#worldbuilding logic consistency...

[i-spilled-my-soup]

recently read translation and notes of the homeric hymn to demeter and thinking.... about the chthonic symbolism and characterization of hades., hades as the all-reciever, who never gives and always takes, of the abduction of persephone into hades as death, since she is forced to reside in the land of the dead,

[bogleech]

Mortasheen is going to be four years late but so far every backer who's seen the preview book has loved it, compared to countless projects I've followed that went even further overtime and were disappointments. POST-KICKSTARTER TIMELINE SO FAR:

2021: spent on tons of new artwork of my own while organizing art from all the other illustrators I hired on, while also building, writing and formatting a prototype book myself. A lot of old material had to be redone, and a lot of brand new material was necessary. The team who had previously been developing gameplay took to the end of the year to get together the lore and worldbuilding materials on their end, which I didn't realize they had so heavily modified and expanded on from what I wrote a decade prior.

It had strayed a bit far from my concept of the setting, but had lots of good ideas as well, so I had to start a massive rewriting project to integrate everything together myself and make sure it all had a consistent tone and logic.

2022: I was still waiting on the actual gameplay mechanics themselves, which had been finished, but the dev team wanted to work out a new contract before sending them over. Their life schedule interfered with communication for months at a time, and I only got the mechanics later in the year. This contained the framework to build monsters and all their possible abilities thus far, but no builds for any specific monsters besides a sample for the player's guide. They were unable to confer with me regularly enough to stat the 100+ monsters I'd need, but I had shared the mechanics with a trusted enough friend who was really into the setting. By I think the end of fall, @gutsygills had already been playtesting and statting tons of creatures, so I made the decision to just hire her.

2023-2024: 160 monsters needed to be built from scratch while gutsy and others started running campaigns and playtesting vigorously, during which hundreds of things came up to edit, modify, add or remove about the system, specific monsters or specific abilities. Many issues coming up in the mechanics required new creatures or characters I had never thought of, especially a logical middle ground between completely defective "junk" monsters and powerful ones. I had essentially made too many of them too cool and grand, so we needed to give almost every monster class a few little mooks and goombas.

More worldbuilding, lore and fluff also needed modifying along the way to interplay with the rapid evolution of the system, which also necessitated me meticulously going over what I'd already written to scrap what wasn't working or wasn't that interesting.

2025: final playtests, massive final read-throughs and editing marathons to catch every last error or inconsistency, final polish on the last new monsters, gutsy writing a final guide to actually running a campaign with everything we've now developed, finishing the last necessary chapter on the setting's non-monster villains, and once we know the final page count for certain......we have to build the indexes, which is going to be pretty tedious, but that is going to be the very, very last thing to do. It's basically been entirely me doing an amount of work usually done by a larger team, until I hired one assistant whose job had to default to being just as huge. It's eaten so much of my time I feel like I aged at 5 times the normal rate...but I do feel like the end result is going to be worth it.

Once the book is out, we have to start working right away on the promised bonus book of all the backer-original monsters, and also start planning for the next book, which will be almost entirely more monsters.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

A 3-Part Book Editing Checklist

PART 1: The "Big Picture"

Identify and fix macro problems relating to plot, character development, narrative arc, and theme.

THEME & IDEA

Is a compelling dramatic question present throughout the book?

Is there a clear theme? Is it well-developed and engaging?

Can you recap your story or argument in this single sentence? “[Character] must [do something] to achieve [goal] or [reason why the audience should care]”

Is there a clear central conflict? Is it resolved by the end of the book?

STRUCTURE Fiction & Memoir; Nonfiction

Fiction & Memoir

Is there a strong beginning, middle, end?

Does your exposition effectively set the story? Introduce the cast of characters? Impart backstory?

Is your rising action triggered by a compelling inciting incident? Does it escalate the conflict and raise the tension?

Is the pace of each act in the narrative arc appropriate?

Does the plot maintain forward movement in each chapter? Do subplots support that momentum?

Are all major plot threads and subplots resolved by the denouement?

Do the plot points sync with the narrative arc and theme that you want to convey?

Do the plot twists make sense? Are there plot holes in the story?

Nonfiction

Does the first chapter of your book introduce your central question and explain why it’s important to answer?

Does your exposition adequately introduce readers to your topic? Does it provide enough context for them to understand your main argument?

Does each chapter or section build on the information that comes beforehand?

Is the length and pace of each chapter appropriate?

Does each chapter contain an appropriate mixture of fact and anecdote?

Is your structure engaging and easy to follow?

Does your book contain any extra information that distracts or detracts from the main argument?

Are there any holes or gaps in your argument?

CHARACTERS Protagonist; Antagonist; Supporting Cast; Setting

Protagonist

Does the protagonist have strengths and weaknesses? Do these interact with the story appropriately?

Does the protagonist grow and change?

Does the protagonist have defining mannerisms? Clear character traits?

Does the protagonist have external and internal goals? Are they visible throughout the story?

Does the protagonist act believably in each scene? Is the protagonist’s behavior consistent? Chart the protagonist’s character arc over the course of the story. Is it clearly and compellingly conveyed in the story?

Antagonist

Does the antagonist have story motivation?

Does the antagonist have a believable backstory?

Is the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist clearly defined?

Supporting Cast

Is the supporting cast fleshed out?

Do the secondary characters have a reason to be there? Do they:

Reveal key details?

Advance the plot?

Motivate the protagonist?

Help define the setting?

Are interactions between the secondary character and the protagonist believable and well-placed?

Do the secondary characters have distinguishing characteristics or mannerisms?

Setting

Does the setting make sense for the purposes of the story? Does it matter to the plot?

Are descriptions of the setting rendered effectively and appropriately?

Does each scene convey a clear sense of place and time?

Is the worldbuilding fully realized? Logically consistent?

Fact-check each scene in relation to the setting. Are objects, props, mannerisms, and behaviors native to the time and place of the story?

PART 2: The "Scene" Level

Strengthen specific elements within individual scenes

SCENES & CHAPTERS

Is the opening scene effective?

Does it start in the right place?

Does it have a hook? Is the hook immediately gripping?

Are the scenes appropriately paced to grab the readers’ attention? Are the chapter lengths effective?

Does each scene serve a purpose in the story?

Is each scene oriented in terms of time and place?

Are scene transitions smooth?

DIALOGUE

Does the dialogue serve a purpose in each scene? Does it:

Provide information?

Advance the plot?

Help the pace?

Does each character have a distinct voice?

Is the dialogue believable for the time and place of the story? Is the word choice reflective of the time period?

Does the dialogue use action beats to control the pace of the scene?

COMPOSITION Voice & Point of View; Prose

Voice & Point of View

Is the narrator’s voice consistent?

Is the voice appropriate given the context of the book and its story or argument?

Is foreshadowing used effectively, if applicable? Metaphors? Similes?

Is the viewpoint character always clear? Is it consistent between scenes?

Is the point of view suitable for each scene? Is there a better alternative for a viewpoint character in any given scene?

Prose

Is the backstory of the world or characters efficiently woven into the story?

Does each sentence contribute something to the story?

Do you “show, don’t tell” with your dialogue, characters, and setting?

QUOTES & REFERENCES

Are quotes and references used to support the argument?

Are all of your sources reliable?

Do quotes help aid the narrative progression, or do they interrupt it?

Have you paraphrased where possible?

Are there appropriate transitions before and after references?

Are all quotations accurate?

Have you chosen a citation style?

Have you cited all references according to that style?

PART 3: The "Line" Edit

Ensure the text is objectively correct. This covers everything from typos and grammar to continuity and syntax.

PUNCTUATION & DIALOGUE

Limit the use of adverbs in your dialogue tags. (Show, don’t tell!)

✗ “Why did you eat my turkey sandwich?” said Harry angrily. ✓ Harry upended the table. “Why did you eat my turkey sandwich?”

Check for the use of other dialogue tags and replace them with “said” and “asked,” unless other emphasis is absolutely necessary.

✗ “Did you just stab me with this thimble?” queried Amber. ✓ “Did you just stab me with this thimble?” asked Amber.

Check that all of the dialogue is formatted correctly.

✗ “I love you.” Said Pam. ✓ “I love you,” said Pam.

VOICE

Limit the use of weak verbs and adverbs in general.

✗ Leonard ran quickly to school. ✓ Leonard sprinted to school.

Replace all “hidden” verbs.

✗ Offer an explanation ✓ Explain

Check for the use of passive voice and replace with active voice, whenever appropriate.

✗ The ball was kicked. ✓ She kicked the ball.

Use “telling” words such as “felt,” “saw,” “knew,” and “seemed” sparingly.

✗ His head felt awful. ✓ His head throbbed.

LANGUAGE

Delete vague and subjective words.

✗ Could, might, maybe, more, poor, good, excellent, bad, some, multiple, really, literally, suddenly, simply, just, a little, almost, etc

Delete all instances of cliches in the text.

✗ It was a dark and stormy night.

Check for excessive repetition in the text.

✗ Go to [do something]

Check for instances of overly complicated language.

✗ In close proximity ✓ Near

Source ⚜ More: Writing Worksheets & Templates Writing References: Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding

More Notes: On Editing

[the-booty-crusader]

BinggeYuan streamer x video game fic

There’s a rumor going around the gaming community. It sounds a bit like one of those old creepypastas, although without a punchline.

You see, in the hyper popular cultivation-based MMORPG called “Proud Immortal Demon Way”, there’s an encounter that can happen at any time, that is different from any other encounter in the game.

It can only happen once to a player in a lifetime; strangely enough it does not even repeat when a player switches accounts and locations. 

The encounter is generally only a few seconds long, and with how rarely it’s encountered, there’s only a scant few pieces of proof that it’s even real.

To most players in the game, this encounter is a fun easter egg to be seen once, ask about online, get validation that many others have experienced the same and then wonder about it from time to time.

For one streamer, the encounter would change his life as he knew it.

—

A few months before the first encounter…

“Thanks for the gifted subs, BouncingPlum! Always appreciated.” said Peerless Cucumber, an up-and-coming gaming streamer who’d garnered a fairly large following of Chinese, American and most importantly, Chinese-American viewers. Shen Yuan, being a second generation Chinese in an immigrant family was a slight young man due to complications with his health, but his personality was feisty, temperamental and passionate, if his viewers were to be believed.

Specifically about his favorite game, Proud Immortal Demon Way. 

He streamed a few times a week, with his over 4500 followers usually being fairly consistent viewers.

In these streams, Peerless Cucumber would show off crazy character builds, new monsters and herbs that were added or discovered and locations that opened up. 

