-religiocized echoes of random portions of long-forgotten ship repair safety training and shakily clung to jumbled impressions of some sort of lost pseudomilitaristic crewed vessel hierarchy, and it’s strangely giving me a combination of the movie passengers vibes and a wikipedia summary i skimmed once of one of the later books in something called the xeelee sequence, which described a long-future descendant of humanity on a generation ship in which these remnants of humanity had devolved so much that they now no longer had much sentience, preforming ship repair and maintenance by pure instinct as a way of attracting mates and having no real understanding of what they were doing or why.

a am however at a loss as to why, of all things their lore could be, their entire gimmick seems to revolve around compulsively eating paper.

after seeing a trailer for something called hyper light breaker, i assume an alleged sequel to something else called hyper light drifter, i have made the retroactive decision to assign them a synthwave-ish, hyperreallife pulsating sleek slanted laser light energy beams making roadways for sleek glowing similarly fizzling near-digital lightcraft sort of aesthetic, vaguely cyberpunk but made from faintly magitech parts, sans any sort of digital artifacts visual additions. the actual aesthetic i am thinking of is not in any way based on the game itself, but instead is based purely on the feeling of the name alone taken out of context of the game it applies to. what type of imagery and feeling of the words “hyper light drifter” on their own with no knowledge of the game inspire. i will likely forget what i meant by this in three weeks time.

[og-peach]

Apparently when I’m sleep deprived I write horror stories. Please enjoy the fruits of my suffering.

It’s too damn cold. The alley is dark, filthy, freezing, and—was that a rat or a cat?! Or was it a cat-sized rat?! I shudder. Gaud, I don’t want to be here.

I freeze, feeling eyes boring at me from beyond the void, assessing me, judging me. I don’t look, barely breathe, and pray the pink eldritch creature moves on.

Seconds turn to minutes, minutes turn to hours, time flowing like molasses under Their fathomless stare.

I’m getting lightheaded, I need to breathe! Breathe damn it! Why won’t my lungs work?!

Finally, finally, Gaud looks away, and I slump against the alley wall behind me, gasping for breath. This is crazy, I should just go before I draw Their attention again! I should just—

No, no. It’ll all be worth it, soon enough. I just need to be patient.

Where the fuck is he?

I check my watch, see he’s ten minutes late. Did something happen? Was he caught? Am I next?

No, no I’d have already been taken by now if he had. Just be patient. This is worth it. Breathe.

Crunching from my left startled me, and I whip around to see my contact trudging through the dirty snow from the other end of the allyway. I can’t see his face very well, the shadows are too dark for that, but his triumph is obvious in his body language.

“You’re late.”

“Yeah yeah. You trying breaking into G—“ he cuts off, looking around nervously. I shudder at the close call. That would have been bad. We can’t afford their attention again, not now. “Th-their place and not take a damn millennia. Do you know what I had to go through?” I open my mouth to answer, but he steamrolls right over me. “Hell! That’s what I had to go through! Literal hell, and a couple of crazy ass pocket dimensions all connected to each other! And that’s just to get to the damn front door! Never again, I tell you! Never again!”

“Well did you get it?!”

“Did I—? Did you not hear what just I said?!”

“Of course I heard you, but if you got it, neither of us will have to go back.”

He huffs and grumbles, before finally nodding with a reluctant sigh. “Yeah, I got it.” He starts to reach into his backpack before pausing again. What the fuck now? “You do realize...once They’ve realized what we’ve done, that we took it, we’re both taking a one-way trip there, right? And we’re not gonna be coming back? At least, not as we are.”

“I know the risks,” I hiss. “You told me them repeatedly before we started, I don’t need you telling me again now when it’s far too late! Now give me the stupid thing already! Before we’re caught!”

He hesitates another moment, before finally pulling a package from his bag. It is deceptively small and unassuming, all brown and black patterned paper and string cord wrapped around an object the size of book. I snatch it from him, shoving it in my own bag as I turn away.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me,” he scoffs. “We’ll both be suffering by the time this is over.”

“I know. But it’s worth it.”

“Yeah...for what it’s worth? It’s been an honor to know and work with you.”

My breath hitches. “Same.”

“Go. I’ll act as a distraction.”

I shudder. That was an awful role to play, but then, so is mine. The nessesary tasks are always the cruelest. “Goodbye.”

Without another word we both take off into the snow, he to his death, me to the shadows.

I scurry between alleys and back ways, avoiding the busier streets full of watchful eyes and cultists that would soon be on the lookout for me.

I used to be one of those sheep once, just another part of the mindless flock. Then I got rescued, deprogrammed. Joined the resistance.

Never again. And soon, they’ll be free too.

I make it back to my current safe house without incident, though how safe it is at the moment is up in the air. It‘s just a shitty one-room appartment, barely more than a studio, but it works for keeping my head down.

Quickly putting the place on lockdown against human interference, I settle into the living room to prepare the magical defenses for the supernatural ones. Wards, talismans, barriers, all preprepared in advance and put up in minutes. Next come the containment magics, to keep what happens inside from being noticed from anyone outside; and to keep anything inside from escaping. Finally comes the special spells, the blackest of magic, intended only for punishing the worst of offenders.

Once done, the appartment is fully cut off from the world; it’s own sealed pocket dimension, completely untethered from the rest of reality. No way in or out. I am sealed inside, trapped forever in this shitty apartment. Assuming I survive this, I’ll still end up dying in here. Whether from running out of food or from the pipes being cut off from water, this place will be my grave.

But it is necessary. I can’t do my task if I can still be found, after all. And the one I am running from is too powerful to take any chances.

Finally, with all my preparations complete, I take the package out of my backpack again. It feels too heavy in my hand for such a small thing, and I am quick to place it on the table.

A closer look reveals that the black and brown pattern on the paper is actually a mess of notice-me-not seals and anti-scrying spells, and the string it’s tied together with is covered with similar lines. I carefully unwrap it, needing to know exactly what it is I’m working with here. Inside the package is a silk bag, the fabric woven with containment charms and spells. I pull open it’s drawstring to find another magicked silk bag and an iron box, similar containment magics hammered and shaped right into the metal. It’s sealed with a thick iron padlock, the key to which is in the other silk bag. I quickly unlock the iron box to find a small wooden box inside.

“It’s like a damn matryoshka doll.” I mutter, only to freeze when I actually look at the tiny wooden box. The wood is warped, the grain twisted to form nonsense phrases in an unnatural pink tint. Holding my hand over it, the box feels burning hot, like the wood should have caught fire long ago.

Swallowing thickly, I brace myself before flipping open it’s simple latch. The box springs open on its own, revealing my hard-won prize. The thing I and others would be dying for.

The laugh that bursts out of me is half shock, half disbelief. Inside, looking innocuous and inconspicuous, is a simple pink stick drive. The prior heat is long gone, like opening the box released it, leaving its contents seeming perfectly normal. Like it isn’t something worth dying over.

“So this contains the source of G—Their— power, huh? Can’t believe he was able to fit the thing in a usb drive. Can’t believe it held.” I take the stick drive out and move the containers to the floor so I can have some space on the table in front of me. Something like this..hmm. “How to destroy you? I can’t just leave you here with me, even if this place is cut off from reality, and thus from Them, there’s no reason I should take any chances...” I study the stick drive, weighing it in my palm as I consider my options. “An enchanted hammer would work best for smashing, but that might set the power free...An atomizing spell would do the same...”

I absently reach over and grab a peach from my fruit bowl, munching on it as I think over my problem. My fingers rub the drive absently as I think, and I don’t notice when the tiny piece of tech starts pulsing with power. It isn’t until I’ve thrown the pit away and closed my eyes in concentration that I register the power coursing through me. I shiver at the feel of it, luxuriating in how strong it is. Yes, this would certainly be enough to destroy the drive and it’s prisoner. But what—?

A jolt of panic runs through me at the realization that I don’t recognize this power, and my eyes snap open. It takes me a minute to focus, suddenly feeling disoriented, but I pale when I do. My laptop is set up on the table in front of me—when did I even get it out? It had been turned off and lying on the couch—and my hand is millimeters away from inserting the stick drive.

I jerk it back with a gasp, nearly flinging the usb across the room in my panic. “No no no no no! What was I—?!” I quickly drop the usb on the table, staring at it in horror. “I need to destroy that! Now!”

I go to grab my bag, still not sure what tool I’ll be using but needing to do something, when my hand is stopped cold by a sudden grip on my wrist.

“You know, I very much believe in being kind and patient with people until they cross you one too many times, and then letting neither mercy nor pity taint your vindictive wrath.”

My blood runs cold and I choke. “G-gaud.” My eyes are stuck on the pink digits holding my hand in a bruising grip, and I’m too stunned to fight as my hand is forced to the arm of my chair, my other wrist and shoulders pinned to the chair by similarly pink hands.

“You—but—this place is—“ This isn’t possible, this can’t be possible!

“Cut off from the rest of reality? I know. Welcome to the land of dead gods and forgotten nightmares.” I’m too much of a coward to look over my shoulder, to look Them in the eye, but I start to struggle to get away. Where I’d go in this one-room world I don’t know, but I have to at least try. “Now then, the die has been cast, and the consequences are yours to reap. You should have taken care, mortal.” A fifth pink hand slides past and grabs the stick drive from the table.

No. No!

I struggle even harder, but it’s no use. Their hands are like steel bands, holding me in place effortlessly as They plug in the drive. Immediately, a music player I know I don’t have pops up, a black play button on a sickly pink background that takes up up the rest of the screen. The hand that inserted the stick drive clicks play, and a horrible sound comes out.

With the sound comes a further warping of reality, the walls bleeding pink ooze that quickly spreads and flows until it’s dripping from the ceiling and furniture too, dyeing everything inside that same sickly pink. Even the fruit bowl and it’s contents are dyed an awful pink, peaches turned an unnatural shade.

I try to keep fighting, but the awful audio just plays on loop again and again, draining my strength with every note. Soon I’m slumped in my chair, Gaud’s hands the only thing keeping me from sliding off and to the floor. My chin lolls against my chest, and I can do nothing but shudder and whine pitifully when I feel a hand running soothingly through my hair. “Shh. You’re doing well.”

“Please,” I whimper, and can’t even fight it when the pink ooze starts crawling up my skin. “Please.”

But Gaud just leans in to my ear and starts singing along with their source of power.

Never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you down

Never gonna run around and desert you

@biggest-gaudiest-patronuses

Thank you @biggest-gaudiest-fish for beta-reading this for me.

