#wildbow

[gcu-sovereign]

Lack of romantic fulfillment is incontestably the top of my 'absence of someone I've never had'. In moments of reflection on the dedication I have poured into some hobby, or compliments paid to me for some measure of patience or compassion I'd extended to someone, I'm struck by alienation from myself. Like the world has been counterfactually robbed of the effort I ought to have been pouring into someone else, whether that was thoughtful gifts to a partner on anniversaries or evenings spent keeping a dog happy and busy.

This has blended into grief for what could not have been at points, especially when I was pouring MAXIMUM EFFORT into the various dating apps and getting nothing for it.

Loss of someone who is still living has DOMINATED my dreaming hours though.

Grief for what could have been has a lot of potential answers, obviously, but at the moment there's nothing that jumps out at me as a narrowly defined counterfactual. There's not a dream job that I just missed the cut for, or a class I didn't get to take. The thing that does sometimes snap at me from the might-have-beens is with the layoffs my company did in 2020, where I stayed. If I'd been laid off, the lack of human challenge trials to volunteer for developing the COVID vaccines would have eaten me ALIVE. The anecdotes about the immediate aftermath of 9/11 come to mind, where people were lined up round the block, a charitable riot, to donate blood or help rescue efforts in any way they could. But because I kept my job, I had something to keep me working instead of dying of moral guilt.

I suppose the other, specific grief that has dogged my steps is about the lack of traction in my working life, failing to clear specific educational attainment hurdles or advance within a company to an appreciable level. Even just not feeling challenged enough by a given job even when the pay is acceptable.

Four words, barely audible indeed, but they sank to the core for me instantly.

We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[artbyblastweave]

One thing that a lot of other capepunk fiction's worldbuilding has made me appreciate is the extent to which The Protectorate, as an organization, is about as much of a character as any of the actual individual characters. You can ask "What would the Protectorate Do in response to X or Y scenario" and there's enough in the text about their strengths and weaknesses and organizational ethos that you can kludge together a fairly true-to-the-text approximation of the exact way that they'd turn it into a multidepartment buck-passing office-politics-ridden clusterfuck.

[victoriadallonfan]

I’ve mentioned before about talking with friends about a potential Brian and Victoria fling that could plausibly happen.

And generally, his toxic masculinity not making him comfortable with a woman so much stronger and independent than him in the relationship. And Victoria being bored because the dude refuses to open up about himself more than needed.

But also, I’m wondering if those same issues apply in Ward, with Brian having a new outlook and feel for life and Victoria being more open to detached flings.

[lemurlord]

Now, being a healer cape is extremely exhausting, just, in general. Mentally, and also physically, because I am not in great shape, and I suspect I never will be. And, uh, being a healer that can heal pretty much anything (except brain stuff), it pretty much quadruples the pressure. You ask me how I cope?

Well, I, personally, sneak around town and turn people into vampires.

But Panacea, you say. That's unethical! And vampires are evil!

And I say you are a fucking moron. One, vampires are entirely sapient creatures, so they are inherently morally neutral. Two, have you seen Brockton Bay? This city has shape-shifting metallic nazis, dragon gangsters and Brandish. What do the normal people have? Nothing, exactly. Regeneration, speed, no aging, cool fangs and ability to climb walls like a gecko for some mild rash in the sunlight is a fucking bargain. And people shouldn't be entering people's homes uninvited anyway, that's just good manners. And a precaution against assholes.

[estavionpira]

the smuggest of assholes

Ah, hello! Late at work? I'm looking at your family photos: they look great, so soulful!

[ewingstan]

Ashley Stillons....Goddess....now A....Wildbow continues to reach for the perfect iteration of Emma Frost's character design

[benrobertson2004]

Wildbow did you make the most recurring villain of your novel be a stand in for the mindset of your previous protagonist

[literary-illuminati]

Okay finally reading the latest Seek chapter and god Winny is such a fucking nerd about spaceships. Incredibly endearing.

[eldritch-t]

I think he was just Like That

really what business did brian have doing all of that with not a brute rating in sight

[else-creates]

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

Wildbow Protagonist Tournament round one

[innominaterifter]

"Oh, you can kind of predict the future! Come on, surprise me!"

"Well... I see a woman with a mane of hair down to her waist... I can't tell if she's blonde or brunette..."

"Wow, I like this already! Blonde or dark - it doesn't matter. The main thing is that she's hot, haha. What is she wearing?"

"She's completely naked."

"You're damn good at working with clients! What's around, where are we?"

"Some dark place... Lots of space, brick walls, high ceilings."

"Looks like some kind of cool loft, not bad! What is she doing?"

"She's smiling at you..."