“Oh, this is the cave of the Roaring Eye Toad! I’ve mentioned it before. When you first encounter it,” Shen Yuan starts, walking up to the gigantic toad in the back of the half-flooded cave, “It looks like a regular toad. But when it attacks…”

The toad played an attack animation, revealing that the creature’s gigantic mouth was, in fact, a gigantic eyeball that immediately locked onto Shen Yuan. Where a regular toad’s eyes should be, two smaller mouths opened up with long tongues whipping around it. 

It looked a bit odd, but really, that’s why Shen Yuan liked the creatures in this game. They were so cool, and a bit weird and sometimes silly.

Oh, Shen Yuan spent as much time complaining about the game as he did praising it. The mechanics were more often than not contrived or weird and most of the time ended up being weirdly lewd! Why did each piece of clothing come with three submodels that could be triggered when coming in contact with slicing weapons or acid?! Was it necessary to destroy players’ clothes when attacked?! 

That was the reason why almost every other player in PIDW was walking around in a female avatar. They just wanted to see the clothes get ripped off of their characters. Bah!

Not to mention the erotic animations and voice lines! The female player characters were absolutely horrendous in that regard, always moaning and panting and every voice line seems to be a sexual innuendo.

Truly a hateable game.

It had a saving grace, however. The worldbuilding was absolutely phenomenal. The animals had logical reasons for existing and the biomes were interesting and believable, in a fantastical way. Their designs were like nothing Shen Yuan had seen before in other games. Not to mention there were potions and items with effects that other games usually didn’t bother with, usually in interesting ways. Although he could certainly do without the papapa-mechanics.

Anyways, lore! There were so many sects and villages and countries with their own history, and there were two distinct realms that you could visit with their own ecosystems and history that were at war! It made for great PVP fodder, of course, but the real treat was the events that furthered the plotline.

Shen Yuan’s eyes fell on a message in the Twitch chat, asking about the new lore added in a recent update. He immediately pushed up his glasses and started to explain, ignoring the few comments calling him out for looking like some geek from an anime.

“Well, the newest dungeon is an ancient palace that seems to have been owned by an Emperor many centuries ago. Apparently he was a half-demon who worked to unify the worlds, causing immense destruction and deaths in the process.” Shen Yuan rattled off, skipping over the part where the man apparently had over three thousand wives. “He was like a protagonist all on his own! I haven’t been able to get all the lore from the palace yet, but we can try tackling it today to find more lore. We’d be some of the first.” he said smugly, and the rest of that stream was dedicated to exploring the huge new palace and finding loot, scrolls and books that described the history of the place and its inhabitants. The palace was way too big to explore in a single stream, of course, what with the literal thousands of harem members’ rooms. 

The place looked abandoned and oddly realistic compared to the other locations revealed in-game so far.

After six hours of endless explorations, Peerless Cucumber ended his stream.

He immediately went onto the forums to discuss his findings, only to see a few new threads speaking of a new random encounter. Excited, Shen Yuan clicked the threads, only to be met by what seemed like vague, creepypasta-esque descriptions of an encounter. Apparently, multiple people had experienced it, but no footage had been caught yet. Finding new, fresh-off the press content like this was Shen Yuan’s absolute favorite; he thrived off of the feeling of discovery. He immediately opened the threads in multiple tabs over his two screens to cross-reference, opening his notebooks to get every piece of information he could out of this encounter.

The encounter was described pretty consistently as follows.

While doing regular activities within the game, the player would suddenly hear a deep, ominous voice echoing over their sound system, sounding almost like someone was whispering in their ear. English-speaking players claimed it might be saying something like “Sister” or “sizzling” or “system”, although none sounded quite right from the mixed responses in the comments.  

The atmosphere in the game would turn dark and ominous, and the players even felt something eerie, themselves. 

This is where accounts of the occurrence started to vary the most. Some people claimed to see a glitchy, red thundering rend in space appear like a knife ripped a hole into spacetime. The cut would then open up into a ragged hole, from which a blurry dark figure crackling with red energy would rush at their character. Other people claimed a red lightning bolt zapped towards their characters from off-screen, and one person even claimed they were struck by the red lightning from above. 

In every case, however, their characters ended up somehow incapacitated; either held against the ground or held up by the neck in a chokehold by a mysterious man.

The man was taller than any playable character in the game so far, with a muscular yet lithe build. His hair was dark and curly and he had a glowing red huadian on his forehead to match his glowing eyes.

The man would seem to inspect their characters, in a way that almost seemed too real, having detailed expressions and micromovements that would usually be skipped for such encounters.

Then the character would be killed in a single move, sometimes with a loud crack of a snapped neck, sometimes with a single slash of the ominous red-and-black blade the mysterious man would sometimes pull out. Shen Yuan noted the sword was usually only mentioned by people who had seen the man step out of a portal.

Apparently the strange new character had multiple voice lines as lots of people claimed to have heard something different when the man killed their character. Lots of players complained about the fact all the voice lines were in Chinese, but the Chinese community rejoiced in having their culture represented more in game.

Shen Yuan snorted a little at that. It’s a fucking cultivation game, it’s ALL Chinese representation, ah!

“Tch, another empty husk.” reported one player translated from Chinese, while another claimed they heard, “These things are everywhere.”. Another claimed the man didn’t speak at all.

The next moment is where the whole thing got a little bit scary, and perhaps a bit meta.

The man would then turn to face the player. Not the dead player character, but the actual player’s screen, staring right at them. Some people even claimed the man’s eyes followed their movements, but that would be insane; Proud Immortal Demon Way had no access to webcams. 

Strangely enough, in this next part everyone who spoke Chinese seemed to agree on the exact wording used. 

“No, you’re not him.” the man would say, before disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared, the atmosphere returning to normal.

People were a little mad about this unskippable encounter that would and could instantly kill their character, but luckily this game was very forgiving when it came to death, allowing a player to return to their body with minimal effort and only a small fee of gold.

While Shen Yuan was about to type a response asking for screenshots, another reply was posted where someone had shaky phone footage of their screen where their character was actively getting murdered by this NPC. The player babbled in Spanish as their character got killed and discarded and the strange new character turned to the camera, too blurry to be seen properly.

Shen Yuan felt a chill up his spine when the eyes turned towards the camera, and he felt like they stared right through his screen at him.

But that was silly.

However, something that wasn’t in any of the text descriptions of the encounter happened in the video. 

“I’ll find you, Shizun.” said the mysterious man in fluent and noble-sounding Mandarin, and Shen Yuan felt goosebumps rising on his arms. That felt strangely personal.

The strangest thing about the whole encounter, however, was that the character did not match the artstyle of the rest of the game. PIDW was a very painterly-looking game with slightly exaggerated features and organic shapes, while this man looked… Real. Strangely so. It added a whole new layer of mystery into the whole situation.

The discussion continued fervently in the thread, and Shen Yuan participated merrily. 

He was a known figure within the gaming community, so his input was both valued and sometimes ridiculed. After all, his theories on these threads came with as much criticisms and harsh words as they did praise and adulation. 

PeerlessCucumber (posted at 01:21 AM):

This encounter certainly is interesting, if a bit cliche. Very “Ben Drowned”-inspired, I would say. The only way this could be more overdone is if there was blood raining from the skies when the guy appears and he jumpscares the player after killing their characters!

Maybe it’s retribution for all your characters looking like they came from an XXX-rated donghua, ha! 

Have we figured out what triggered it yet? Some people were farming, a few were in the middle of a dungeon and there was even one person that was just logging out. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it! And what’s with the artstyle, huh? Can’t the devs be arsed to keep to their own game design?!”

Shen Yuan typed out a few more paragraphs of theories before posting it. Then he yawned, looking at the clock and seeing it was past 2 am. He could look into it more during his next stream.

–

He didn’t end up encountering the strange man in that stream, or the next, or the next. He didn’t end up getting the encounter for weeks. He was a little miffed at first, going through the motions and exploring the new lore and palace. He found overgrown gardens, a throne room and even a dungeon with a lake that held a pickling pot on a platform in the center, with only a partial skeleton remaining inside to hint at its intended purpose. He found that last one unsettling and gruesome yet morbidly fascinating.

He heard about people encountering the strange NPC from time to time, but eventually he mostly forgot about it as no new information came out.

That is until one night he saw a new thread on the forums about the NPC, claiming the mysterious man seemed to be getting more aggressive. The character, now nicknamed “The Rogue Emperor” due to his first appearance coinciding with the new palace dungeon and his royal-looking robes, used to talk to his victims sometimes, referring to someone called “Shizun”. People were starting to consider whether the mysterious man could be a bug or a rogue AI, though nobody put much stock into these theories. It was true that the NPC’s behavior changed over time, however.

Nowadays there was nearly no dialogue, just an annoyed growl here and there. The man would look at the player’s screen for a distance and leave, angrily.  Attempts to follow the character were unsuccessful as, inevitably, another red crackling portal would be opened with the man’s sword and he would vanish through it.

People online were, of course, theorizing about an upcoming event that this whole encounter thing was a build-up for. Perhaps the man was a new raid boss and he would be found inside a hidden room in that recently-released palace, some suggested. Others thought it might be a rogue artificial intelligence, although they were laughed out of any forums they posted in.

Regardless of the reason behind it, Shen Yuan was a bit disappointed that, to this day, he had still not encountered the elusive Rogue Emperor for himself. He made sure he was always recording when he played PIDW, in case he did encounter the character. He did not want to miss it, although he would prefer to have the event happen while he was streaming.

Lo and behold, whatever gods might exist hear Shen Yuan’s silly little request as he was an hour into his usual Saturday stream— one of his busiest in a while as a new questline was revealed that would give more information about the palace— when suddenly, his screen took on a darker, more reddish hue.

It took him a moment to recognize the oddity, wondering at first if he’d had a curse placed on him like his viewers sometimes did as a prank, if only to get PeerlessCucumber started on one of his famous rants.

It was when he saw the slight visual glitching in the game that he realized exactly what was going on and he immediately got excited.

“Oh my— guys, guys, it’s happening, it’s happening!” he said excitedly, pointing at his screen with a big smile. His chat always lagged a few seconds behind like every other streamer’s, so it took a few moments for them to catch up.

By then, the red sparking lightning had started and by the time chat caught up, Shen Yuan’s character was being choked out.

Shen Yuan knew his facecam was shaking from his excited movements but he didn’t care, it was finally his turn!

He started describing how the encounter would go as he watched the tall, muscular character snap his own character’s neck (eh, it would take like two hours to regain his previous prestige, it’s fine) and drop the lifeless body to the ground.