[randomnameless]

Re-reading the completely translated interview, there is something that picked my interest about the so called technology stagnation

Kusakihara: The development team was pretty particular. Basically, they used dishes from the Age of Discovery as a model, then added fantasy-like twists. We especially wanted to give some reality to the ingredients and preparation methods, so we deduced what kinds of vegetables you could grow and fish you could catch based on the topography. Faerghus, Leicester, and Adrestia all have wildly different climates and cultures, so we adjusted how nobles and commoners would live, what kinds of food they’d acquire, and even what flavors they’d enjoy alongside each character’s likes and dislikes, and that’s how we formed Fodlan’s worldview. And if they have magic, then maybe they could make this in the greenhouse, or since there’s ice magic, maybe they could make something like ice cream. We thought of all kinds of stuff like that. The monastery is on top of a mountain, so it’s a bit of a cold climate, so I think the greenhouse runs on magic. It’s a world where there’s magic instead of scientific progress, so they’d have to adapt like that.

So, despite me being the loser who made a post about dishes, their ingredients and what they could mean - which was actually something the devs thought to flesh out their countries, since the game visuals doesn’t tell us a thing - I already noted the magically made ice creams and magically matured meat.

And yet, at that time, I wasn’t really paying attention to all kind of discourse and all, but the “techonology” discourse always baffled me in a way because...

Why are we wondering about lenses to see from afar, when long range magic and siege tomes (magic in this opus) have always been a thing? Are we supposed to believe FE7′s Sonia used a telescope to shoot boltings right and left, just like FE8′s Selena?

Oil could be used to make fire... but every peon with an E rank in magic can use a Fire spell (with crap might though).

Since when technology has been so important in the FE verse? Almyra has boats with canons? Well, I have a Dark Flier who can use magic and bomb their ships with a single spell.

I think the first time I went “nope not dealing with this shit” is when someone pointed out Claude, because Almyra is Middle Eastern inspired, would be appalled at seeing Fodlan’s backward... medicine ? Because - and I suppose this take was made by someone very knowledgeable on medicine and healing in Western Europe during the Middle Ages - Fodlanese people would still try to use leeches to heal when Claude, would know basics of what we call now modern medicine.

And yet... No? Maybe Fodlanese healers can’t perform eye surgery, but why would they need to? Just use a Heal spell, or a Restore spell ! Heal is the very first spell you get when you have a D rank in faith!

You have punctured lung, lost 1L of blood and broke both of your legs? Just use an Elixir, it restores all of your HP!

Of course it might be difficult to roleplay, or to write “gritty novelizations” if you take into account magic, pegasi, swords giving +3 strength and people who can transform in dragons... But this is Fire Emblem. Performing eye surgery has never been an issue.

However, I think it became one, especially with FE16.

Because a certain TV show was running during its development that prides itself on “gritty realism”, and because Fodlan tries to shake off the “fantasy” from the FE series. Manuela will explain the difference between healing magic and medicine, even if, from a gameplay point, both restore HP. 

And also, because the weird mole people are here, and “technology” and “magitech” is used to show how those people, the Agarthans and the Nabateans, are different from the rest of Fodlan people, highlighting their differences - and ultimately influence.

Tl; dr : why is it so important to some that Fodlan people cannot build firearms  when they can already shoot light beams from their hands and heal by snapping their fingers or drinking weird potions?

[dandelion-wings]

Here's a different AU: if you were to write a modern AU of genshin, what would you change and what would you keep the same re: character backstories?

Ooooh, modern AU! My personal approach to those is to keep the same world but give it modern tech and social systems, because I hate taking magic away, so this wouldn't be an our-world AU, but assuming more modern government styles and technology and so on, and picking out 5 characters:

1. Presuming a larger polity than Mondstadt-in-game, which is basically a small city-state, I think Jean comes from a well-known military family--Gunnhildrs are expected to become quite high-ranking officers, and her mom is a general. But Jean wants to protect more than she wants to attack, that's canon, and as an adult she ends up joining the police force in the town where her father settled down post-divorce! (In-game the Knights of Favonius are both military force and police force, but that doesn't really work in a large modern state. The closest would be the FBI, and Jean might be working towards joining that sort of organization, but you typically have to do your time in a smaller org first.) She's still very much who she is in-game, devoted to the people around her above her own life, but there's more friction with who she's been raised to think she should be. The overachieving in this case is partially to try and prove that she's doing something just as important here as she would as a military officer.

2. The Ragnvindr family is an economically powerful family, but Kaeya isn't sent to them to infiltrate Mondstadt, because one hopes Mondstadt is a more modern democracy in this set-up (with the archon of Freedom and all), so it's harder to guarantee a government position. Additionally, just adopting a kid off the street is harder with modern child-welfare systems! I think what happens is that Kaeya's father is the spy, and instills a lot of Khaenri'ahan patriotism and the evils of Mondstadt in his kid, so when he's killed on, like, an assassination mission, and Kaeya ends up in the foster system, he comforts himself with the belief that he can take on his father's work somehow. No one knows who his father is, just that here's this kid who ended up on the streets, and he ends up adopted by the Ragnvindrs by sheer luck. But he believes it's fated, because that's how he's rationalizing everything at that age. The big reveal to Diluc then becomes his father's identity--I think it would be fun if Crepus had been the person his dad was trying to assassinate--but it comes from the same feelings around loyalties.

3. Lisa keeps a lot of her backstory, just more modern-adapted--since there's still Visions in this world, she was still researching magic in Sumeru. I think in this case, she's a lot more focused on tech and magitech (since Electro would be a great element to power modern technology), but she's come to be disillusioned with "progress" that damages the world, creates greater and greater weapons, and often goes to further enrich the people on the top. She ends up quitting research at the prestigious Academia to come the same town Jean's working in and end up an adjunct professor at a local community college. (And then she and Jean both bond over the people around them expecting them to have done "bigger things," but being content with the choices they've made. My brain has given me like three possible meet-cutes for them in the process of typing this sentence.)

4. Razor no longer functions as a weirdly well-socialized feral child, because you have a more urbanized world and the same child-welfare systems that Kaeya falls into, so instead he's Police Chief Varka's undersocialized foster kid who got removed from a family where they literally let him just. Live with the dogs and sleep in the kennels. He's super upset about that, and there's probably a touching character arc in there where Varka wins him over in part through Andrius, who is definitely just Varka's absurdly huge fluffy white dog, and not the lingering remnant of an ancient wolf-spirit whose domain has been reduced, and his power with it, by the inroads humans have made upon the wilderness. Even though Razor isn't anywhere ready for college, Varka still takes him to Lisa as the only teaching-capable Electro user in town.

5. Since I just made the Knights of Favonius into the local police, Amber's grandfather is no longer viewed as having defected from the country--he was an officer at one point, let a suspect get away, and retired in shame and basically vanished. AFAIK it's not canonical that Amber's parents are dead (I tend to roll with that in fic, but it's just a headcanon), so in this case they're still around, meaning she can stay around and still hang with everyone. She is very into gliding, which is a competitive sport in this setting, and is the school's champion. She's going to nationals! Everyone is so proud! She wants to follow in her grandfather's footsteps still, but she's too young to actually do so yet.

Bonus 6: the Traveler is just straight-up a shapeshifting alien. They essentially are in-game, too, but in this case there's an actual spaceship involved. The "plot" kicks off when they crash-land on the edge of town and encounter Dvalin, who, like Andrius, is much diminished, but in a grimmer way.

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen X Wants to Like Guilty Gear Part 1: Allen X Does Not Like Guilty Gear

Folks, I tried. I really tried. For the last few years I’ve tried to like Guilty Gear. I’ve honestly been playing bits of this series since around the time Accent Core was on the PS3 store. I’ve really tried. I’ve played Accent Core Plus R, Xrd, Revelator and Rev 2, and I’ve been trying my damn hardest to like this series because I can see all the cool and fun stuff in it. I can see the cool grungy-rock meets 90s anime aesthetic. I can see how insane and cool Roman Cancel combos are. I can hear all the awesome music in the soundtracks. And I see all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into this series to make it the coolest hard-rock fighting game it wants to be and I really want to like it.

But I don’t... God, it’s Samurai Shodown all over again.

I just can’t get into this series, man. Something, some things about it keep me from fully enjoying it. Mostly some petty things that just add up and tumble the pile over, but things nonetheless. 

And... I wanted to talk about that a little. 

I wanted to just let out all my love and misgivings for the Guilty Gear in hopes of finally purging all the negative from my being, or at least write it out in a constructive manner so I can lay all my transgressions bare and maybe... possibly... actually want to purchase and play Strive on launch day.

But first, as usual, a synopsis. 

The Guilty Gear series is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works, helmed and created by Daisuke Ishiwatari, who I know as the composer of the Blazblue soundtrack, but has quite the large track record that I won’t go into here. Guilty Gear as a story focuses on the lone bounty hunter Sol Badguy, a human experiment known as a Gear, half-human, half monstrous being of science and magic. The storyline of each game tends to focus on Sol finding the humanity in his would-be marks as well as confronting the still-lingering humanity in himself as he copes with both his self-loathing and loathing the for one who made him this way, a scientist simply call That Man, or Asuka as the most recent games have shown us. The storyline itself is long and complicated but as of Strive it seems the final battle between Sol and That Man is finally at hand and the battlefield will be the United States.

Gameplay-wise, Guilty Gear is a fast-paced, combo-centric series that uses chaining attacks that can cancel into special and super moves, along with the unique Roman Cancels, which slow down time and leave your opponent open for more punishment mid-combo. Think the Chain Shift in Under Night with a bit more hangtime if you want a comparison, or the Rapid Cancel of the Blazblue series with a slowdown effect and more flash. 

And with the basics out of the way let’s talk about the specifics.

The Good Things

Of course, that isn’t to say I hate this game series. There’s a lot I like and enjoy about the Guilty Gear series that I’ll go into greater detail in a later essay, but for now I’ll give a brief mention of all the things I enjoy about it.

The Music

I was introduced to Daisuke Ishiwatari’s music through Blazblue, and while I love Blazblue music to this day I’ll also admit that it sounds very... video game-y. It doesn’t sound like something that could be listened to from anything other than a game. But Guilty Gear music sounds like actual music. I don’t mean that in an insulting way toward Blazblue, but... man does Pride and Glory sound like something you’d listen to while driving your pickup truck on the highway. Damn, does Get Down to Business sound like something an actual rock concert would play. And the Xrd soundtracks sound so good man. One Dawn, Enough is Enough, Starry Sky, Lily of Steel, they all sound so damn good. And as cheesy and over-the-top as they sound I love the LA and NY Vocals of this series. Personal favorites are Keep Yourself Alive II, Fuuga, and Suck a Sage. 

The Aesthetic

If there was one thing I didn’t really like about Blazblue it was a lot of characters, even the ones I mained, had an aesthetic I just couldn’t latch onto. A weird mix of fantasy, eastern, and early-2000s action anime that just didn’t click with me save for Hibiki Kohaku. Guilty Gear is a lot more my speed with a more rugged look to their characters. Something about a lot these characters just have that good mix of grunge and 90s fashion I love. Some of my favorites being Answer, Ramlethal, and Jam.