"I'm not surprised, I'm really good with women one-on-one! And me?"

"You give her everything she wants."

"Cool!"

_______________________________________

I was testing a new, interesting location for filming the Siberian. It was very cold, and I was practically naked, so we didn't film much, but it turned out very atmospheric.

[victoriadallonfan]

It’s important to note that if we are discussing WD game mechanics versus what Worm and Ward say.

Because the game mechanics are meant to help people create powers that will be helpful for a game, with some occasional lore bits we can use or hints about the grander scheme of things (see:Cluster Doc)

In Worm and Ward, the power categories are meant to show humanity flailing attempts to categorize a system created by inscrutable alien powers. They are purposely adapting and changing to show how humanity is struggling with the existence of powers that break rules, and how desperate they are for control.

Sometimes there’s merit to them, like how Power Psychology has hints to how a cape behaves (due to the trigger event).

Yet we also see times they are used for political points (trying make someone overly dangerous by giving them categories they “may” have to win a court case or forcing people to be paranoid to not underestimate someone)

Three moments come to mind in Ward specifically.

The first one was Victoria talking about how powers can just rapidly change categories based on a drastic change in parahumans psychology (a striker cape learning to make their power act as a blaster effect).

The second one was Victoria hating the scenario where someone just shouts “Stranger!” Because the category is so broad, and preferring Stranger-Shaker or Stranger-Master for better accuracy, while acknowledging that sometimes you only figure out one category.

And the third was Auger revealing his own metric for measuring capes (one trick ponies, magic capes etc etc) and revealing he breaks the rules by figuring out how to turn his blaster power into a mover power (shunting himself into another universe entirely), so he applies to different categories he created.

So if you’re talking about Breakers in the WD sense, then building a character is as simple as following the doc and noting that Changers (generally) do not have an unpowered form, while Breakers do have an unpowered form (generally).

If you’re talking about lore wise, then the fact that parahuman categories are faulty is actually the entire point, hence why so many capes are actually Brute-Changer or Thinker-Striker or Blaster-Shaker.

It is very very rare to have a cape who is merely 1 category and it’s on purpose, to show the limits of humanity. Just as man’s greed makes the One Ring irresistible; it’s not a broken magic system, it’s a narrative purpose

I came on here to try to see if anyone else had a better explanation of what the fuck Breakers really do. I think it's just a not well thought out classification compared to the others. It's a Changer that sometimes has extra steps to their powers that can break reality.

I still stick with the idea of this, from a random reddit comment I read a while back: Whilst Changers are more of a scale when it comes to their powers, Breaker forms are either on or off generally. As well, whilst with Changers the changing is the power, Breakers change to get their powers (also generally).

I love the PRT Classifications a good bit, but damn can you see how they exist as a system used for Classification/Countermeasure assessment and not some strict rule

[12angrypears]

Ok. I’m doing it. I’m reading Pact. Wish me luck ^_^

[victoriadallonfan]

I recently binged Janus - phenomenal fic, by the way - and it got me wondering; how well do you think the other members of Breakthrough would do if they got stuck lending Taylor advice and powers instead of Victoria? Any particular power interactions that jump out at you?

First off: thank you very much! Always glad to meet someone who enjoys my writing!

Secondly: uhh, they would not do well I think… barring Ashley and Rain.

The big thing about Victoria in Taylor’s head (and switching places with her at night) is that Vic has her head in the game to speak. She adapted to the horrific circumstances, analyzed the aspects of timeline fuckery, and took her time to adjust to Taylor and take the back seat to gain her bearings.

Sveta, Capricorn bros, Kenzie, and Chris would be lashing out. In different ways, obviously, but they don’t have the same mind set that Victoria has and in Capricorn case, this is another layered bit of trauma they’d have.

And none of them have that same intuitive understanding of Shardspace as Victoria. They’d really make Taylor panicked a lot more and possibly expose her. Especially when they take control of the body.

Ashley and Rain are different at least. Ashley (Swansong) has an understanding that rivals or surpasses Vic due to already being dead and Rain has experience using his tinker senses in Shardspace to an extent. Rain would be more passive and might not even choose to reveal himself to Taylor… until the dream room occurs and they meet, whoops.

Ashley would be unraveling the mystery of her situation much faster because she is connected and making sure Taylor has better control of her version of the power. She’s not a bad person to tutor Taylor either, though it’s more about Taylor putting her foot down compared to wide variety Vic teaches her.

The only real danger is that, while in the real world, Ashley doesn’t have access to her bi-polar disorder medications.

I think Taylor dealing with Rain’s power would be most fun, because the drama of the dream room might put her at odds and see him as an enemy