Immediately, the man’s red glowing eyes locked onto Shen Yuan’s.

Shen Yuan happily described how, next up, the tall man would sigh or grunt about how the player was not who he was looking for and— and….

The character was approaching?

He looked… honestly, the character looked out of place. Shen Yuan had a good computer, sure, but PIDW had a more fantastical and slightly anime-like art style than could be fully realistic.

This man, this character looked photo-realistic. Shen Yuan wasn’t sure if anyone had ever gotten such a clear close-up of the man who had, apparently, broken his usual script and continued to approach, eyes intent and locked onto Shen Yuan’s.

“This is… wait, guys, this is different.” he finally said. Maybe he somehow broke its programming?

His screen flashed a black frame and when it came back on, the man was in front of the user interface.

Shen Yuan was vaguely aware of his chat going insane for a few moments as the character continued to approach before it, and most everything else on Shen Yuan’s screen completely froze save for the Rogue Emperor who was now practically right up against the screen.

And Shen Yuan wasn’t gay (or at least, he didn’t think he was), but this man, photorealistic as he was, was the most gorgeous man Shen Yuan had ever laid eyes on. Long, curved lashes framed luminescent red eyes. A sharp jawline that would make Henry Cavill jealous and long, curly dark brown hair framing a face that looked like it was carved by angels, with perfect, soft-looking, kissable lips— but like, platonically.

Shen Yuan also didn’t recall the Rogue Emperor having his cleavage on display like that but that was neither here nor there. Shen Yuan just thought the piece of jade jangling around between those pillows was interesting, okay?!

His face wasn’t red, it wasn’t.

The man leaned forward, to the point where if the screen were a window, his breath would be fogging it up.

Shen Yuan watched in a daze as the man then put his hand on the edge of the screen like it was the most natural thing and the man’s previously intense glare slowly twisted into a satisfied, smug and downright unsettling grin, exposing sharp cannes that Shen Yuan did not find sexy at all, no siree. He was so straight.

A voice that sounded way too close to be coming from his speakers startled Shen Yuan as the man suddenly spoke.

“Found you, Shizun.”

The stream ended with a single freeze frame of what looked like a robes arm with black claws reaching from off-screen towards PeerlessCucumber, the man looking absolutely horrified.

That was the last time anyone heard from PeerlessCucumber in a little over a year.

—

A year later, on a random Saturday in early March, PeerlessCucumber posted on his social media that he would do an impromptu stream in a few hours to hopefully lay to rest some of the more insane theories that had cropped up about his disappearance in the past year.

This caused a much bigger stir than any other of Shen Yuan’s previous streaming notifications as the name PeerlessCucumber had grown to be an internet phenomenon. A cute streamer with a fiery personality that was absolutely obsessed with the game and passionate about streaming, suddenly disappeared after encountering a niche event in his favorite game, after which some straight-up creepypasta crap took place. 

Most people thought the whole thing was a publicity stunt.

Those people were often refuted by the fact that PeerlessCucumber had, in fact, disappeared after the whole debacle, so doing a publicity stunt only to not take advantage of it sounded stupid in that regard. Those people were often, in return, reminded of the spike in active players in PIDW after PeerlessCucumber’s thought-to-be-final stream, and thought the whole thing was set up by the game’s creators to get more interest in their game.

There were even some fringe opinions that the guy in the game had somehow abducted Shen Yuan which were usually considered crack ideas.

That is, until the young, sickly third son of the extremely wealthy Shen family was reported missing, who bore an uncanny resemblance to PeerlessCucumber. No, they actually looked exactly the same.

The plot thickens, because why would someone that rich take a sponsorship from PIDW to participate in this event and then stop streaming?

Nothing was adding up.

Especially when, a few weeks or so later, the Shens retracted their missing person’s report, claiming Shen Yuan was located. He never came into the public eye again though.

Multiple people made hours-long video essays on the subject positing their own theories and ideas on the matter, boosting the general populace’s awareness of the situations to untold levels. 

The theories went from a murder plot to Shen Yuan deciding streaming wasn’t for him and trying to go out with a bang, to alien abduction. 

So when PeerlessCucumber turned on his stream, he was surprised that, rather than his usual 800 or so viewers, he had closer to 150k viewers. 

Needless to say, he seemed a bit nervous.

He adjusted his camera slightly, first and foremost, once the “Stream will start soon!” splash-screen was replaced with  full-screen camera footage of Shen Yuan himself.

His hair was longer, now, worn in a loose ponytail. He wore a loose robe with what looked like a shirt underneath and it was the first time he’d been on camera without dark bags under his eyes.

He cleared his throat.

“Uh, hi! Long time no see.” he started, sounding as cheerful as he always had during his streams. 

“So, apparently, there’s been some… ah… confusion about my last stream. Which is understandable given how it went and. Uh. Yeah! I’m here to let you all know that I’m fine! Some personal things came up and I’ve just been really occupied with those. I also went abroad for a while which is why I’ve been out of the public eye and— oh, dear. You don’t need to donate, guys, I don’t know if I’ll be able to start streaming regularly again after this but—” Shen Yuan babbled, realizing he should probably have typed up a rough draft of what he wanted to say beforehand.

It didn’t help that he still got flustered at a flirty Superchat splayed across his screen, telling him how pretty he was with his longer hair.

Shen Yuan’s face reddened, spluttering as he tried to regain his train of thought when the sound of a door being opened slightly more forcefully than was natural interrupted him and a large, red and black shape came into the edge of the camera’s view.

Some people felt a sense of dread, thinking this could totally be Shen Yuan’s kidnapper… only to see how Shen Yuan’s face softened at the new person’s entrance.

“Binghe, I told you I can do it myself.” he said softly, more gentle than anything his usual viewers had ever heard him sound before.

A deep voice came from off-screen, just barely on the edge of inaudible because of the microphone’s settings.

“You— oh. Thanks.” Said the slight young man as he was handed a plate of, honestly, professionally made gourmet sandwiches. “I’ll eat these afterwards, it’s rude to eat while streaming.”

The voice mumbled something off-screen again and PeerlessCucumber rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I’ll introduce you in a bit, I still have to get to— oh!”

Before he could protest, Shen Yuan was being picked up off his chair by the barely visible man who immediately plopped down on the chair, finally revealing himself.

The chat freaked out when they saw the man properly.

Shen Yuan cheerfully introduced his new husband, Luo Binghe, whom he met through the game Proud Immortal Demon Way and who he’d gotten married to in late January. Luo Binghe remained quiet until a Superchat popped up, lamenting the loss of one of the most eligible bachelors ever to this random guy.

A dangerous smirk made his way onto the large man’s face as he nuzzled into Shen Yuan’s hair. “Shizun, Shizun, this one needs your help with the remote again. Will you please come help this Binghe?” he whined, and Shen Yuan looked fond but exasperated. 

“Again? I’ve explained to you how to use it so many times… all right.” he said, leaning into the nuzzling. “As you all can see,” he said, turning back to the camera, “I am happy, healthy and safe. I don’t think I’ll be going back to streaming after this but thanks for sticking around! Uh. Yeah. See ya!” he said, and as he leaned forward to shut off the camera, Luo Binghe leaned forward with him, burying his face in Shen Yuan’s neck to leave a stream of sensual kisses.

Shen Yuan protested audibly, although more in a “Not in front of the camera!” sort of way rather than anything that implied he was unhappy with the affection itself.

The last frame was of Shen Yuan with an embarrassed but happy face and Luo Binghe, his head half buried in Shen Yuan’s neck, one glowing red eye glaring at the camera smugly.

Needless to say, this did not at all stop the flow of theories that would’ve been considered crazy in any other situation.

Not that Shen Yuan or Binghe cared. They were happy together.

[utilitycaster]

I can't find the tags where someone said this so apologies for not crediting but they were to the effect of "EXU Divergence is very good and we don't need to compare it to Campaign 3 to point that out" and the thing is, I agree. Speaking only for myself I think my intent is, admittedly, to some extent less about pointing out how good EXU Divergence is and rather using the contrast to back up the point that Bells Hells were often self-absorbed, utterly uninterested and even scornful of any meaningful collective action until maybe the epilogues, and indecisive in a way that felt as though it should have been lethal but somehow wasn't; and that a story where every choice has a terrible clarity and potentially dire consequences is instantly compelling whereas no amount of screen time can save a story where this isn't true.

But also: I think, as many have, and EXU Divergence underscores this, that the attitude the PCs had towards the gods in Campaign 3 not only fails to be backed up by C3 itself but also fails to be backed up literally anywhere else. It's not a subversion; it's an aberration. The ending of Campaign 3 and the beginning of Divergence serve as fairly obvious parallels; the gods becoming mortal and unable to speak to followers (who, in the case of clerics, do still have all their powers, as we see with Lieve'tel and Deanna) vs. the gods departing the material plane. We see how this does not end the fight between Prime and Betrayer nor does it stop their followers from trying to take over (and indeed, we know that the lower Rifenmist peninsula does still ultimately fall, in the long term, to the Strife Emperor loyalist Iron Authority). We also see very directly what faith means to people who cannot under any circumstances be defined as the privileged few; for all I have no taste for trauma Olympics, it is difficult to look at Garen, under tyranny and forced labor for a century, powerless but for a hammer and sheer force of will, express a sense of hope and faith and argue that Bells Hells are simply following the logical path of someone who has suffered. We see the gods expressly state that mortals must care for each other, something which Deanna echoes in one of the strongest scenes in the Campaign 3 finale. We see a gift given without expectation of devotion nor worship nor even understanding, just in gratitude of someone fulfilling a tenet to its utmost. Which is refreshing after a campaign where multiple characters resented gods simply for not favoring them, without ever putting in effort towards this relationship.

I've seen the phrase "in a vacuum" pop up a few times in terms of defense of Campaign 3 in terms of "in a vacuum, I am happy with it", and while I happen to think it fails on many levels even within that airless confine, the fact is, this all is unavoidably part of one canonical overarching narrative. To look at how the gods are portrayed in every single other work - yes, even Downfall, and frankly, even Campaign 3 itself - and to come to the conclusion that Bells Hells acted with the desire for a better and more just world, and not simply a world that favored them more, is, frankly, to ignore every word that did not come from the lips of three or four ignorant people over the course of a decades-long story.

EXU Divergence is very good. I think it would be very good even if it were not coming out during our current political situation, or if it had come out following a radically different and better-executed Campaign 3; that is to say, it would succeed in a vacuum. But I don't think that's a valuable way to assess fictional works, and I think it's a disservice not to consider the canonical Exandria-set Critical Role works in conversation with each other. You can praise Divergence on its own terms, and indeed, you should, but it helps to show specifically how it succeeds (in terms of consequence, in terms of characterization, in terms of worldbuilding consistency) by pointing to how something else has failed.