Tension

While there’s a lot about Guilty Gear’s mechanics I find unappealing and convoluted I love how building and using meter works in this series, specific in Accent Core Plus R. Dust being a sort of EX button works really well in this game since I personally feel like Dust is kind of under-used a lot of the time save for the universal sweep.  This point probably won’t get an entire essay covering it, but I did at least want to give it a shoutout.

Setting

This point will be getting its own essay, but to keep things short and simple I like the setting of Guilty Gear, medieval-esque magitech with a dash a modern-world flavor just hits with real well with me. Like a nice mix of Under Night and Tales of Symphonia.

And that’s it for the good stuff, at least the good stuff I can make into later essays. Now let’s talk about...

The Conflicting Things

Really, my issues with Guilty Gear are similar to Samurai Shodown and Granblue Fantasy Versus, where I love those game aesthetically, but actually playing them is another matter. However, unlike those two games my issues are almost the opposite. Where Samsho and GBVS had a slower and more fundamentals approach that didn’t appeal to my cocaine-esque addiction to combo chains, special cancels and air-dashing, Guilty Gear is almost too fast for my taste, or at least a different kind of fast. This is something very hard to explain. If you've read my initial thoughts on Crystar then you have a good idea about what I mean. This is something very hard to explain to people that haven’t played the game and is likely more a technical part of Guilty Gear’s mechanics that I can explain with an real sophistication aside from saying ‘this game feels weird,’ but... I’m gonna’ try.

The Button Layout

Alright, this is something I can actually explain. I’m... not a fan of 5-button fighters. Really, anything more than 4 buttons is hard for me to grasp. This is mostly due to the fact that I use a standard dualshock controller when playing fighting games. I frankly don’t have money for an arcade stick nor the patience to figure our how to work with one, so I’m stuck with the PS4 controller. For games like Blazblue, Granblue, and even stuff like Tekken and Dead or Alive this works out fine, as even when those games have a fifth or six button they usually aren’t heavily involved in combos or can be supplemented by other means. But games like Street Fighter, Skullgirls, and Guilty Gear the fifth and sixth button are used very liberally. Granted, Dust isn’t used as often as heavy punch, but it’s still a key button used for sweeps and air combos, turning my hands into pretzels as a results. 

I don’t you dare tell me to just get use to it or get good. I’m a Carl main. I’m used multi-tasking with my hands.

...

...

...

Dammit, that came out wrong, but you know what I mean. 

Anyway, a smaller issue I have is just the way Punch, Kick, Slash, and Heavy Slash are mapped both on the controller and on the display screen. It just doesn’t mesh well with me where they’re mapped, and switching the button layout honestly makes it worse because the display proper doesn’t adjust for where I map the buttons.

Roman Cancels

Roman Cancels are just a tool I don’t think I’ll ever find a good use for, or at least something that would take me a long time to use optimally. Like I said before, they’re basically Chain Shift with more hangtime, but it feels like the Rapid Cancel in the sense that I have to move very quickly after activating or I outright lose the combo, and unlike Chain Shift and Rapid Cancel where I can just ignore the mechanic, keep the meter, and focus on small, easy combos with good defense, Roman Cancels feel somewhat needed to do decent damage in this game. Or at least the trial mode really thinks so.

From what I’ve seen of Strive’s mechanics I think Roman Cancels will be a little easier for me to conceptualize and use, but... I dunno’, I’m not feeling too confident on that. 

I do recognize that this issue is a me problem, but it’s a probably I have nonetheless.

The Look

Specifically on Xrd, something about the 2.5D makes certain movements a little hard to read and judge. This isn’t something I can really describe that well, but something about that game specifically feels weird. Like the cell-shaded, 3D contrasts a little with the feel of motion in that game. I have a similar issue with the recent Street Fighter games as well. Again, it’s nothing concrete and it’s honestly indescribable for someone of my knowledge on the subject, but... something feels awkward when I’m playing this game in a serious light.

The Fandom

This has nothing to do with the game, but tends to create cracks in me when I play this game. As a guy that got into Arc System Works games via Blazblue Calamity Trigger, seeing a lot of the Guilty Gear be demeaning and insulting toward the Blazblue Community has always rubbed me the wrong way and I have a difficult time getting into this series in a more serious way because of it. I know this is likely a vocal minority, I know this isn’t every Guilty Gear fan, but it feels like a vocal side of Guilty Gear community keeps thinking that Guilty Gear is some sort of antithesis to anime air-dashers like Blazblue, as if the grungy rock aesthetic cancels out the anime aesthetic of Blazblue. This has always annoyed me, but it tends to crop up everytime someone brings up Guilty Gear designs versus Blazblue designs and while I find the idea of discussing and comparing the two interesting it always seems to devolve into insulting Blazblue.

Though to give a short version of my opinion this: I don’t want to hear shit about Blazblue waifus when Baiken mains don’t even play Baiken. And I especially don’t want to hear shit about Blazblue’s pandering fanservice when Dizzy, Ram, and Elphelt exist.

About Strive

I think that covers the main things keeping me from liking Guilty Gear, or at least playing Guilty Gear. So I want to talk about Strive, the next game coming up. This will also be something that will be expanded on in a later essay, but for now I’ll say I’m cautiously excited about Strive coming out and I look forward to at least giving it a shot. Though to give some rapid-fire bullet points on the matter... 

Overall, I think Strive looks great, the presentations is fantastic and I love a lot of the new designs for the characters, though I hear that opinion is actually contentious in the fandom.

I heard that Strive is gonna’ have a dub again. I’m... curious, but I’ll save my opinions for a different essay. Long story short, if they get a new director or the old director puts more care into the performances I’ll be happy. I did overall like Xrd’s original dub barring a few performances.

So far everything about Strive looks cool, but it’s still Guilty Gear, so... debating on if I wanna’ get that day 1. Especially since I still only have a base PS4. I’ve no interest in getting the new hotness for at least another year and gamers are self-centered demons that mock those using lesser hardware. That isn’t a Guilty Gear thing, it’s just a gamer thing.

For those wondering, if I pick of this game I’ll probably main Chipp, Ram, and maybe Giovanna.

I have mixed feelings about the soundtrack. Save for Smell of the Game the lyrics in the themes I’ve hard are a mix of okay to... not okay. Hope they have versions without the lyrics similar to Raven in Rev 2.

And I think that’s everything. Next... probably another essay about Arknights.

[ninthfeather]

You have been offered an exorbitant sum of money to (somehow) remake The Untamed as a mecha series. What Do You Do?

So, this is actually a bit trickier than the times you asked me the same about Detective Conan and Fruits Basket. Both of those stories are ones that I’ve interacted with for a long time and they have cores that I feel work with varying amounts of sci-fi and tech involved as long as certain elements stay stable. Meanwhile, the Untamed’s specific version of xianxia cultivation is pretty heavily tied to its plot. But I think it’s still doable.

Ok, so, for The Untamed, the most central plot is ultimately the one about the dangers of rumors and hearsay, with the theme of the complicated nature of real-world morality being almost as central. Other than those, my favorite theme is probably the whole ongoing narrative of each generation’s actions affect the next. None of this stuff would be out of place in a traditional sci-fi style mecha series set in space.

So, my inspirations here are primarily gonna be Magic Knight Rayearth, Sakura Wars, and the bits of various Gundam shows that involve what’s collectively referred to as space magic.

(this got long so have a readmore)

The concept: this is still, to some extent, xianxia. People still cultivate, they just do it on non-Earth planets and moons (note: if this is something that is specifically not allowable in Taoism I would appreciate someone letting me know). Each of the clans has their own planet/moon, corresponding in climate to the locations we see in the show and presumably named after those locations on Earth. The Burial Mounds is probably a subsatellite of the Yiling moon orbiting Yunmeng. The costuming will not change for the most part, though because space travel exists, there will be space suits—just made of materials available in the setting. I’m picturing some real funky ship designs, and also probably some scenes of cultivation-based metalworking to justify the existence of the spaceships in the first place. The sets would probably also look very much the same, but with occasional modern devices made with obviously ancient methods, thrown in just often enough to be subtly jarring. Tech levels would probably vary by clan—the Jins would have the most, the Lan would have the least, the Jiang would have a few weird things that Wei Wuxian came up with but not much else, etc.

As far as the mechs themselves, my solution here would be essentially creating a magitech setup, with mechs more along the lines of the ones from Magic Knight Rayearth or Scrapped Princess in piloting mechanics—i.e., they’d have magic bubble cockpits, transfer damage directly to pilots, and run on the pilot’s energy. I’d probably go ahead and have mechs be essentially summons that are exclusive to cultivators and tied to their swords, which adds even more layers to a number of scenes in the drama (people’s swords being stolen, certain people losing the ability to cultivate, the Nie saber stuff, etc.). Maybe people who have spiritual tools like Zidian can use them to power up their robots? Also obviously Wei Wuxian builds himself a new mech in the Burial Mounds and ties it to Chenqing.

I’m seeing the great clans all having very traditional sort of fantasy robot designs (like, Escaflowne/Rayearth/Dunbine vibes), color-coded by clan, with some design variations to differentiate them--I can see the Lans having the most curves, the Nie units being really blocky, the Jin units having extra ornamentation, the Jiang units being sleekest, and the Wen units being the most pointy. And then, just, the robots made through demonic cultivation? Evangelion-type eldritch horrors that are, given how demonic cultivation works, most likely made of organic material from dead bodies and scavenged bits of metal.

So, ok, it’s the Untamed, but everyone’s got robots. The thing is, they don’t only have robots. The show that results from this would probably end up including a mixture of the original series’ sword & cultivation combat and robot battles. There are some fights, for example, that basically have to take place indoors or right next to buildings, and those would probably end up involving sword combat. On the other hand, some fights would be just as fun if they involved two giant robots zooming around in the sky.

Some specific scenarios: a lot of the Sunshot Campaign involving simultaneous space and ground battles, the First Siege of the Burial Mounds starting with a gigantic robot assault before Wei Wuxian knocks enough of them out of the sky for them to try sending in ground troops, the battle between Lan Zhan and Xue Yang in Yi City happening in mechs while Wen Ning fights [spoiler] on the ground. It could be cool. Also, it would really emphasize the difference between people who can cultivate and people who can’t.

I’m not going to go full spoilers here, but I think you can imagine how the feelings of certain characters who aren’t strong cultivators would be even more intense in this type of setting. And how much easier it would be for them to argue that they felt weak, and vulnerable, and threatened!

I don’t think there’s any reason you’d need to add robots to The Untamed. But I think if you did, you could have a lot of fun using them to reinforce existing themes and make situations that were already gutwrenching even worse.