[artbyblastweave]

Is it weird that, the more posts you make about how being a genre fiction protagonist would suck and ruin your life (posts I love and think are great), the more I want to go full "No, suck eggs, Alan Moore, being a superhero is cool and good, actually?" I can't tell if it's mindless contraiantism or an actual point.

I think it's an understandable impulse, because there are absolutely strains of very-online genre-fic and cape-fic critique that, if taken super seriously as a blueprint for how fiction ought to be written, would basically amount to the Wertham Scare with a social justice gloss, and we don't need a second one of those. If a person bins the entire superhero genre as "irredeemably fascist" or anything similar, for example, I start paying extremely close attention to the implicit back half of that proclamation, the part where they lay out what part of that condemnation they consider actionable. The censorious should be made to eat their own black markers. You can do whatever you want forever.

On the other hand, you really can't get around what happens to a lot of escapist genre-fic- cape-fic in particular- if you apply any kind of scrutiny or big-boy grown up emotional or moral logic to it whatsoever. It wasn't built to survive that level of scrutiny, it wasn't built to still see publication 80 years after the fact- and indeed, stuff in that space that isn't seeing active mass-market success, John Carter and the like, that tends to get judged basically as harshly as I think it deserves. There really isn't any way around the fact that we're all playing Frankenstein with the innards of mass-market children's stories. And moreover I feel like there's an offputting mealy-mouthedness to a lot of the contemporary big-two output that notices the cracks in the foundation and tries to have their cake and eat it too, having capes that beat bad guys up but in a markedly progressive way. A certain level of pessimism and cynicism is often the only believable way to get those wires to connect if you're trying to make your spandex crowd interface with real-world cynicism. (Superman is ironically one of the Big-two properties that I think most consistently threads this needle. Batman has a harder time due to the billionaire thing. The X-Men are turbofucked and have been for a while.)

Astro City is one of the capethings that I think hits the best balance on all of this, and nonetheless one of the worldbuilding beats that does a lot of the heavy lifting on believability for me is that the Nixon Admin executed the setting's Captain American analogue on trumped-up charges as a show of force and as a distraction from Watergate. Because he would! He would do that! "What about Nixon" is a fantastic litmus test for this kind of thing IMO- even if the answer is that he was the head of a cult that built a mutant-powered flying saucer to take over the world with, that's still better than dodging the question entirely, or having Superman suck off Reagan like Byrne did.

[therottenkingsreckoning]

Well it's basically a community for people who like making aliens! Kinda like weirdfurs I guess, but with the addition of asking how and why that creature looks/acts the way it does. We get into designing anatomy, behavior/culture, sometimes people make whole ecosystems and taxonomies for them (that's called speculative evolution, or spec evo). If you're interested, I'd highly recommend Jay Eaton, Alex Ries (the creature artist for Subnautica) and Charseraph to start out! Also, check out Curious Archive on Youtube, and of course the OG that is All Tomorrows.

Honestly I wish there were more Furries who were into just vibing. Hanging out n talking about our characters. I've only met like a handful of people and they're either

-Young and hypersexual (not really a problem until you're sending porn directly to my dms without a warning)

-really fuckin cool but disappear within two days(which also isn't a problem. I get life exists and sometimes people just don't "click" right but MAN is it disappointing)

Just those two options n nothing in between.

Wish I knew where to even start looking lmao. Like let me show you my tricolored cat boy without judgement. Please.

[spotsupstuff]

(hii Spot been awhile) Something I think that's interesting about the observation about how Slugcats are getting so much attention nowadays is that its almost a 180 from how things were in the pre-downpour days, iirc.

Though I am glad we're getting an AU like yours it's so interesting compared to the usual

Im eating with a fork

Yeah, the fandom was not particularly strong back then, but I think there was more Iterator content. My suspicion as to why slugcats are so much more popular now is because the general "cat appeal"*. Downpour brought in wider audience which mostly consists of people that go wild over cat videos on the internet.

Not my intention to throw shade on it, because after all what does my opinion matter to anyone, but I find the whole "cuteness cult" of the internet annoying and, when applied to Rain World, frustrating. There's a whole silent worldbuilding in basically every screen of the game and the only thing that people seem to take away post-DP is "cute sluggy go wooo :3 the Ancients were such cultist pricks Dx". Which like alright, but expand a little on the latter please? Try? There is So much fun to it when one moves past the "religion only BAD" mindset.

DP also I think didn't care much about the Ancients and the culture they left behind (and therefore the root of Iterators). "But there's Saint!" Saint is almost everything new that wasn't heard of before, can be taken as another fact of monstroid mad religion and, of course, it Has to be wrapped in a fluffy cat package. The undergrowth Echo also feels like a spit in the face to the lore/religion than an addition, to me. My *guess* would be the original intention was showing an individual who failed to ascend because of the Fifth Hindrance but it doesn't *feel* like it. If that was the intention, I think the author didn't understand why a desire to live/survive could ever, in any form, be bad

It's interesting as well in the sense that when there was only Survivor, maybe up to Hunter- the slugcats felt like a vehicle that brings the player to the story. The player saw the world through their eyes and got to experience the world's rules, abiding them- the original campaigns were still subject to the lore/religion of the world.

DP made the slugcats characters, the main focus, in some cases a rebelion against the lore/religion (forever beef against new route for Survivor and Monk). So people had an easier time latching onto them.

That is my theory at least. Fact is also when I first watched RW I almost didn't get into it as a creator because I felt like I had nowhere to hook to and work with. Characters are great anchor points for people to latch on to and then work with/through, so it's not like I blame the fandom for quite literally getting slug infested. It's natural and logical and I'm well aware of it as someone who's trying to be a writer. Still frustrating.

Either way, at least there's a vacuum for me to fill with something I'm actively actually passionate about. It's kind of a sweet bonus that people are somewhat interested, too.

[booradigm]

Hey!! I've been loving your derrick eckart posts and the one where derrick exaggerates Penelope's mistakes. I didn't read the novel so I totally didn't know that was a thing😅😭

But why do you think they didn't mention that details in the manhwa? And how often do you think Derrick blamed Penelope for her mistakes. Did he do it to make others hate her to make her miserable and drive her out of the house or to make her dependent on him in some twisted way?

And what do you think about Derrick being in 'love' with Penelope. Anyway love your posts

Frankly, manhwas not having much details compared to its novel ver. is common, and the reason for that is the SAME as why animes usually fall short compared to their manga counterpart:

Time and budget.

Being 100% true to the source material when you are trying to make it come to life is NOT easy, ESPECIALLY when there are deadlines to meet with satisfactory results.

For example, compare this scene from the manhwa ver. to the novel ver.:

Now, the novel:

Both led to the same outcome, with Siyeon getting access after showing that she was part of the Eckarts.

But there is a point here that wasn't shown in the manhwa, and that would be about how the duke is a VIP in the BLACK MARKET who would BUY SLAVES occasionally, as well as how Siyeon doesn't like it.

However, we're talking about time and budget here, and there is NO DOUBT that drawing the ENTIRE narrative would take MUCH MORE time AND budget, as then the artist would NOT ONLY have to dedicate a panel that showed the duke buying slaves and Siyeon being uncomfortable at the thought, but then they'd ALSO have to retain it in their character for the rest of the story, otherwise it will look like it was forgotten about despite being brought up.

THAT is why it was cut out.

While details like these are important in FLESHING OUT the characters, they AREN'T essential to the MAIN story, since - as we can see here - the RESULT of Siyeon's progress (she got into the auction house) was fine even without it.

That is why their characters are reduced to their 'main' personality, or the developments (from the romance, to worldbuilding, etc.) are rushed compared to the novel. Since, rather than to consistently treat them as fully-fledged characters, it would be easier to just treat them as plot devices and ONLY save the truly important scenes in, such as the attic scene with Reynold (which was so important to the plot that barely any detail was changed from it).

When you think of it like that, it makes sense why Siyeon's more sympathetic and emotional aspects aren't going to be shown UNLESS it serves the MAIN plot, presenting her to be more logical in order to avoid needing to draw more scenes that overall won't contribute too much.

Simply put, in this 'dish', while the sides put more flavor and depth into the taste, they aren't 'needed' in the main course, and since the chefs don't have the budget to prepare them, they just make do with the time they were given.

---

As for how often I think Derrick blamed Penelope for her mistakes, I think he did it THROUGHOUT their time together, much like Reynold's case. Both of them were clearly hostile to her ESPECIALLY when the duke ISN'T around.

For WHY he blames Penelope, it's because his low opinion of her makes him genuinely believe she is guilty.

Penelope had a "wicked behavior and terrible manners" and spends a lot of the money he (and Reynold) thinks she had "NO RIGHT to spend so lavishly." And so he thinks so LOWLY of her.

The entire REASON why Derrick is SOFTER to Siyeon compared to Penelope is because Siyeon was acting like a civilized person, instead.

Also keep in mind that while he knew he doesn't like it when she refers to him as 'brother', he didn't even know WHY that is.

Derrick doesn't shift blame to Penelope with the intention to make others hate her or make her miserable. He doesn't think of things from Penelope's perspective, only about what the CONSEQUENCES of her actions on the Duchy are.

When he DOES belittle Penelope, it can either be to protect the Eckart name's reputation, or to vent out his frustrations about her.

It's NOT about "making her suffer for being a shameless replacement," like Reynold's intentions are, he's too prideful to ever stoop to being so 'childish.'

As for if Derrick belittled Penelope for the 'purpose' of making her dependent on him, that COULD be part of the reason, but it's more likely he did it for DAMAGE CONTROL; to be able to control how the narrative goes and make it easier to clean up another 'stain' on his house.

Derrick was RAISED to be the next Duke, and so the damage to Penelope's reputation automatically goes to the very duchy. He couldn’t have 'wanted' Penelope to be hated, since if that happens, then the Eckart duchy would be damaged along with her.

It was just like in the court trial.

What he wanted most WASN'T to disgrace her, rather, to just get through it as fast as possible.

The reason he didn't listen to Siyeon's accounts was because it was the "best and most efficient way," to protect his house, which, while she IS part of (hence, making her part of who he has a duty to protect), that DOESN'T mean he'll put her OVER the duchy.

After all, he scolds EVEN Reynold and the Duke, putting the Eckart name over them. It's not JUST Penelope that he prioritizes the family reputation over.

He's not like Reynold who goes out his way to bully Penelope in a "Serves you right for trying to steal my sister's place, bitch," manner. Derrick addressing Penelope is more of a "I don't hate you, but the House of Eckart comes first. Stay in that cell until I fix this and don't cause more trouble until I bail you out."

I CANNOT stress enough just how many people mischaracterized him on this part. He is NOT sadistic like Callisto, people!

Like yall, I don't like him either, but if you're gonna hate, can't you do it ACCURATELY instead of PROJECTING your own "bad guy" idea onto him?? If there was ANYONE among them who ACTIVELY antagonized Penelope, it was REYNOLD.

But at the same time, BOTH of them are highly loyal to their family name, and are capable of genuine care (I'm looking at you, cringy-ass gachatubers that swap their personalities to make Reynold the passive one while Derrick is the childish one when it comes to Penelope).

In conclusion, while Derrick wants Penelope to depend on him, that's NOT his reason for belittling her. He just thinks it's 'REASONABLE' to compromise things to protect the Eckart reputation, and THAT is his justification for not defending either Siyeon in the trial, and Penelope in all previous incidents.

He genuinely believed it was the best option for his house.

---

On another note, I DO think ALL of the Eckarts wanted Penelope to be dependent on them, NEVER allowing her to leave on her own, NOR allow her an allowance despite agreeing to buying her extravagant things (even if they don't like it).

While none of the Eckarts cared enough about Penelope, they still DIDN'T want her to leave.

After all, while it IS true that she spends a lot, what difference will there be if she spends it by herself versus if she gets permission to have it bought FOR her?

The difference is that they'll KNOW and be able to STOP her if they wanted.

NONE of the Eckarts (before Yvonne returned) wanted Penelope to ACTUALLY leave. The duke literally BUILT HIGHER WALLS when she tried to sneak out before.

At first, I thought it was for safety purposes, but no, they just didn't want her to leave.

Penelope is always kept in the manor and only allowed to go to events that she was explicitly invited to.

It wasn't even Siyeon asking for money that triggered them. They only got outraged AFTER they get the impression that Penelope was planning on 'LEAVING'.

While none of the Eckarts cared enough about Penelope to see how she's doing, or give her proper care, ALL three of the Duke, Derrick, and Reynold WANTED Penelope to remain DEPENDENT on them.

Because they don't want her to leave.

And regardless of whether Derrick's 'love' for Penelope is true or not (or if it was EVEN Penelope he 'loved,' seeing as he treated only Siyeon better), one thing for sure is that he WASN'T consciously aware of it when it was Penelope.

I think of it in a similar way as to how the affection scores work and hint at. Just as how the 5 target leads or literally everyone ONLY liked her when she was Siyeon, it's because WHO they like is Siyeon, NOT Penelope.

Callisto loves Siyeon, not Penelope. Vinter loves Siyeon, not Penelope, Eckles loves Siyeon, not Penelope, and so on.

As nice of a thought as it is that Siyeon's husband would love her even when she was FULLY Penelope, that just ISN'T true; because the traits he loved about her was Siyeon's.

(I reached the 10 pic limit, damn you Tumblr.) Here's the specific parts I meant in chapter 134:

[In the beginning, it had been nothing but a passing amusement to Callisto. He’d found it amusing, the way Lady Penelope had lied through her teeth and did her best to keep the obvious deception alive.

He’d looked forward to seeing her, wondering what clever little pretense she would think of next, and it had made his horrible existence in the capital mildly bearable. His amused interest in her had not waned even after the hunting tournament. If anything, his curiosity regarding the girl who seemed to shudder at the mere sight of him had only increased.

When Penelope had appeared caked in makeup and put on her silly little act, one he would have been able to see through from a mile away, he’d even thought her cute. He’d believed the rumors at first and expected that she was just an arrogant commoner who’d been lucky enough to be adopted by the duke, but now he couldn’t seem to forget about the way her tiny lips timidly talked back to him every time they met. And that had led him to act impulsively…]

I brought this up because it HAS to be made clear that Siyeon's very CHARACTER is the REASON why 'Penelope' was 'loved' by the end of the story.

We ALL know Penelope would NOT have acted as 'cutely' as Callisto thought Siyeon did. She would have acted EXACTLY like the "arrogant commoner that was just lucky enough to be adopted by the duke," he believed her as, and he wouldn't even be able to force her to spend time with him like he did to Siyeon because Penelope would NOT have cared about keeping up appearances and following etiquette.

Callisto wouldn't have liked Penelope because she wouldn't have been 'interesting' and 'amusing' to him like Siyeon was, and given how Penelope grew up, she WOULDN'T have liked Callisto, as well, because the way he thought lowly of her was EXACTLY the same as how everyone around her treated her.

And just as Callisto wouldn't have liked Penelope if she didn't act like Siyeon, this sentiment would have applied to EVERYONE else, INCLUDING Derrick who ONLY started treating her well AFTER Siyeon transmigrated to her body.

Yes, the Eckarts might have 'cared' about Penelope, to an extent, but NONE of them GENUINELY and wholeheartedly loved Penelope. Not like they did Siyeon. Because it was ONLY Siyeon they TRULY loved.

Just like in Callisto's case, if we were to believe that Derrick ACTUALLY loves her, he would ONLY 'love,' Siyeon, as well. At best, he subconsciously saw Penelope as a woman and part of the Eckhart House, but he NEVER liked her as much nor treated her as well as how he did to Siyeon.

[atamascolily]

on worldbuilding, predictions, and Madoka Magica

On reflection, I think there are two distinct types of worldbuilding. The first and better known type is practiced by people like J.R.R. Tolkien, for whom the world drives the story--the world is created first, and is treated like a real place (or as real as possible) with its own consistent rules. This is also the kind of worldbuilding you see in a lot of RPGs and similar games, which is then populated by characters created by the players.

The second type of worldbuilding is where the story drives the world--the story is created first and the world is then fleshed out to accommodate it later. Sometimes this means retcons or clarifications after the fact; sometimes it means that the author just wanted to do something cool and didn't think too hard about the consequences. Star Wars (especially in the early days with the original trilogy) is a great example of this kind of hodgepodge "build as you go" worldbuilding.

It's easy to get these two types of worldbuilding mixed up because they appear identical on the surface because of how we perceive stories (i.e., as linear narratives taking place in a fictional setting) vs. how they are actually written, but expecting a Type 2 worldbuilding situation to follow Type 1 rules is a recipe for disaster because it's not playing by the same rules on the back end. Also, like "plotter" and "pantser", these are two ends of a spectrum, not absolutes.

Most of Gen Urobuchi's works fall into the Type 2 category, to the point where the first season of Thunderbolt Fantasy introduces a brand-new mechanic more than 2/3rds of the way through the first season solely to get the characters from point A to point B that is never mentioned again, and yet it does its job so well that every time I'm forced to applaud it. The same is true for Madoka Magica, where it's abundantly clear that Urobuchi didn't think much about the details when writing the script, much of which was fleshed out by collaborators (such as Inu Curry's witch designs).

Anyway, all this is to say that I think trying to predict Walpurgis no Kaiten by Type 1 worldbuilding logic--i.e., extrapolating from established rules and taking them to their logical conclusion--is not a likely recipe for success, because that's not how Urobuchi is approaching the story in the first place. The rules of the world are dictated by the needs of the story, and so can be bent or altered entirely (and likely will be) in order to accommodate it.

I don't even mean retcons here (although I suppose that's possible); I mean things like the Incubators' isolation field in Rebellion that allowed witches to exist in a confined space--it's not against the established rules per se, it's just not what you would necessarily expect based on the ending of the original anime. I think whatever happens in WnK will be like that--a weird and unlikely exception that we won't necessarily see coming, but isn't inconsistent with what has come before. It likely wasn't planned from the beginning, but arose organically out of the story creation process post-Rebellion, even though ideally it will be consistent with and support everything that has come before.

Okay, so if extrapolating from the world doesn't work, what might work better? My approach to predictions in general is based on established narrative structures, symbols, and themes, because those are what will actually shape the story, and thus the world it takes place in, and this is a series where story comes first. This doesn't mean I'll be right about anything, but I think it gets me closer than any of the alternatives. If you want to predict how the series is going to turn out, asking "What is the story of Madoka Magica [taken as a whole across the entire main series] actually about?" and going from there is a reasonable starting point.

(A few quick answers--"Is it possible to change fate?" "Unintended consequences." "The power of love and friendship." "Growing up."--etc, etc. Note that these are not mutually exclusive, but emphasizing different elements will often yield different results.)

But even that will only get you so far, because what I or anybody else think the show is about may or may not be what Urobuchi or Inu Curry or any of the creators think the show is about. So it's not enough to extrapolate from existing themes and symbols; you also have to put yourself in their place and imagine the story from their perspective, too. Conveniently, this is an important skill for writers in general, so it's a useful exercise no matter what happens. But the story I would write from these elements is likely going to be different from what actually happens in some or all respects and that's something I've had to accept.

For me, story prediction and analysis in general are less about being right (although that's always satisfying) and more about having fun and becoming a better writer. Writing fanfiction has also freed me from being dependent on canon for a particular outcome. If it happens, great! If not, I can write it my own way. No matter what the outcome, it's all grist for the mill.

But it's the difference between a typical audience member and an aspiring magician watching a magic show--as the latter, I want to anticipate and understand how the trick is accomplished so I can do it myself. To that end, I'm engaging with the material in a very different way than a casual viewer, peering behind the curtain so I can see how it all comes together into a coherent whole.

[kalikalahansa]

Are there any differences between just wearing diapers full-time and actively untraining?

A follower sent me this question in an ask recently. I didn't feel like I could answer it comprehensively without derailing the ask. I'm answering it here instead.

The answer is: Yes, but actually no (but ...)

In humans, and in many other species, the body system which controls the voiding of bodily waste is adapted such that it is under voluntary control. However, the means by which that control is maintained require it to be maintained through use. If it isn't used, it erodes.

Untrainers actively target this, by actively refusing to use their control and by adopting strategies which will allow their body to void with minimal physiological effort. People who want to wear and use their diapers 24/7 (henceforth "24/7ers") obviously don't actively seek to lose their control. However, using diapers 24/7 means they will increasingly generally be in a situation where not using their control is a convincingly better choice and/or using it is convincingly worse.

Here's a hypothetical. It's based heavily on my experience but is not a direct factual account; it's also heavily simplified because I'd have to either do anonymisation or worldbuilding otherwise and I'm not going to do either of those things.