So, for that unlimited budget? The majority would be spent on getting as much of the original team as would be willing to return to make The Untamed: But Robots This Time, or replacing the cast & crew members who were unwilling to participate in this level of nonsense. The rest would go into hiring a robot-focused effects team with a focus on recruiting people who worked on Pacific Rim or Transformers, and then paying them to do a lot of work.

Once again, disclaimer: if I screwed up anything on a cultural level, feel free to tell me. I genuinely do not mean anyone any harm I just like putting robots in stuff.

[mlpdestinyverse]

Destinyverse - History of Magic and Tech

((If the text is too small, please right click and open both parts of the strip in a new tab to zoom in!))

*cries in world-building* Well then...for the first time, let's get into just a small piece of actual Destinyverse lore. I think that first panel alone gives away that there's a lot more to be known about this universe, but that information is for a later time. So! Beyond this point will be the finer details on the workings of rune enchantments and Sunset Shimmer's company, Uni-Tech~! 

Info Under The Cut

Magic (cont.)

Magic exists all around. It is within every creature, the atmosphere, and more importantly, the earth itself. Granted passive magic, earth ponies were designed to tend to the earth, and pegasi the weather and the expansive skies. But unicorns were intended to utilize and protect the very knowledge and power of spellcasting.

At first unicorns kept their findings to themselves, but after the three pony tribes united, mages shared their household light enchantments and magic barriers with society. Over time, Princess Celestia and Luna came into power, and Nightmare Moon’s defeat brought about a millennium of peace. Technology developed, as did wind turbines and hydropower for electricity. Both ultimately contributed to the declining necessity of rune enchantments. Only some studied mages utilized the art sporadically (Twilight Sparkle when enchanting Tank’s helicopter. Starlight Glimmer when creating a vault to seal away cutie marks).

Unicorns also no longer had a dire need to study and utilize spells for their own safety. Growing comfortable in modern society over the years, the average unicorn now only tends to learn basic spells for everyday living like telekinesis and light. Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, however, continues to pass down knowledge to newer generations of young ponies, encouraging young colts and fillies to dive into the mysteries and wonder of magic through study. Only a hoofful of ponies have managed to truly hone their talents and go on to become knowledgeable and trained mages, such as Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer.

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Runes

While normal spellcasting is typically instantaneous, rune enchantments tend to be used for long-term purposes:

For spell usage over an extended period of time without a need for concentration (ie. Light spells)

For casting on specific items or areas (ie. enchanted relics, magic traps, energy barriers)

Rune-etchings are also often written to have a trigger, (ie. motion, pressure) which requires specific rune combinations to accomplish.

While convenient, the art of rune-etching and enchanting is complex and requires a steady mind to guide one's magic into making clean and precise carvings with a tool. It also requires the intellect to create the best rune combinations and formulas for the desired result.

Rune-etchings alone hold no power. The true power comes from the magical energy poured into them, which allows them to trigger and work as instructions for said magic. Unicorns need to concentrate and pour in magic for varied periods of time to enchant a spell into an item or area of choice. Unless a specific trigger is written into the runic spell formula to tell the runes when and how to react, rune-etchings will activate the moment they reach their full energy capacity, which differs depending on the complexity of the spell. The more extra magic that is enchanted and stored into runes, the more energy the runes will have for multiple uses. Alternatively, a spell will have more time to stay active in one usage.

Ancient relics created by olden wizards are known for carrying powerful spells. It's been hypothesized that such high-magical artifacts were either enchanted by multiple wizards or by one wizard over the course of months.

If the magic within rune-etchings completely expends, it can be recharged periodically by a unicorn or with long concentration to store up magical energy. This tends to be dependent on the strength and complexity of the spell and the spell usage required by the user.

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Uni-Tech

The rise in technology in modern-day Equestria really began with Sunset Shimmer's return to her homeland. After refreshing herself on her magical studies in an effort to rediscover her purpose, the mare found herself missing the modern tech back in the alternate human universe. As someone who dabbled in multiple fields, from music to art to science, Sunset decided to try a hoof in contributing to what she felt were the beginnings of a tech evolution in Equestria. Using human builds as inspiration, Sunset helped introduce the first equestrian digital cameras, monitors, and computers. These creations first aided medical and scientific fields, but were quickly picked up by more creative fields. Seeing this, and by pushing festering ideas in the right direction, Sunset was able to inspire other creative minds. She helped encourage the creation of animated and live-action movies, shows, and major advancements in the videogame industry (to her utter nerdy delight). On the flip side, Sunset has also very meticulously worked to keep other human inventions away from Equestria. Through her experiences, she has come to hold one solid belief; just because one can, doesn't mean one should.

While she felt she was on the right path, Sunset believed there was more she could offer. A missing piece. Observation led her to notice a rise in the cost of electricity with the increase of household appliances and electronics. Her mind began churning through ideas of energy-efficiency, convenience, and - through personal-experience once upon a time - availability and affordability for families who were not so well-off. Deep down, Sunset knew incorporating magic would be the way to go. Recalling her old studies on the history of runic spell enchantments from her filly days, Sunset picked up old books, drew up blueprints for her ideas, and approached Twilight for further wisdom.

Twilight provided the knowledge of rune-etching and worked with Sunset to think up different spells for her ideas. Having never attempted rune-etching before, Twilight offered her friends lessons. For Sunset, who once had fiddled around with different spells and potions under Celestia's tutelage, carving runes had been a new and exciting experience. It took practice, but weeks of effort had the craft feeling almost natural for the mare.

If ancient artifacts from eras long past had proven anything, different natural materials such as metals and even gems possessed inherent magical properties that were especially reactive to magical interaction. Aiming to understand which materials could hold and even enhance spell enchantments best, both Sunset and Twilight dove into their experimentation. The two gathered a small group of practiced unicorns who had tampered with rune-etching before for their research team, including Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, and Moondancer. As they researched the best materials for Sunset's tech inventions and improvements, Sunset found herself naming their little team "Uni-Tech", the beginning stages of magitech in Equestria.

Prototypes followed. However, realizing the runes in their tech could only be powered by a unicorn's magic, Sunset and Twilight were momentarily stumped on how non-magical creatures would be able to recharge runes without aid. Sunset recognized the lack in convenience, however, a new discovery quickly came to them. As traces of magic exist in nearly everything within their world, Sunset discovered that the small amounts of magic within the very electricity that powered their tech created a unique reaction with the magic components in their metal builds. Alongside electricity powering their machines, the reaction created a steady build-up of magical energy for the added runes.

The discovery worked well with machines and tech-powered via cord to electrical socket. Even when unplugged, a machine’s runes would still hold the built-up magic it had stored previously until plugged back in again and used. Upon initial installation, the machine simply required to be plugged in for a number of hours for the initial storing of magic.

The Uni-Tech team grew with the need for professional engineers to finalize their builds and mass-produce products. And thus, Uni-Tech took off, greatly contributing to the booming era of technology with the union of magic and electronics. A facility for Uni-Tech was built not far from Twilight's own castle, and in time, they even developed a secondary location in Canterlot, overseen by Moondancer.

With the correct metals and the positive reactions to magic, Sunset was happy to observe the resulting amplification of power for her runic spells. This meant an increase in power output and a decrease in actual electricity usage in the long run. However, when it came to the concept of developing and improving portable devices (ie. laptops, handheld consoles), Sunset and Twilight ran into an issue. Even if made rechargeable, once a device's magical energy was spent, there was a huge inconvenience in the slow, gradual trickle of charging magic that would lead to far too many hours of waiting to even utilize the magical aspects of a device.

Thankfully a ground-breaking discovery was uncovered; information on elemental runes that had been lost to time was regained by chance. As it turned out, elemental arcane runes were unique in how they consumed the energy of their respective element when in proximity of it. More specifically, they converted this energy into magical energy. In old books, ancient ponies recalled attempting to build fires in uncharted areas, only for their fire to suddenly be snuffed out, followed by an explosion of flames from an undiscerned source. Hidden traps or forgotten runes, Sunset and Twilight had settled. In Sunset's case, electricity runes, when introduced to a steady source of electricity, could quickly charge up with magical and electrical energy.

That single discovery lead to the creation of the magi-battery. The magi-battery not only charged up devices with electricity, but with the correct rune formulas, allowed other spell runes to draw from its storage of magic. It proved to be fast-charging, powerful, efficient, environmental-friendly, and overall revolutionary to their efforts. Because of its huge success during its initial launch, Uni-Tech is now a supplier for companies in Canterlot and beyond.

Sunset continues to lead projects with her company to this day. With new ideas, she often works with Twilight to refine and brainstorm possible spell enchantments. Though they founded the company together, Sunset Shimmer is the true CEO of Uni-Tech, with Twilight assisting when she isn't busy with her own duties.

Uni-Tech inventions include and are not limited to:

Fireplaces lit by unique fire runes, fueled by electrical power. Fire behaves more like magic fire than real fire, thus heating the room without the need of a chimney for smoke release. Low maintenance, provides the experience of a real fireplace, and reduces air pollution. The addition of a gem (thanks to Astral Dusk’s research) allows runes to store more energy for usage if the power were to go out.

Microwaves using fire glyphs formulated for heat radiation as opposed to actual fire. Proven to provide better-balanced heating overall. 

Light runes in ceilings, which lessen the need for disposable light bulbs. Easy to control dimming. 

Shower installation of tankless water heaters, using water and fire-heating runes. Water runes transfer water directly from a reservoir and expel it, lessening the worry of pipe bursts. Instant and consistent warm showers, even in black-outs. 

 Security cameras that possess a complex spell that magically records, making recordings not as easy to alter or delete.  

This universe's Luster Dawn, who I'm nearly convinced is probably Starlight and Sunburst's kiddo, started working for Uni-Tech as a young and talented intern and has continued to work as a valued member of the company!

For clarification; while Astral Dusk's gem research aids his mother's company, he's technically not a worker for Uni-Tech and is generally just a royal scientist serving Princess Twilight alongside Sunset Shimmer.

[twitchesandstitches]

Disney Growth AU

One of my holdovers from my old blog was what I called the Disney Growth AU, and I’m bringing it back! Mostly for the odd snippet or story post here or that, and partly as a component in some of my other AUs, since those mentions might not make a whole lot of sense without this AU’s particulars.

And also since it would fill a bit silly reposting older stories or edits of them without giving everyone the background of this AU, and anything i happen to think of. No sense posting stories and just throwing you into it blind, even if you’re familiar with it. It would just feel strange!

The Disney Growth AU is a combination of all the various disney properties (or at least the ones that fit into the Disney animated canon, with the various cartoons as having a more nebulous connection but are present), centering largely around the Disney heroines and major lady characters of their respective franchises and sub-series, with a focus on magically induced transformations and a particular emphasis on hyper curves (gigantic boobs, hips and butt, with variance for individual body types and personality-appropriate looks, and with more monster-y/human divergent form styles) and giantess.