Say you're a college student. You have a very predictable college administration, and because of that, four days a week, you have:

a 9–11 AM lecture

an 11 AM–12 PM interval

a 12–2 PM tutorial, with no break in the middle

You have a chance to snack, hydrate, and get a coffee in the interval. As a result, you consistently have the problem of realising, about 30 minutes into your 12 PM tute, that you need to pee.

This is a problem. See, in most places, excusing yourself to pee is a neutral act, but in college, there is an expectation that you'll stay in the room unless you absolutely have to leave. Not usually an overwhelming one, but present in the same way that getting up constantly to pee at a movie theatre is somewhat more frowned upon than doing so while watching the same movie at home.

So, what do you do? Well, if you're continent, or at least wearing underwear, the answer you're pressured toward under those circumstances is just holding it for the remaining 90 minutes. Sure, it might be annoying, but if you have normal continence it's not likely to be so distracting that you can't willpower through it. If you're wearing diapers and have decided to use them, however, none of this logic applies. Short of any other intervening factors too complex and individual to be listed here, if you feel the need to pee 30 minutes in, there's no reason not to pee 30 minutes in.

The effect of this is obvious: that's 90 minutes you're not exercising your control when you otherwise would have. That's not much, but you can never have just one potato chip, as the saying goes. For instance, you also realise that you've been feeling the need to pee about 30 minutes into your morning lecture. You haven't really been thinking about it because that one does have a break at 55 minutes and it's a lot easier to wait until then. But why wait?

And so this continues. This hypothetical person is based on me so it would probably be pretty reasonable to nominally divide their day into 3 blocks of 8 hours each:

college and related things (studying on-site, commuting, etc.)

home and related things (work, study at home, free time, etc.)

sleep

(No, I did not get anywhere near that much sleep; yes, the non-college-time block was a lot bigger than that for me.)

Out of your college and related things block, when you level out you're probably holding it for maybe 50% of the time you were before, on average. So you're effectively holding for at least 4 hours fewer out of 24 per day, 4 days a week: –16 hours out of 168 per week, total.

Still not a lot, but it builds up. For instance, I think at this point we can safely assume you're still dry at night and your continence behaviour during sleep is the same as it was before you started wearing full-time. But most people at least initially find it easier to start using their diapers at home and in other familiar places, where nobody has any reason to watch them. So at home the amount of time you were holding it had already been maybe half what it would have been before. Another 4 hours' worth of non-use of control, 4 days a week, making –16/168 h/w, for a total of –32/168 h/w.

On the 3 days a week you're not at college, we can safely move the 8 hours a week that would have gone to "college and related things" into "home and related things", the block during which you're only holding for about half as long as you were anyway. So that's 16 hours total, so that's 8 hours fewer of control on each of those 3 days; 8 × 3 = 24, making a total of –(32 + 24)/168 = –56/168 h/w.

But wait! All that practice you're getting wetting your diapers at college, where you're nervous about it, is helping tremendously with wetting your diapers at home and other places where you're more comfortable. So suddenly instead of holding for 50% of the original length of time at home you're holding for 25%. Then 10%. So now that 8 hours of control not being used is 14 hours 24 minutes (× 3 days a week) and now it's –75.2/168 h/w. And it continues to add up.

And of course you can respond to this by saying, well, I want to wear diapers 24/7 but I know I don't want to lose my bladder control, so I'll simply pee at the same time I normally would have. Which makes perfect sense, but also, that's an abstract long-term commitment, and it's now competing with things like the visceral discomfort of needing to pee increasingly for 90 minutes, when you know you don't have to be experiencing that discomfort. You have to really care about the thing you're committed to for it to serve as the bulwark of your self-discipline in that kind of situation. And even then, there are probably going to be days when you're going to give in, because the machine didn't have mocha iced coffee today, it only had double espresso, and now your eyeballs are swimming.

And you can say, well, I'm not going to need to avoid peeing for 90 minutes, because I will simply do other things, like not have water and coffee directly before my two hour tutorial with no break. To which my answer is, sure. Water is necessary for brain function, caffeine is addictive. Yes, it's plausible that you'll give up one of those, but the path of least resistance is the one where you wet your diapers because it's the one where you get everything you want (staying in the lectures, wearing diapers, using diapers, drinking coffee, drinking water).

And all this discussion of self-discipline and paths-of-least-resistance is ignoring the positive disincentives against using your control. For example: When we pee in a toilet, we tend to release it all at once and as quickly as possible. In most diapers, that's not advisable. The superabsorbent polymer can't absorb that much liquid that fast; the inside of the diaper will flood and leak.

Diapers obviously can absorb a lot of liquid given enough time, so the first thing to address is flow rate. Flow rate is determined by volume (that is, if there's more pee you need to void, you will pee faster). Therefore, the way to pee at a lower flow rate is to pee when there's less pee in your bladder. The kidneys produce urine at a rate which is strongly predicted by your diet and medical conditions, so if those are relatively stable then your urine output will be too. In that case, the most effective way to pee when there's less pee in your bladder is to pee frequently. In short, diapers literally discourage you from holding your pee and encourage you to pee as close as possible to when you feel the urge.

And then, of course, there's the fact that the map is not the territory, and the view from the top of a mountain differs from the view from the bottom of the adjoining valley. Decisions about maintaining continence and responding to continence failures that are made prior to going into diapers 24/7 are made in one context. Decisions about the same matter that are made well into the process, when the things in question are or might be actually happening, are made in another context entirely. And there are obviously factors other than immediate short-term discomfort or utility that dictate what choices someone makes.

Wearing full-time isn't the same as untraining. But it makes not untraining a lot harder than it was before wearing full-time.

[beneathsilverstars]

i do love a good solid bit of realistically logical and consistent worldbuilding, but i love other things more, like making characters cry in each other's arms. so sometimes i have to remind myself that the less time i spend on the former, the more time i can spend on the latter...

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Fantasy Tropes

Whether you’re working in the high fantasy, urban fantasy, or sword and sorcery subgenres, there are certain common tropes you may wish to explore in your writing. Here are some of the most commonplace fantasy tropes:

The chosen one: One of the most common tropes in the fantasy genre, this trope involves a seemingly ordinary protagonist being plucked from obscurity in order to fulfill a great and singular purpose. Oftentimes, these characters are fulfilling the prophecy of an ancient text or dream. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is a simple farm boy until he discovers that he is destined to become a Jedi.

The dark lord: In fantasy fiction, this is often a character who personifies the forces of evil—a magical overlord who commands vast armies. An example is Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series.

The quest: A quest is one of the most common clichés among sci-fi and epic fantasy writers, and it involves a character going on a journey in order to complete a goal or task. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo and his sidekick Samwise must leave the safety of their hobbit village in order to destroy the One Ring of Power.

A medieval setting: Many fantasy settings draw from medieval European folklore and fairy tales in their worldbuilding, and modern fantasy series often contain creatures that were inspired by medieval fantasy stories like the legend of King Arthur; these creatures include goblins, druids, and trolls. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, for instance, takes place in the fantasy world of Westeros, which resembles medieval Europe.

The damsel in distress: The damsel in distress is another common plot device in fantasy and science fiction stories and video games, in which a female character (usually with little backstory and oftentimes the love interest of the protagonist) is placed in mortal danger by the bad guys, requiring the (usually male) hero to rescue her. This plot device can be found in many Disney movies, such as Snow White and The Sleeping Beauty, and has been subverted in more recent movies like Tangled and Moana.

The mentor: One of the most popular fantasy characters, the mentor is a wise, elderly figure (such as an old wizard) who educates the protagonist and gives them the training and information necessary to eventually save the world and triumph in the battle of good vs. evil. In the fantasy novel series The Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan serves as a mentor for the siblings, helping them grow into their roles as kings and queens.

Tips for Using Fantasy Tropes

If you’re writing your first book in the fantasy genre, it can be hard to come up with story ideas that don’t feel clichéd or overdone. It’s inevitable that your fantasy novel or short story will contain some tropes—but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Use audience expectations to your advantage. Audiences’ familiarity with tropes and genre conventions will likely cause them to jump to a conclusion about a character or plot point, which gives you the opportunity to subvert those expectations. If your audience is expecting a helpless damsel, make her a secret badass with strong character development. If your audience is expecting typical dumb, slow-moving zombies, make them fast and hyper-intelligent. Subverting genre clichés will keep your audience guessing and make your story all the more exciting.

Establish clear rules for your world. Deus ex machina is a plot device in which a seemingly unsolvable problem or unbeatable obstacle is suddenly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely event. Since the fantasy genre is filled with magic and underworldly creatures, it can feel tempting to introduce a magical solution to a seemingly unresolvable plot problem. However, deus ex machina is often unsatisfying to the reader, since the sudden solution to the story’s central problem seemingly comes out of nowhere. One way to avoid this is to establish firm, consistent, logical rules for your magical world in the first place. That way, if you need to summon a magical solution to a plot problem, it will feel less abrupt and unmotivated.

Use tropes to tell an emotionally compelling story. There’s a reason why fantasy series often follow the hero’s journey and conclude with good guys triumphing over evil. Fantasy tropes are so resilient because they serve as the building blocks of a satisfying, emotionally compelling story. The most common fantasy tropes contain seeds of real-world struggles, relationships, and themes played out on the most epic scale imaginable (and with orcs, mages, and minions). Don’t be afraid to lean into tropes—as long as they are in service of a story that is emotionally satisfying.

When it comes to fantasy tropes, it can sometimes feel like you’re straddling an impossible line: an abundance of tropes and clichés will make your work feeling boring and predictable, but not including any will ignore the touchstones of the genre that keep readers coming back for more. That’s why important to deeply understand the tropes and conventions of fantasy writing.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[novlr]

How do I create laws/rules for my world-building?

Creating laws and rules is a crucial aspect of worldbuilding in any piece of fiction. Well-crafted guidelines help maintain consistency, add depth, and enhance the reader’s experience by making the fictional universe more believable and immersive. When fiction is set in our world, in current times, these rules are implicit but still exist. The trick is to make all readers, regardless of genre, feel that same familiarity.

Why are laws and rules important?