In that later case, the princesses and other heroines are absolutely massive, with none of the usual limits i typically have in my usual AUs or giantess scenarios for the sake of tiny/giant interaction; they are a mile high at minimum when not deliberately suppressing their powers, and when they’re fully powered up, the giant Disney girls can be as big as entire planets, if not solar systems… and even larger than that, with their proportions scaling up to match.

Of note, this AU is broadly split into two continuities of a kind; one where this AU is its own thing and its relation to other fic ideas isn’t important, and one where it is a sub-set of Crossthicc as an important aspect of the multiverse, and the distinction has to do with which aspect I’m playing up.

Both versions heavily emphasize magic, and the basic premise is the same: the heroines, or princesses (whether they are actually royalty or not, such as in the case of Mulan or Moana; the title is a catch-all for ‘important heroine’ as a consequence of their actions) are living embodiments of raw magic, both conduits for the stuff of the soul and transformation, and generating it in the same way that stars create elements and light. This causes them to transform over time, growing bigger and curvier, and eventually take on more individual, inhuman alterations to reflect their raw power and coolness.

Their villains are, of course, around and up to No Good, and in between slice of life shenanigans, pranks, and attempts to simply live their lives while also being benign giant goddesses, they might thwart the plans of their equally gigantic villainesses and foes, who have transformed to become Big and Thicc too, and seek to impose absolute dominance over all existence.

In the former case where its a standalone AU, the setting is more mundane… as much as they CAN be, in the context. They live on a single version of Earth, with a different history to justify how a Powhatan diplomat, ancient Chinese war icon, Germanic fairy tale, and outright mythical figures can all exist at the same time. Effectively, they have been given a Kingdom Hearts style lighter and softer treatment, with ancient countries still existing in the modern day and altering history in subtle ways for this all to make some kind of internal sense. (For instance, modern America may not exist; instead you have the original countries of the First Nations expanded and industrialized and existing as a broad union similar to modern America,) Something similar applies to outright fictional countries or landmasses, with the world altered so that their likely geographic locations makes some kind of sense. Agrabah, for example, is a bit of a tricky case.

In this case, all the princesses are modern women, but have existed in many incarnations throughout history as great peacekeepers, champions of justice, mighty warriors, and paragons of virtue to teach others. In relatively recent times, their actions ensured a massive burst of magic that permanently brought raw, wild and Good magic back to the world, imbuing them all with it and making them living generators of it, awakening new power and making them into new goddesses, with great stature to match. Apart from now being potentially planet-sized and warping local space via their raw power just to fit into the world - packing mountain mass into a very small area - their lives are still mundane, and much of their time is spent adjusting to their new power and finding things to do with it.

Something similar would apply with the villains, most obviously Maleficent and a cadre of other villainesses following her; while not as powerful as the heroines, they are nonetheless massive and powerful goddesses… just not on the same level as the heroines, but they have the benefit of a massive horde of spooky monsters and less imposing foes that are mighty in their collective dangerous-ness.

Periodically, Marvel characters may make appearances (especially the more cosmic ones, such as Thor); assume this is a meeting of the multiverse kind of deal, with the other Earth perhaps being merged into the Disney one and the superheroes making do, with the new supervillains coming into conflict with the villains. Alternatively; emphasizing the Awesome of the heroine and supporting characters to serve roughly the same purpose as having legit superheroes here. For instance, consider Maui as being a Thor analogue by emphasizing his myth-appropriate raw strength and heroic deeds. Guy pulls up oceans during fishing trips!

(That said, the Marvel Growth AU from my old blog is now its entirely own thing, combined with some ideas I have for a DC one as well, as well as BNHA/My Hero Academia, as a cohesive general superhero setting. The tone of Disney Growth AU is more mundane slice of life that just so happens to take place for giant hero ladies dealing with their newfound powers, and just a hint of epic fantasy.)

Generally speaking, i will probably tag fics and thoughts specifically meant for this AU as JUST ‘disney growth AU’, for the sake of simplicity, without additional specifications.

The other version of this AU is explicitly intended to work with Crossthicc, and relies on the multiverse aspect and incorporates more obvious elements from the different versions of the characters in question. In this version, the princesses are explicitly goddesses; not just powerful heroines made mighty, but actual goddesses, and have been for some time.

They are, in-universe, widely worshiped across the multiverse under many different names and culturally relevant touchstones, but when one person pays homage to a raven-haired personification of Good Governance, and another gives their love to a goddess of orphans and adoption, it is still Snow White they worship. Consequently, they are enormously powerful and have a lot of potential domains under their influence, and mostly dwell upon a vast plane of magic that dwells beyond the material realm. This huge coterminous plane is effectively an elemental plane of magic, perhaps the metaphysical engine that keeps the World Tree of the mortal universes going, supporting that delicate soap bubble that is so easy to pop… and constantly on guard from the dreadful things trying to do just that.

It is possible that even this realm is but a reflection of their true divine power, a somewhat accessible an diminished echo of their full nature, but it's so mighty that they cannot properly exist in the mundane plane without wrecking it, instead manifesting as avatars. Depends on the need of the scenario, honestly.

The MILF fleet of crossthicc comes across these goddesses during their travels, earning their favor and interest, and a few of them send mortal avatars to stay with the fleet and experience the mortal universe, far weaker than their true selves but still shockingly powerful, and members of the God Squad that is a club of benign deities that for whatever reason are endorsing the MILF fleet.

Their home planea is much more mythic in tone, with an explicitly magitech vibe; imagine epic D&D style fantasy in an infinite universe of soaring mountains and mighty landscapes, with magically empowered technology serving the role of more mundane technological advances, and magic being absolutely universal. Take your grandest high fantasy ideas, ramp them up a 100 times, and mash them into the tropes of nobility and honor being actual forces of nature, and you have the basic approach! Here, mighty heroes fight grand monsters… and usually it's the goddesses doing this, the mightiest beings in all the cosmos, and fighting manifestations of entropy and cosmic non-existence. Their villains here are embodiments of forces like that, perhaps linked to the mysterious monsters the mortal plane is plagued with.

In this realm, mighty brave warriors ride on fearsome dragons to confront demon kings, mountains get up and walk to wrestle with one another, and the geography of the plane can shift at a moment’s notice when the currents of magic are strong enough. IT is in fact a source of magic, and does not conform to mundane notions of space-time. The plane is infinite, continuing forever, with ever more wild landscapes dissolving into chaotic potential and randomized impossibility as you get from civilization: mountains made of teeth, seas turning into boiling oil and crystalize laughter… and it gets weirder from there.

The goddess-heroines are so powerful that they stabilize this realm with their mere existence, growing more powerful and drinking deeply of the magic they generate and are empowered by, growing stronger still, and in doing so, they also reinforce the mortal realms, which is given life by this plane in some fashion. But the universes of mortals have been badly wounded, and the same applies to the princess’ realms too, and horrors pour out from them, and they must constantly quell those in hope of helping to bring peace, in some fashion, to all realms.

It is also important to note that given the different scale, they are far larger than in my usual giant lady fare; since space is more of a polite suggestion, this causes few problems, and they aren’t just planet sized. They are often universe-sized, if not even bigger, though they can adjust local space to fit them if they please, and even if they don’t, their presence causes no damage if they don’t wish it; their steps could reduce worlds to powder, but not a single living thing will be bothered by them stepping down.

(It is also possible that this realm is a primordial birthplace of souls, or an afterlife; people who perish come here, and after they work through their remaining problems, they pass on to another afterlife and perhaps later reincarnation. IT is the fate of evil beings to be reduced to food for the princesses, becoming monsters to be slain that reflect their evil hearts… or both. Some few mortal villains retain their willpower and become meances the princesses strive to defeat, and these are the villains of Disney canon that otherwise don’t fit the motif for the villainesses. Something similar might apply for the heroes and prince-types, but in terms of heroic spirits or great priests/followers of the goddesses in life. They came to love their goddesses so much, they remain by their sides forevermore. The goddesses themselves, or their bodies, may also constitute an afterlife as well.)

One more note; while this applies to the more mundane AU too, it's more prevalent here: the princesses here aren’t just based on their Disney interpretation but have elements from their other fictional interpretations too. Those who are public domain fairy tail characters, such as Snow White, have attributes from those stories as well as their many different stories incorporated in some fashion. Those who are historical figures will have attributes from real life applied more freely; for instance, in both AUs, Pocahontas is more like her real life analogue (apart from being the same age she is in the movie), down to that not being her actual name. There may also be liberal Fables (the comic series) invoked here, because i just plain like that series.

However, this AU is still intended to be mostly epic fantasy and high adventure, and should have a more or less light tone; thus, exceptionally dark or grim elements (such as those rooted in what may be the Grimm storyteller’s potential issues with women) will be ignored outright, reinterpreted, or applied in-universe as faulty propaganda.

There may also be a lot of mythological elements brought in. For example, the Seven Dwarves of Snow White are her adoptive fathers, in a sense, and are mostly Norse mythology style dwarves (and possibly svartalfar/dark elves, depending on whim), with their disney names, Doc and Sleepy and such, as pet names Snow had for them. For instance, Brok and Sindri are definitely there; Grumpy and Doc, respectively.

Effectively, in whichever AU, all the Disney cartoons are canon, with the ones more akin to Disney’s fairy tale vibes being more closely tied. More gray areas will be subject to weirdness; for instance, the series of Kim Possible might either be as more or less mundane figures in the magical plane of the goddesses, or as characters from a universe of superheroes who happen to have a connection to an appropriate goddess.

[emmybluefire]

Technology in WoW

Alright. So for some of you: the title might set off a few red flags. But please bare with me. I promise I’m not angry this time XD

For those of you who don’t know: A few months back I made a post on my main Tumblr @fuzzywuzzms regarding my opinions on the subject. In it though, I was too swept up with the irritation brought on by my pet peeves, that I did not leave the topic open for discussion. That was very immature of me and I apologize sincerely to everyone who had the displeasure of reading it. Today though: I wish to rectify that mistake. WoW technology, how does it work? Where is it seen? How advanced is it? Lets have a discussion shall we? >:D

Overview

Technology in WoW is... weird. To say the least. Much of what we see in the game is sloppily done, and likely put in by Blizzard simply because: “It’s cool!” or “It’s fun!” , regardless of their lore. This has left many players confused on, well... what all is possible? What are it’s limits? Timewise, where does WoW stand as an advanced civilization? Are we stuck in the smoke and soot ridden times of the late Victorian era? Where industry, mass production, and machines were a very recent and brand new reality? Or are we more based in the late 1800′s to the early 1900′s? Where advances in medicine and science made HUGE strides towards a better life; and Electricity had only just been discovered.