Laws and rules provide structure and order to your fictional society

They help define the boundaries and limitations of your world

Consistent laws and rules make your world feel more realistic and believable

They can serve as a source of conflict and tension in your story

Laws and rules can reflect the values, beliefs, and cultural norms of your fictional society

Understanding your world’s laws and rules will help you create a world that’s more immersive

Consider the context of your world

Take the genre and tone of your story into account when creating laws and rules

Consider the technological advancement and magic system (if applicable) of your world

Think about the political structure and power dynamics within your society

Reflect on the history and cultural background of your fictional world

Determine the environmental factors that may influence laws and rules (e.g., resource scarcity, climate)

Tailor your laws and rules to fit the unique context of your world

Draw inspiration from real-world examples

Study historical and contemporary legal systems for inspiration

Look at how different cultures and societies have approached law-making

Analyse the laws and rules of other fictional worlds you admire

Consider how real-world laws and rules have evolved over time and why

Examine the consequences and implications of real-world laws and rules

Adapt and modify real-world examples to fit your fictional world

Balance realism and creativity

Strive for a balance between realism and creativity when creating laws and rules

Ensure that your laws and rules are logical and consistent within your world’s context

Allow room for creative and unique elements that set your world apart

Consider how your laws and rules can contribute to the overall narrative and themes of your story

Don’t be afraid to break conventions and introduce unconventional laws and rules

Remember that your fictional world is an opportunity to explore new ideas and possibilities

Integrate them into your story

Introduce laws and rules organically through character interactions and world-building elements

Use laws and rules to create conflict and tension

Show how characters navigate and respond to the laws and rules of your world

Explore the consequences of breaking or challenging the established laws and rules

Use laws and rules to reveal aspects of your characters’ personalities and motivations

Integrate laws and rules seamlessly into your narrative to enhance the overall reading experience

Evolve and adapt laws and rules

Consider how laws and rules may change and evolve in response to events and character actions

Reflect on how these changes impact your world and its inhabitants

Have laws and rules be dynamic and responsive to the needs of your fictional society

Explore how different groups or individuals within your society may interpret and respond to changes in laws and rules

Use the evolution of laws and rules to showcase character development and growth

Consider how the changing laws and rules may impact the overall plot and direction of your story

[ryin-silverfish]

LMK S5 Fix-it: the Four Divine Beasts

My feeling on LMK S5 has stayed pretty consistent after first watching the Chinese dub: "nice character moments, but what even is this worldbuilding?"

And personally, the Four Divine Beasts/Guardians/Symbols are the biggest symptom of S5's worldbuilding problem.

Namely, they feel more like plot devices that are just there to die and cough up the Color Stones, and as a result, 4/5 of the "Find the Color Stone" plotline felt like a worse version of S3 and the Samadhi Rings, but with even less flavor.

Now, I'm aware of the 11-minute episode constraint, as well as the pressure the studio change might have created that contributed to the overall feeling of rushed-ness.

However, my criticism here is about the writing and worldbuilding, not the animation quality——things that, in my humble and uneducated opinion, could have been done a lot better even if we were sticking to the "Find the McGuffins" plotline.

Thus, this post. As always: very lengthy, very Chinese-mythos inspired.

Four Guardians & Five Phases

A brief Google Search on the Four Symbols, aka Sixiang, will tell you this: the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise are divine beasts in Chinese mythology that watch over the four directions, each associated with a color and one of the Five Phases.

(An old post of mine briefly talked about their origins as personifications of four big constellations that occupy a quadrant of the sky each, and their relations to the 28 Lunar Mansions)

And S5 certainly paid homage to their elemental associations, however brief and surface-level it is.

The Vermillion Bird's ability to use fire and its flaming temple is the most notable example, but this screenshot of the seal that appeared at the temple entrances also shows five symbols:

From middle left, going in the clockwise direction, these appear to be the characters for Wood, Water, Fire, Earth and Metal in Oracle Bone/Bronze Script.

Which begs the question...why would you spend so much effort on the tiny visual details, yet not show most of their elemental association through the narrative itself?

Like, suppose you are a foreign audience that knows nothing about Chinese culture and legends, who have just finished watching S5, and I ask you "What elemental powers do each of the Four Symbols have?"

Apart from Vermillion Bird = Fire (the obvious one) and the Black Tortoise = maybe Earth (which is not mythos-accurate, btw), can you honestly answer it, based only on what the show has given you?

Which leads me to my biggest gripe: their random-as-hell placement.

Even the Samadhi Rings have a map, however vague it is, but with the Color Stones, the gang basically just wandered all over the place in the hope of eventually running into one of the divine beasts——and they did, somehow!

Like, I'm not asking the writers for an entire mini-arc that's just them piecing the clues together. But will it be too much to let SWK or Tang make an off-hand comment like this?

"Well, legends said that the Four Symbols watch over the four directions and their respective elements. So if we wanna find them, we just gotta go real far in these directions, toward places with the most of that... elemental stuff! Right?"

And that brings me to the actual fix-it part. The Vermillion Bird can stay where she is, but the placement of the other three should also logically follow their elemental associations.

Oh, and though there's limited space for their characterization, they should at least get some individual characterization apart from "wise ancient guardians".

Xuanwu, Black Tortoise of the North

The fact that Xuanwu, or rather, it's snake half, can transform into stone at will might lead you to believe that its element is Earth.

Well...no, not traditionally; the Black Tortoise and the North correspond to Water in the Five Phases system, and I'm gonna both stick to that and build my fix-it off this foundation.

Instead of cosplaying a stone statue in the middle of nowhere, Xuanwu is gonna be residing on one of the islands in the North Sea, where dark tides and huge snow storms rage endlessly under the sunless sky.

So Sandy, being the water travel specialist, is gonna head out there on his boat. Mei would go to her great x N granduncle, Ao Guang's place, to see if he has any clues on, well, this big blue dragon that's also of the East.

Pigsy and Tang would head west, classic JTTW style, towards the mythical Mt. Kunlun where Queen Mother of the West resides (based on one of Tang's books that said the White Tiger was her emissary), while SWK performs an all-round search everywhere on his somersault cloud.

Which leaves MK: his dilemma is not about some random divergence in the road, but which of his friends to follow. Like, what if he goes with one person, and something bad happen to the others in the meantime?

In the end, even though he reluctantly goes with Sandy, he is still constantly distracted by his worries about everyone else, which segments nicely into the meditation training of S5E3.

But since they are doing it on a boat, there can be an external storm to go with the internal storm, causing further distractions for MK and also forcing them to seek shelter on the nearest island.

An island that, strangely, seems to be coated in a thin layer of ice. It isn't just the earth that's frosted over: all the plants, a few unfortunate multi-headed (???) seabirds, and a snake have also turned into ice statues...

Wait, snake? How does a reptile survive this far out in the north?

They have a bigger concern, however. The ice is slowly but steadily spreading, over the beaches and the surrounding seawater, and if they don't finish the search soon, the ice might get too thick for the boat to break.

So MK dashed off to do a grid-by grid search, then circled back to the place with all the frozen statues...and found the snake missing.

Cue, peak paranoia moment, and going on a wild-goose chase for the missing snake that might or might not be an ice-wielding demon waiting to ambush them.

In fact, the snake almost seems to be taunting them, seeing how they run into several "frozen snake statues" that turned out to be made of actual, solid ice. Sandy keeps reminding him to stop and think, while MK finds it harder and harder to put the lessons to practice.

By following the trail of ice statues, however, they eventually arrived on a little island in the middle of a frozen lake, where the real snake——the one half of Xuanwu lay coiling around the Blue Color Stone.

Just when MK is about to dash out and grab it, the snake comes to life with a hiss, and they barely dodged the ice spikes rising up from underneath their feet.

"Begone, foul spawn of Hundun! Return to thy conniving master, ilk of the Floodbringer, before I freeze every single drop of thy tainted blood!" "Um, I-I think you've mistaken me for someone else? I'm the Monkie Kid, and I'm here to collect your Color Stone so I can save the world——" "Doth thee mistake me for a fool, too?" The snake bore its fangs, rising its head high up into the air. "I can feel the flames of dear Lingguang on you, murderer, ripped straight out of its rightful owner's chest! She would not have perished without a fight, nor shalt I!" "Enough, Zhiming."

The tiny island itself begins to shake, revealing the other half of Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise itself. The snake still manages to half-encast Sandy in ice, before the Black Tortoise traps it inside a ball of flowing water.

She briefly apologized for her twin's hostility——whereas the strain of keeping the world together affects her body in the form of visible cracks, her other half has not been in his right mind ever since the Vermillion Bird's fall, living in the distant past and rarely able to perceive the present.

(The whole conversation is punctuated by the snake's psychic screeches in the background, which alternates between accusing her of betrayal and stating she must have fallen victim to the "poisonous blood of the enemy".)

Which makes the upcoming trial even more necessary. No, it's not "mercy-kill her twin". Yet. MK needs to prove his ability to control his body and mind, that his psyche will not break like her other half here under the tremendous pressure.

Thus, the trial of meditation. And he needs to act fast, for she cannot hold the snake back for long, as made evident by the slowly creeping ice inside and outside his watery prison.

"If you are truly worthy, then vanquish your fears, and stand before us in your true form. Brandish Lingguang's stone, so that we may be released from our watch in the long night."

MK succeeded, like he did in canon, with a small difference: his mastery of the monkey form is required for, and enables the limited usage of the stone's power.

So, holding the Red Color Stone, he unleashes a wave of fiery light that melts away the ice on Sandy and finally brings the snake back to his senses...somewhat.

He only managed to say the Vermillion Bird's name in a wistful voice, exclaiming "How I missed thy warm flames!" before melting into a puddle of water.

The other half of Xuanwu soon followed after giving him the stone, disintegrating into a mass of snowflakes that is swept away by the wind, but not before dropping one last bit of foreshadowing:

"Trust not the Floodbringer's Emissary."

(Sidenote: I think it'll be neat if the Four Symbols refer to each other using their IRL Daoist titles. Vermillion Bird - Lingguang, Black Tortoise & Snake - Zhiming, Azure Dragon - Mengzhang, White Tiger - Jianbing)

Azure Dragon & White Tiger

...And I thought Xuanwu's placement was random.

No, seriously, why is there a random music festival that just happens to be Azure Dragon and White Tiger themed that just happens to be near the actual place the two divine beasts are at?

To stay within the show's time constraint, I will not be giving White Tiger his individually themed placement, and instead try to come up with something that is appropriate for the pair as a whole.

Since Azure Dragon's associated element is Wood, it makes sense for him to have plant powers. Namely, whereever the divine beast resides, floras and faunas will flourish, no matter how out of place with the local geography and climate.

Once Mei learned that from Ao Guang, theoretically, it becomes quite the easy find: the mythical oasis city in western China, one that shows up multiple times in historical travel records yet has never been found by archeologists.

And the reason will soon become clear, as Tang and Pigsy make the drive from one desert city to another on their way to Mt. Kunlun (joined by Mei after she returned from the Samadhi Fire side-arc).