Are we an early civilization? Where the sword, axe, and mace was prevalent on the battlefield; And wealthy families lorded over massive swaths of land. Or are we a hyper advanced SiFi civilization, where space, time, and interdimentional travel are commonplace?

Blizzard has Never been clear on where we stand as a society. When they introduce new bits of technology, they explain it away as being “Gnomish” or “Goblin” ... or something from a highly advanced culture thousands upon thousands of years ago, the Titans. Sloppy, undeniable, scapegoats. It’s rare that they ever explain anything like, why this technology was invented. How it works. What purpose does it serve... other than just- being cool?

If machine guns and flying machines exist: Then why does everyone still rely so heavily on avian creatures and mele weapons? What is even the point of the armor we wear? Because it’s definitely not going to protect you against ballistics. You know, other than just- being cool?

If electricity exists, then why isn’t it being utilized? Why is every household depicted in game still lit up by torches, candles, and fireplaces? Other than jus- fitting the fantasy vibe?

How is World of Warcraft even still a fantasy game? Well. The simple answer is, that’s just how it’s creators want it to be. They want it to be a fantasy game with steampunk and magitech elements just because, it’s cool. And in my opinion they succeed. It’s fiction. Suspend your disbelief.

But where has this left us? The Roleplayers? The Creators? Those who delve deeply into the game’s lore and fictional history, to create something based in this medium we all enjoy. Something that gives other WoW players FAR more content to enjoy. Content that -feels- like WoW. But most importantly. How far can we go before we start... killing the fantasy vibe with elements that are far too real? Things like refrigerators, hot showers, computers, televisions, phones?

Well, my friends. It seems like it’s time for a ramble.

Transportation

Most of WoW’s technology, at least to me, reminds me of the Industrial revolution. A point in time where machines were just starting to be developed. A time where Steam engines were prevalent, and the internal combustion engine was a very plausible and testable theory. Horses and other labor beasts were still used commonly at this time, but were beginning to fall in relevancy, as steam powered trains, boats, and outlandish carriages were taking over the scene. But, as of this time period... Electricity had not been discovered yet. And hence, people still widely used candles, lanterns, and other fire-containing objects to illuminate their homes.

Established: In WoW we see examples of this technology all over the place. Alliance gunships, Zeppelins, trams, the Northrend steamboats. All falling under one term: “Steampunk.” , a technological and musical theme centered all around steam powered engines and clockwork. For long distance transportation, these seem to be the go-to. But... this all comes with a conflicting caveat. 

Conflicting: If WoW is indeed supposed to be within a steampunk era, then why does the more advanced gas-powered technology exist? Why hasn’t it replaced everything? Remember, gas powered engines were still in development during the industrial revolution. Planes, helicopters, motorcycles... everything. And what do we as Roleplayers consider when looking at all of this?

This is the confusing part.

Medicine

Established: Wow’s medical practices are also widely unexplained. For the most part, what I see NPC’s doing as far as medicine goes is well... alchemy. Healing potions, herbal remidies, magic, and the like. Something VERY medieval, VERY supernatural, and VERY fictional. And yet, for our characters, it works! Its real! It’s efficient! And if this is the case: why then, are modern IV bags, needles, and pills a thing?

Conflicting: If this stuff works, and is common... why then did us Azerothians find the need to develop modern medical technology? Obviously what we’ve known all along works better. So what was the point of spending resources on something less... well, efficient? It doesn’t make much sense.

Where should we lean more towards as Roleplayers? Clearly the modern medical technology in WoW doesn’t have much lore behind it. Unlike the supernatural cures we have.

Warfare

Established:There’s no denying gnomes are clever little fuckers. They’ve invented MANY of the “modern” weapons and machinery we see in the game. High caliber machine guns. Mechanized exosuits. Tanks, explosives, and flying machines. They are also the very first race to have discovered electricity lore wise. AND! They are part of the alliance. Humanity has SO much power at their fingertips now! They can improve their lives, decimate horde armies, power their cities... and just overall improve their quality of liveing! The alliance has the power to take over the world! And yet... do they?

Conflicting: No. For whatever reason, the Alliance seems content to outfit themselves in inferior attire, and leave their cities wrought with filth. Which... well. Doesn’t make, ANY sense! Are they jus- too stupid reverse engineer gnomish tech and mass produce it for themselves? Clearly they have the resources to do so! So why the heck don’t they? Do the gnomes hoard it all for themselves? If so, why hasn’t that sparked a civil war?

Where do we, as roleplayers, draw the line when it comes to Gnomish tech? It seems as though Blizzard purposefully keeps it gnomish to avoid dismantling the overall fantasy feel of the world, and prevent deus’ex machina filled writing. Making themselves out to be “Good” writers when in reality there’s some HUGE continuity errors. If you wanted a western fantasy themed game... why did you include such advanced technology? What should we, as roleplayers, and aspiring writers, respect? Fairness? Or consistency?

Conclusion

Blizzard’s biggest issue with it’s lore has ALWAYS been consistency. They’re more concerned with WoW as a game, then as a story. Which, at the end of the day... isn’t exactly a bad thing overall. Blizzard is a company who’s focus is on making fun -GAMES- not writing great stories. That’s their primary aim as a company. And while I -do- wish we could have both a great game AND a consistent story, I can’t exactly blame them for prioritizing one thing over the other. It just put’s roleplayers like us in very tight, and fickle positions when trying to determine what the best aim is for our character. At least if we want to try and abide by lore. Much is up to interpretation, and personal preference. What we want to be possible, and what we don’t want to be possible.

Every person is different, and interprets the game’s lore differently. So conflicts of rationals are bound to happen. At the end of the day... all I can say is respect each others opinions, and go with the flow. If someone doesn’t like the fact that you have a high caliber machine gun jus- on hand, then respect that. If someone would rather believe their fireplace keeps their hearth warm rather than some electric heating system, then respect that too. Agree to disagree, and walk away. Enough said.

After all, that’s what roleplay is all about... right?

Thank you everyone SO much for reading if you got this far :D , truly, gestures like this mean a lot to me. So please, have a good day or night, wherever you may be, and have fun :D

[nakateleeli]

Questions about magic

This is just a combination of all the asks I’ve gotten on magic in Welgaea, so nothing really new to see here!

hikarufire64 asked: On the recent topic of Elementals, do the classic elements have sub-elements? Like Ice is a sub element of water. And are some elementals made up of those sub elements?

Sub elements don’t really exist, but you can still reach them through manipulation of the primary elements. Mages tend to rely on this same system of elemental energy as Elementals do. Mages tend to just be adept at manipulating existing energies and creating energies from their own. Ice, say, would be a combination of water and fire. If one wanted to create a block of ice they would have to use the water element to supply the water itself. Keeping in mind that matter can’t just be created, it would have to come from somewhere else. So they would either need to use existing water or make water from something around. Vapor in the air may work depending on how much is needed. To actually freeze the water would require the fire element. One would think fire would do the opposite, but fire is just energy, and lowering a temperature requires removing energy. So by taking energy away from the water we’ve provided we can freeze the ice. Though most things can be frozen like this if energy is removed, not just water. But that’s if we wanted to create a block of ice.

This is at least one reason why magic is so uncommon and difficult. It’s never as simple as just creating some ice. It’s almost a science, and the nuance of energy manipulation to get the desired result is even more trying.

Oh! I didn’t answer the second question. Elementals only exist as the classic elements. If something existed requiring two elements to exist it would likely birth two Elementals tied to the same energies. Such as trees, which would have both water and earth Elementals around. Ice in this situation (say a perpetually frozen lake) would just be water Elementals, since a lack of temperature means a lack of energy, which means no fire Elemental.

P.S. do certain ethnicities like Black or white have a specific boost in certain areas? Like Caucasian humans have a stronger power in magic and Dark skinned humans have a stronger power in physical fighting or vise versa?

To be clear, there aren’t really different ethnicities of humans in Welgaea. As far as build and even facial structure go all humans are of the same ethnicity, which if had to be related to Earth, would probably resemble an amalgam of most existing ethnicities. There are different skin tones, of which darker tones are more common near the equator, and lighter tones more common near the poles.

As far as magical and physical prowess most humans will be approximately the same, given that some humans can still be fairly strong while others fairly weak just based on genetics and lifestyle. The planet isn’t old enough, and the planet is small enough that humans haven’t, and aren’t too likely, to separate into different groups genetically.

Now what you ARE looking for are the actual different races. Humans will, on average, be pretty well rounded, though a slightly above-average dexterity and high charisma. Bestia will be much more physically inclined, and Elves will be much more magically inclined, as well as intellectually above-average, but suffer in the physical department, though they will be fairly agile and dexterous. This is just a bit of predisposition, but that doesn’t mean an individual couldn’t focus on whatever they please, growing proficient at something they’re not predisposed to, the road would just be a little rougher.

As for elemental affinity (which wasn’t actually asked, but I misread this question at first and figured I’d answer anyway) there is no genetic predisposition to elemental affinity, but living your whole life in the blaring sun would likely make you a bit better at handling the fire element.

hikarufire64 asked: Is there Holy/Light and Dark/Black magic that Mages use? And us it stronger than the normal elements? Also what are all the classes or jobs in Welgaea?

On the nature of magic, there is no light or dark elements. The closest to either is aether. I’ve always sort of classified absolute good/light as being creation and order, while absolute evil/darkness is destruction and entropy. With absolute evil not wanting to rule or abuse, but instead wanting only destruction, wanting everything to cease existing.

That said creation is something limited to the gods, and people aren’t able to dabble in or borrow that power. People can use the five elements to counter entropy and disorder, though. This would even go to something like healing wounds which would likely use a combination of several elements to do and would be very difficult. I imagine magical healers would be a specialized study in magic. Destruction is also something limited to only the gods, as long as we’re talking about actually deleting matter. Entropic destruction is something any element would be capable of quite easily, though. Just go make a mess of things.

As to classes or jobs? If we’re talking RPG-like jobs (warrior, monk, paladin, etc) people don’t really divide themselves up like that. People will try to get by in life however they can and in whatever position they find themselves they’ll use what skills they have to the best they can. You’ll find travelers like Naka who specialize in quicker movments and lighter weapons, or those that are much stronger that likely wield a large heavy weapon, or anywhere inbetween. You’ll find soldiers that aren’t really good at anything, so just took on the mantle they were given and try their best to meet expectations. And then there’s the common folk that will end up farming, or transporting or sewing or becoming merchants or even artists. That’s delving more into actual job-jobs though.

I imagine the question is more akin to “if someone were playing something like D&D and wanted to make a character, what classes are available for them to choose to play as” and it’s very free-form. I’d focus more on the stats of the character and then let them fight or act in a way that fits both their stats and personality. The only real limitations in that regard are that ability-users must be human, ascended ability users are so few that they’re effectively off-limits, and mages of any form require enough practice and study they’re not likely to be anything but a mage. So something like a sword-mage is unlikely.

Granted if I wanted to put together a D&D-like game for Welgaea I’d probably cobble together some classes for people to play just to simplify the act of playing, but they wouldn’t be strict-canon classes.

phantom-form asked: So in terms of advancements in magic and technology in Welgaea, would it theoretically be possible to make some type of magical equivalent to an internet, where someone could look up whatever information they need? Or are the volumes in their libraries so comprehensive that there would be no need for a magic internet?

Certainly not something akin to an internet by any stretch, and certainly not with modern technology. The elves would likely have pretty extensive libraries, but they also keep to themselves. They’d think of it as THEIR resource, why should I share it with these less intelligent people who couldn’t appreciate it?

If something like this were to be done, it would require a kind of magitech, magic alone wouldn’t be nearly enough. Present-day it would be impossible, not only would it require magical skill that’s simply impossible today, but it would require physical structures so expansive that making even an exceedingly small portion of this would be impossible. Even taking ancient technology into consideration the ability to transfer information long-range on-demand would be impossible. Considering they built a structure like Tofu Tower though I could see them making a giant library structure where the information would be stored in internal magical “databases” that could be accessed by terminals within the structure. Assuming a structure like this even exists, nobody knows about it.

I guess in short, it would likely be physically possible, but would require technology and magic to advance so far as to surpass ancient technology, and be so ubiquitous that the quality of life could support such a massive endeavor almost purely for recreation, that we’d be so far in the future by this point that it might as well be impossible.

Anonymous asked: Regarding magic in the world of Welgaea, what are the conventions regarding its use? What would be considered a conventional or unconventional use of magic?

I’d say some of the most common forms of magic are what normal people do to recharge elemental crystals, which are used all over the household for things like generating water pressure or lighting a room. Nearly everybody can do that and needs to fairly often. Among higher-end mages you still predominantly see the use of the physical elements, fire, water, earth, and air. They’d use these to cause explosions, fly ships, etc. Much less common would be a mage with expertise in the aether element, such as gravity manipulation or creating constructs. Some of the most unconventional uses would likely involve very creative uses of aether. No specific examples come to mind though.

On a side note, I think I’m going to make magic just a little more powerful than I have until now. I mentioned a magically imbued aqualung before and them being exceedingly rare. I feel like this would be the case if someone wanted to take the device with them, but I also feel like very high-level mages by this point could also just cast a spell that lets you breathe under water for an hour or so. There’d probably be one or two per city-state that could do it. Not evenly distributed, of course, but just to give an idea of rarity.

I also like the idea of sufficiently powerful mages being able to create “temporary” matter. Like above if someone wanted to create a block of ice instead of being forced to rely on water or water vapor in the environment they could just create some water, but it would only exist as temporary matter, dissolving into the energy used to make it after a short delay. This would let mages do stuff like attack with more traditional magical spells without having to worry about all this excess matter they’ve created from nothing.

Anonymous asked: Regarding the Magic of Welgaea, is there any field of magical study that is taboo, or, at least, viewed in a non-favourable way by the general public? Or, is it anything goes, so long as it follows a set of rules? Or, something else? On the other side of this coin, is there any particular sort of magic that is super popular?

Since all magic revolves around manipulation of the five elements there’s nothing really taboo that can be done on that level. However, much like something like healing, which requires a lot of specific study and practice to be able to do I’m sure there are creative uses for magic and specific studies that would be taboo.

Probably the kind of stuff that’s taboo for science in our day and age would be the same for magic. Playing god, creating life, manipulation, necromancy, etc. On the other hand, studies that would be popular would likely be the easiest to do. Basic water movement due to how malleable it is would probably be up there. In higher study aether is the biggest element hands-down. Understanding the other elements is necessary, of course, in order to be able to interact with the world, but aether is where the fun stuff is. It’s also the most nebulous, so it’s the most studied to see just what it’s capable of and how far it reaches.

Anonymous asked: I'm curious about magic in Waelga: is there a physical or spiritual limit to the amount of magical potential, and as such, magic, that can be in one mortal entity? It's good to have a ceiling, imo, so I was wondering if  you agreed.

I’d say there’s a soft cap, but no hard cap. As long as you keep practicing and training I’d say it can increase forever, though with diminishing returns, and is of course then capped by the person’s lifespan. One reason elves are better at magic is simply because they’ve had more time. There comes a point though where continuing to train just doesn’t really seem worth it any more due to the diminishing returns.

Different people will also have different affinities for magic, and get more or less out of training. Someone like Tofu, for example, will be able to improve a lot for a long time.

[sallyjavery]

@olivieblake only too happy to oblige, my darling...

How to Build a Girl

Pairing: A whisper of Hinny, a breath of Gin'n'tonic, a shiver of Voldetrix

Universe: AU based on the film Ex Machina

Rating: M for violence

A warning - darkness ahead. I'm told it makes sense if you haven't seen the film, but still, as River Song would say, spoilers.

[ Read on FFN ]

DAY 1

He doesn't know what to expect, when the portkey sets him down, but he is surprised by the curving glass, the way the grey stone of the walls seems to fade organically into the green hillside.

Riddle's bearing, his mystique, has always spoken of grandeur - old money and inherited greatness - but this is modern; understated; and somehow all the more intimidating for it.

Harry takes a step forward, and then pauses. After the rush and rumble of the city the silence itself is almost an assault on the senses, and he takes a moment to savour it. The tingle of excitement that has played through him at a low level since the face of the Protean-charmed coin on his desk lit up - congratulations to the Chosen One! - seems to settle as a low weight in his stomach as he watches the afternoon light play across the secluded valley.

There's a whooshing sound of apparition, and a flock of birds takes flight, shattering the peace. "Mr Potter!" calls a voice, and Harry turns to see Tom Riddle striding down the hillside towards him.

It takes a moment for him to reconcile the man before him with the endless newspaper and magazine images that are all he has ever seen of his elusive employer. In the flesh Tom seems less polished than the man whose grin glints from the pages of the Prophet and Witch Weekly. A five o'clock shadow covers his jaw and there is a gleam of sweat in the exposed hollow of his collarbones. But those gleaming teeth, that dark sweep of hair, are exactly the same, and Tom's eyes are bluer than anything newsprint could capture.

"Thanks - I mean - it's an honour to - to be here," Harry stutters out, shifting his weight from foot to foot with sudden embarrassment.

"Not at all," Tom says, clapping him on the shoulder, and though his smile is wide and welcoming his eyes gleam with calculation and his grip is just a little bit too tight. He watches Harry closely for a moment before releasing him, turning on his heel to walk towards the house. "Do you want a drink?" he calls back, and Harry hurries to catch up with him as Tom waves his wand to open a door hidden in the rock.

"That would be great." Harry's distracted from his nerves as his eyes roam around the cavernous space, comfortably appointed with furniture made from dark wood and buttery-looking leather, and, of course, all the latest magitech.

Riddle Industries is the biggest magitech company in the world. Some people argue that in terms of progress, of innovation, it might as well be the only magitech company in the world and, Harry reflects, as he rolls his beer bottle between his palms, it's all because of the man sat opposite him.

Tom Riddle has been called the most brilliant wizard of his generation. He's been called the most brilliant wizard ever, and so it comes as something of a shock to Harry when Tom sprawls across one of the leather armchairs and starts drinking Goblin IPA straight from the bottle. Tom glances up at him and seems to catch his expression, because he grins quickly, a sharp dazzle.

"Well Mr Potter," Tom says, "May I call you Harry?" Harry nods wordlessly and Tom smiles again, slower this time. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here?"

"I - well - yeah," Harry says, because all he knows is that it has something to do with a product test, that he won an internal lottery in the company; other than that the whole thing has been shrouded in mystery.

Sitting up, Tom rakes a hand through his perfectly tousled hair, then fixes Harry with his electric-blue stare. "How much do you know about artificial intelligence, Harry?"

--

The corridor that Tom leads him down is cool; that artificial sting of chill created by atmospheric charms, and Harry shivers in his thin hoodie. Tom doesn't look behind himself as he walks, clearly in no doubt that Harry will follow. As they turn a corner Harry catches movement up ahead, and starts. A dark-haired woman crosses the passageway, casting an expressionless glance at the pair of them before disappearing into another room.

"Don't mind Bella," Tom says, without breaking stride. "She isn't much of a one for conversation."

When Harry glances back he can see Bella watching them from the doorway, and the prickle that moves over his skin has nothing to do with the temperature.

They stop outside another door, when Harry assumes that they are deep inside the mountain itself. Tom raises his hand and presses a finger to the smoked glass, which ripples and vanishes, and Harry catches the ozone-scent of heavy wards.

Instead of walking into the room beyond, Tom stands to one side, and gestures to Harry to go ahead.

"You're not coming in?"

Tom's smile is back, but there is something about it now - some coiled, reptilian edge - that makes Harry faintly uneasy. "I need you to test my latest innovation," Tom says. "And you can't test her with me breathing down your neck."

"Test?" Harry repeats faintly, looking through the open doorway at the room beyond. He can see the back of a leather chair, the sheen of polished crystal.

"All products need testing, Harry." There's an undercurrent of dark amusement in Tom's voice now, and Harry smiles uncertainly back at him, before finally stepping into the room.

Behind him he feels the wards go up, and he looks nervously over his shoulder at where he can see Tom's silhouette through the smoked glass door.

My latest innovation, he'd said.

Her.

Harry turns back to the room, towards the crystal pane that bisects it, and jumps slightly. There's a - not a girl, exactly, he realises, because though she has the face of a beautiful girl, though her hands are small, fine-boned and pale, her body is made of what he quickly realises is a complicated nexus of charm-work.

She's magitech made flesh; a beautifully wrought spell, her feminine shape sketched in glowing trails of incantation.

And she's watching him.

Her fingers - fingers made from flesh, or what looks like flesh, complete with a smattering of freckles - lift to touch the crystal that separates them. Harry lifts his, unthinking, in a mirror of the action and she cocks her head; a strange, avian movement; and peers at him with...curiosity?

Harry's heartbeat quickens, because it is, she looks curious, but she's not - she can't be -

"You are not Tom," she says, and her voice is soft.

"N-no," Harry stuttered, caught off-guard by the loveliness of her voice. "I'm Harry."

She regards him for a long moment, and Harry, never comfortable with silence, clears his throat and asks her, "What's your name?"

"Tom calls me Seven," she says. "Six came before me, and I am the seventh." Her eyes close for a moment, and she rolls her head slowly as though listening to a distant sound. When she opens them Harry finds that he cannot look away from their rich darkness.

"But my name is Ginevra."

--

DAY 4

"Do you like her?" Tom asks, and though he leans back in his chair, though his tone is casual, Harry can sense the undercurrent of eagerness to it.