Namely, it's like a magical version of the famous Peach Blossom Spring of Chinese literature: an entire city that has been glamored over by the power of the divine beasts, occupied by people whose way of life hasn't changed since the Tang dynasty.

But as the guardians' powers fade, so does the illusion that veils it from the outside world, and the elemental magic that sustains this paradise.

Instead of a music festival, the gang finally discover the city that, according to the locals, has appeared out of thin air a few days ago, while it is in the middle of an archaic ritual procession.

The atmosphere is a lot more solemn, and it isn't hard to see why. Not only has the illusion vanished, exposing them to a profoundly alien world, the foliage of the oasis are growing and dying in rapid succession, clogging the streets with fallen leaves and yellowed petals.

An opera play is going on atop a nearby stage. It sings of a teal-robed immortal who rescued the refugees of a long-forgotten war, who turned desert into fertile soil with the help of a mighty divine general, concealing their existence from the greed and malice of the outside world.

The people in the procession knelt down and pleaded to the immortal for aid, to not abandon them in their hour of need. And their prayers are, indeed, answered, just not by the divine beasts in person.

The 14 Lunar Mansions that belong to the Azure Dragon and White Tiger descended from the sky, summoned by their masters, though they seemed to have been given different orders.

Namely, the Azure Dragon 7 spread out to guard all the major city gates, letting no one enter or leave, while the White Tiger 7 are ordered to round up all the residents and start setting up a teleportation formation.

Soon afterwards, Nezha arrived in the midst of the chaos. He is just as clueless as to what was going on as the Monkie Kid gang, but the moment he caught sight of SWK and friends, he's after them in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, Li Jing is not happy about the Lunar Mansions suddenly acting without his orders, and commanded them to stand down or be arrested for insubordination.

"With all due respect, Devaraja Li——" Before the Moon Fox Star could finish her sentence, another stellar beast stepped forth, his tiger tail swishing behind him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Results: most of the Azure Dragon 7 get sucked into his pagoda, but while they were fighting, the White Tiger 7's formation activated, teleporting the majority of the city residents to god knows where.

While shit was hitting the fan, Tang hurriedly teleported the gang away, right into the sanctuary of the divine beasts——an underground temple.

"It's over, Mengzhang. Now that the Harbinger is on our doorsteps, and your pet mortals are safe at the cost of our loyal warriors, will you finally rest easy?" "Not...yet. There are still...stragglers, left behind." "Stragglers you have doomed yourself! Their fate is sealed the moment you cast your mirage over their ancestors and create this little utopia, frozen in time." The cracks on the tiger's body widened. A thick layer of condensation began forming on the metal reliefs, as if the very walls of the temple were weeping. "I should have never agreed to stay and help." "Yet you...still did. And I'm so glad you are here."

Yep, in this fix-it, I decide to use the Azure Dragon & White Tiger for some thematic parallels, with them basically repeating Nvwa and the Pillar of Heaven on a smaller scale.

The former created a garden city in the middle of the desert, while the latter uses his power to provide the water source that sustains the city (because Metal births Water).

As the end approaches, however, they are faced with the problem of ensuring the city residents' safety, since, upon their death, the entire oasis will revert to a desert overnight.

The White Tiger feels like there's no point in trying anything, since their death means the Harbinger will fulfill his destiny soon and give the world a reboot.

But the Azure Dragon insists on channeling his power into the land until the very last possible moment, so that the people's last memories will be a mundane, peaceful one.

Besides, they know very well that Fate and Destiny are no longer ironclad, when the very laws of reality are breaking down. How, then, can he be sure that the cycle will end and the world will be reforged as Nvwa intended, seeing that its premature beginning is already an outlier?

After a long argument, they had reached an uneasy compromise. Thus, the chaotic arrival of the Lunar Mansions and the hurried evacuation of the residents.

"You will understand, won't you, Harbinger?" The dragon looked into his eyes. "Even if you know it's selfish and futile, that you can't keep them safe forever, you are still going to give your all, just so their happy days will last a little longer..." "It is easy for Brother Jianbing to say, let go, face your end with honor. For Metal is the clashes of blades, the unforgiving axe of executioners." "I? This old fool just saw lives. Of men and women, children and elderly folks. And I cannot stand by and watch them wither."

MK nodded quietly, feeling Mei's worried, "are you not telling me something" glance on the back of his head. He reached out a hand, and the two divine beasts press their foreheads together.

The dragon faded away in a rain of falling leaves and petals, and when the Purple Color Stone hit the ground, nothing remains of the tiger but a thin layer of silvery, metallic sand on the floor.

Appendix: Inside the Pagoda

The fix-it is mostly over at this point, so the following is just me adding some additional worldbuilding and foreshadowing to MK's solution in E10, to make the whole "giving powers to everyone" thing a little less out of left field.

In the previous section, it was mentioned that a bunch of Lunar Mansions end up inside Li Jing's pagoda too. And when MK and friends run across them, they are in a pretty bad state.

Namely, the same cracks they see on the divine beasts are now appearing on the Lunar Mansions' bodies too.

"Isn't it obvious? Our masters are no more, so we now bear the brunt of the weight that was once on their shoulders..." "And are on our way of being crushed to a pancake." "Very tactful, aren't you?" The one-horned man sighed. "But yes. Lord Mengzhang is a stellar beast too——the greatest of all. He is a constellation, while we are merely the stars that make up the dragon's body, embued with a tiny fraction of his power." "And when the very sky of the East has fallen..." "How can the stars remain unscathed?"

After that, they basically exit the scene to fade away offscreen. But the information they revealed plants the seed of an idea in MK: specifically, that the Color Stones' power (and burden) can be shared between multiple individuals, like what happened at the end of E10.

Also, tiny fix: instead of MK learning the circlet spell outta nowhere, he's gonna tap into the power of the Color Stones during his fight with SWK, just like he did during Xuanwu's trial, to buy enough time to make his sacrifice.

[majorasnightmare]

being so fr i genuinely think that the dead three are an excellent case study in Divine Madness

like im not well versed in forgotten realms lore by ANY means but i DO enjoy veering into headcanon worldbuilding territory sooo. take everything with a grain of salt and only keep what u feel like skdjskdjsnfj

we all know bhaal is like. kind of COMICALLY self destructive and stupid, shooting his pawns in the foot at the drop of a hat seemingly just for the sake of pointless cruelty, and is obsessed with murder even to the point of sacrificing his other domain of ritualized death for the purpose of killing the world (orin should NOT be as penalized as she is for how strictly she does in fact adhere to bhaal's doctrine). and while this can be explained as differences in writers portrayal and sympathy for the character of bhaal (larian in particular seems to take a dim view of bhaal, and of gods in general), spinning it into a consistent character is a fun writing challenge

and personally i think its just a long form example of how mortal minds are not innately prepared for the leap of being an autonomous individual capable of making personal decisions and having complicated nuanced feelings about a variety of ideologies to becoming a Conceptual Embodiment responsible for a fundamental force present in the world at large. like you stop BEING a person, you stop being able to change your opinions on certain things because... well, you ARE those things. can the wind stop feeling like the wind?

so bhaal achieves divinity and inherits aspects of jergal and it utterly rends his mind asunder. his erratic behavior is a result of his human mind trying to cope with divine power, and so its no surprise that he turns to that same coping method many angry dissatisfied violent people turn to: familial abuse. bhaal has a direct line of connection through blood ties to his spawn, and its a line he can draw on whenever he pleases to influence their behavior or communicate with them. every progeny hears him as clear as a cleric, regardless of their will or feelings towards him, as long as that blood connection remains. its why hes so obsessed with producing spawn despite being a god of murder: on a personal level, he embodies those cycles of abuse and how they keep perpetuating themselves, not as a divine aspect but as a personal choice as a result of his own actions and the consequences bhaal experiences. on a broader scale, you CANT redeem bhaal, not just because he is an evil aligned god of murder, but because redemption would require bhaal to meaningfully confront that his ambition to pursue divinity has ruined his life, and that temporary relief like exerting power over his family cant actually solve the core problem that he isnt actually capable of handling the power and responsibility he sought out. so he would prefer to keep driving his spawn to slaughter and self destruction and ruining his own schemes because that maintains the illusion of bhaal being an influential powerful deity in control of his emotions. the success of his schemes actually doesnt matter nearly as much as that illusion.

it doesnt matter that the dark urge was on the brink of achieving his self described final goal of killing the world, because they acted outside of his control through allying with a baneite and enacted a scheme they came up with themselves. it doesnt matter that bhaal explicitly encouraged orin to betray them, bhaals goals are falling short of success so the dark urge needs to get it together and finish the scheme they started in his name. this is an absolute nonsense train of logic, because your punished twice over, first for making a plan that benefits bhaal, and then AGAIN for BEING PUNISHED THE FIRST TIME! if the end goal was actually achieving the death of the world via the absolute, this is a totally fucking stupid way of going about it, but it makes sense as an extension of an abusers inability to cope with life stressors outside of inflicting abuse.

we need to remember that there is no inherent series of personality traits that defines an abuser, only actions. there is no circumstances that make an abuser an abuser, and there is nothing a victim does to justify or deserve abuse. an abuser acts like they do because abuse benefits and rewards them, and they are unwilling to actually surrender those benefits to treat their victims with the dignity they deserve, because thats difficult and hard and not as immediately rewarding. and generally, the most common reward for abuse is stress relief. abusing a victim feels good for the abuser, it relieves anger, it passes blame away from them onto a subject they can act on (instead of taking personal responsibility or acknowledging depersonalized systemic forces), it relieves stress, its an exercise of power and control in a world where those things are not easily accessible. understanding bhaal as an abuser provides the thread of consistency that makes a series of incoherent actions and reasonings reflect a mindset a person could conceivably have, and the stress he is trying to relieve has an easy source in the form of the very divinity bhaal sought after so greedily

to a lesser extent, this aspect of ruining divinity is, i feel, present in all three of them, its just that bhaals manifestation of it is exceptionally explosive and violent. bane seems completely and utterly consumed by his aspect of tyranny, to the extent that little remains of his personality that isnt a cunning, ambitious power seeking manipulator who accrues and hoards power at all costs, even consuming his son in his entirety for his own resurrection. that myrkul inherited so much of jergals portfolio and has increasingly mimicked jergals personality is no coincidence. the three adventurers who challenged jergal all those centuries ago have been annhilated utterly, the people they once were swallowed entirely within their divine aspects. its ruined all of them, to varying degrees, but its bhaals obsession with maintaining himself at any cost, his awareness of his own precarious position and tenuous grip on his own divinity that has him acting out so aggressively