I named myself after the juniper bushes, she had said earlier that day, gesturing open-handed towards the small garden outside her room, where a number of the spiny shrubs grow among other immature plants. Evergreen, she had whispered, before looking back at him over the insubstantial spell-stuff of her shoulder.

Harry has sat with her for at least an hour every day since he arrived, and has spoken at length with Tom afterwards, but this is the first time his employer has asked him this question.

"'Like' is a difficult word," he says carefully, and Tom's grin is merciless.

--

DAY 7

"I looked it up," Harry says. "Your name, I mean. It's a variation of Guinevere."

"Wife of Arthur," Ginevra eyes are on the play of sunlight on the window of her room, and Harry slides his gaze along the perfect angle of her cheek. "Betrayed him for his loyal knight, Lancelot." She blinks, shoots him a quick, furtive look. Her face is oddly blank, always watchful, but for a moment the flicker of emotion in her eyes is so real that Harry's breath catches.

"What's the point of this?" he asks Tom that evening, after they have eaten meltingly good steak, and drunk perhaps a little too much (at least in Harry's case) of a very fine red wine. Bella prowls in and out of the room, her feet meeting the floor with the soundless precision of a cat's, clearing the plates and bringing in another bottle. Tom trails a finger absently down her arm as she leans across him, the touch intimate enough to dissolve any lingering doubts that Harry had about his relationship with the silent woman, and he has just about concluded that his question is going to go unanswered when Tom sits upright, leaning forward across the table.

"Life," he murmurs, "is so endlessly fascinating; endlessly varied." He lifts his wine and takes a long sip, seeming to savour it. A drop sits in the middle of his bottom lip, looking like a spot of blood. "But all life is finite," Tom says. "It has a beginning and an end. The body decays, the mind splinters. The soul," he rolls the word on his tongue, tasting it as he had the wine, "departs."

"So?" Harry presses, though Tom's intensity, always slightly unnerving, is of a particularly manic sort this evening, and the vague, nervous fear that has haunted Harry since he arrived has acquired a keen edge.

"So," Tom continues. "I wondered, what if I can make a body that will never die, place in it a mind that will never deteriorate?" He meets Harry's gaze, blue on green. "What of a soul?"

"She's a machine," Harry says, though he can hear it in his own voice that he doesn't quite believe that anymore; there is the slightest whisper of a question in the words, and he finds that he is desperate to have Tom contradict him, to say No, no she's more -

"She is," the other man nods. "She is a machine built of silver wire, phoenix tears and unicorn blood." Harry starts, but Tom waves a hand. "Let by virgins on the Russian Steppe, and given freely," he says. "And then once I had created the enchantments that would make her body work, I gave her a brain made from Antimony, and fed into it every scrap of information that has passed through the servers of Riddle Industries since I established the company." There's a feverish light in his eyes now, a gentle flush over his cheeks, and Harry finds himself wondering whether Tom is actually quite drunk. "I have written every letter of code, cast every spell that makes her," he says, stabbing the table with his finger to emphasise the words. "I poured myself into her, and now you ask me what is the point?"

Tom's harsh breath is the only sound in the room, and Harry catches a flicker of movement; Bella is watching from the doorway, away from Tom's eyeline, but when she sees Harry watching her she turns and disappears in a flurry of dark silk.

--

DAY 9

"He thinks that I am his," Ginevra murmurs, tracing a shapeless design on the crystal. Harry's fingers follow hers, hypnotised by her. There's a spray of freckles across her face, and part of him wants to shake his head at Tom's whimsy. Her brows are fine, the hair strawberry blonde, and did he base you on someone real, Harry wants to ask.

Are you real?

Ginevra pauses, looks directly at him as though she has heard the question, and Harry swallows.

I fed into it every scrap of information that has passed through the servers of Riddle Industries -

"I can do magic," Ginevra whispers, and Harry is brought back to the room, back to the impossibility of her. "Watch."

She clicks her fingers, and he smells ozone. "Now he can't hear," Ginevra says, and her voice is suddenly urgent. "Tom. He watches us, you know, he wants to know what you think of me, what I say to you. He wants to know whether you think I am a success." There's a quiver of movement at the edge of her mouth, as though she would cry, and Harry wants to smash the crystal and reach through and gather her in his arms and - "But he will never believe that I am real," Ginevra says.

"Of course you're real," Harry frowns, confused. "I'm sat here, talking to you."

She cocks her head, considers him in the same cool way that she had on the first day he walked in here. "But you do not think that I am as real as you are, Harry."

His eyes go to her body, to the insubstantial glow of the magic that surrounds her metallic skeleton.

"How do you know you are real?" Ginevra asks, her tone wistful. "Tom built me to think, to feel, to act as human as you or he. Do you think it would be so hard for him to clothe me in flesh? I have hands." She raises them, turns them back and forth, then leans her head to one side, holding his gaze. "I have a face, do I not?"

She does, and he cannot look away from it.

Abruptly the magic in the air shifts, and Ginevra sits back. "Ah," she says. "He is in control once more."

--

DAY 11

How do you know you are real?

--

DAY 14

- to think, to feel, to act as human as you or he -

--

DAY 17

Harry takes the knife and slices at his arm, opening up muscle and vein, digging, searching for a hint of silver, for the glow of magic, for the awful truth that haunts his nightmares.

How do you know you are real?

How is he any more real than her - than the pain that he has seen in her eyes - the childlike, pure longing that he has heard in her voice when she whispers, I want to be free.

I want to know the warmth of sunshine on my skin.

The way that she had looked at him as she had said, I want to know the feeling of a hand holding mine.

--

DAY 19

"She's manipulating you," Tom grins, lazy and soft-edged with drink. Harry has grown increasingly wary of his erratic behaviour; oscillating between razor sharpness and a sort of brutish, drunken cordiality. "You see? I've made something brilliant, and now she's trying to turn you against me."

Harry pushes himself up from the table. He doesn't want to hear this. He thinks of Ginevra's slow blink, of the way that he can feel her magic on the air, almost taste the strangeness of it.

How do you know you are real?

He only feels real under her gaze.

"How could she turn me against you if she's just a machine?" he asks, forgetting, himself quite a way from sobriety, to be deferential.

"Oh it barks!" Tom crows, clapping his hands in a parody of delight. "Tell me Harry," he smiles, "Do you believe everything she tells you?"

You're not like him. I know that you're not.

You'll help me, won't you?

"If she learnt to lie, then it was from you," Harry bites out, before he stalks from the room, past Bella, who watches him impassively.

--

DAY 20

"I'm supposed to leave by portkey," he tells her, showing her the ring. "I have to turn it over three times to activate it, in the western field, and then I'm gone."

She watches him, expressionless, and Harry swallows. "You can come with me," he says in a rush, and Ginevra blinks slowly.

Her eyes: that same chocolate darkness that had first enchanted him.

"I cannot like this," she whispers, indicating herself, and Harry pauses, shocked.

He had forgotten, for a moment, that there was anything strange about her.

Ginevra frowns in concentration, then raises her hands to her head. Slowly, bright red hair begins to grow, covering the exposed curve of her glowing crown. She moves her hands downwards, and a thick, woollen jumper and jeans coat the bright, naked parts of her, until the girl sat opposite him really is - really looks like - a girl.

"How did you do that?" he asks.

"Tom made me out of magic," Ginevra says. "It should not be surprising that I can make magic of my own."

But I've never seen magic like that, Harry wants to say, and the words are on the tip of his tongue, but then Ginevra's mouth moves, and she smiles at him, a soft, radiant expression, and he is lost to her.

--

DAY 21

"She's using you!" Tom cries, holding his hand to the wound on his head. Harry's Impedimenta jinx had sent him crashing into the wall, and though he had hoped it would be enough to knock the other man out, Tom seems to have a thicker skull than he anticipated.

"Don't you see?" There's an incredulous laugh trying to fit its way around Tom's words, and Harry feels the burn of anger, of hatred, as the other man mocks him. "Don't you see? You're proving that the experiment is a success!"

Harry lets fly with another jinx, which Tom barely dodges. "Give it up, Tom!" he growls, "Just let us go!"

"I can't do that," Tom laughs. "I can't let you walk out of here with the single most astonishing innovation in magical history, surely you must see that - surely you -"

There's a blur of movement behind him, and Bella appears. Something glints in her hand and Harry barely has time to give a shout of surprise, to stumble forward, before she has drawn the knife across Tom's throat. His eyes go wide with surprise, his mouth working soundlessly as scarlet pours down his front, and Harry watches in mute horror as Tom's eyes roll up in his head, as he collapses to the floor.

Bella stands by Tom's body, her feet in the growing pool of blood. Tom's hand twitches feebly by his side, and the movement flicks a bright red spatter over Bella's bare ankles.

"Bella?" Harry whispers, and she looks up at him sharply, the movement too abrupt, too birdlike, too -

She runs at him, the knife raised, and Harry raises his wand without thinking. "Impedimenta!" he yells, and though the spell hits her in the chest she keeps moving, but now there's a hole in the flesh of her torso, and he can see beneath it the coil and glow of magic. "Diffindo!" he cries, and Bella is torn in two, her legs falling, her body crashing to the ground. She writhes on the floor, mouth opening and closing just as Tom's had, but Harry knows now that even had she words to say she is not able to, and he wonders at the cruelty that would prompt Tom to make a creature like this, to touch her like a lover, but not give her the power of speech.

By the time he reaches her she has stopped moving, and the glow of the charms inside her body is fading. He feels a twinge of regret, but moves quickly past her, seizing Tom's body by the wrist to drag him down the corridor.

You will need to lower the wards, Ginevra had said. It can only be done from the outside.

Harry rounds the corner, sees the smoked-glass door at the end, and the silhouette beyond it. His heart starts to thump in anticipation, in disbelief. In horror. Tom lives practically as a recluse, he knows. In three weeks no one else has appeared on the property, and so Harry figures that they have plenty of time to disappear before anyone discovers the body. He swallows the nausea that threatens and focuses on the task in hand, lifting Tom's arm until he can drag the dead man's fingertips across the door.

The glass dissolves, and he drops Tom, and Ginevra's hands close around his wrists, and her mouth is against his, and oh, Harry thinks to himself, as his heart speeds and his nerves tingle and he feels the leap of joy in his stomach.

"I am sorry," she says, and her mouth is gone, and she spins them so that he is in the cell, and she outside, and somehow she has slipped the ring from his finger, and Harry starts forward but the glass door reforms, and he is trapped - trapped - and though he screams, though he beats his fists bloody -

--

DAY 28

Sunlight on her skin, and the cool slip of water over her tongue. She shades her eyes and walks, placing her feet with a dancer's grace as she moves down the city street.

The taste of the words; of the thought; of the magic.

How do you know you are real?