#xcom au

[mwolf0epsilon]

Not me for real having ideas for a Star Wars XCOM AU where clones are still a thing and the Jedi (and a select few clones) are Psi Operatives...

[rollforrandom]

I just want to point out, XCOM doesn't really play out like we are bunch of veteran soldiers hamd-picked to save humanity. It really feels like we are given the oddball and scraps of various militaries. I mean, if the Skyranger existed, it would be mass produced by the US military industrial complex to replace the Chinook. Odds are, it was a one-off experimental prototype that was overengineered and overcooked, then "gifted" to XCOM when the invasion hit. And the interceptors? Probably just F-15s with fancy upgrades cause they're cheap and can launch from a vertical footprint. All the soldiers are rookies cause they're the ones that volunteered, or got voluntold.

[xcommatriarch]

First day on the job, for god's sake, Victor!!

[anaveragedisaster]

Some lore for the reimagined non-XCOM Resistance factions in my Nine Sols/Xcom 2 crossover thing I'm calling the Solcom AU

(By the way, I'm not sure how much the fandoms for these games overlap. I'll try my best to keep things understandable to non-xcom players.)

The Reapers: Similarly to their XCOM version, they're a loose group of guerrilla fighters that live in the wilderness, away from Sol-controlled cities. I don't think it's confirmed anywhere in the OG game's lore, but in this version, they definitely formed out of old-world prepper groups. Instead of using guns, they've elected to go especially primal and use combat bows.

Their leader, so to speak, is Shennong. He's still one of the humans who was abducted and brought to New Kunlun's Apeman Facility to be experimented on. Over the years, the others were successfully brainwashed and genetically modified to be loyal to the Sols, people who could be presented to the public as ideal citizens of the Solarian-ruled Earth (instead of being a disguised alien, the Propaganda Speaker from XCOM 2 would be one of these humans). Shennong, despite being subjected to the same treatments, remains the paranoid, anti-social guy we know. Luckily, either Eigong or Goumang chose to keep him around as a (probably) harmless anomaly they could observe. However, one day he got fed up enough to break out of the livestock pen and, through sheer luck, made it off New Kunlun and into Earth's wilderness, where he was discovered by the Reapers. They were obviously sceptical of him at first, but his conspiracy theorist personality and his ability to create booze out of random stuff he eats wins them over.

Some of the more devoted fighters have even begun to follow his example and eat poisonous animals and plants they find or grow (in small amounts, obviously), which in gameplay would give them immunity against poison and/or other negative status effects.

Once XCOM has made proper contact with the Reapers, Yi and Shennong hit it off over their shared drinking habit. From then on, XCOM can find and pick up both exotic poisons to trade to him, as well as different types of booze from all over the world that he and Yi can enjoy together.

The Skirmishers (will probably change the name, but haven't thought of one yet): In XCOM 2, they were part of ADVENT's genetically altered army that broke free of their mind control. Similarly, here they're soldiers from the biomechanical army, primarily the Red Tiger Legion, that somehow gained sentience and went rogue. I'm not quite set on how they would be in combat compared to game Skirmishers, though they definitely have their grappling hooks.

Their leader is obviously Chiyou. He made it off New Kunlun soon after it landed and began wandering the Earth, marvelling at its beauty and cultures. Once he encountered other self-aware robots, he happily joined up with them, helping them comprehend their newfound state of freedom with his philosophies. Their primary goal now is to keep their freedom, while helping any other Solarian weapons find theirs. Their storyline would involve XCOM having to destroy Xingtian (probably multiple times, like in the actual game) to put him out of his mindless misery.

There's also a group of geno-soldier scholars that has grown to share Chiyou's appreciation for art and belief in nonviolence. Yi's XCOM can find and give their little circle various artistic works to safeguard and contemplate over (though they've promised to return them once peace and freedom have been restored)

The Neo-Fangshi (aka solcom!Templars): Once the Fusang's roots had spread throughout the world, it didn't take long for humans to start developing or even getting born with a connection to it, much like Heng. Some have even accessed the Limitless Realm and witnessed the great Tao. This has led to a revival of Taoist beliefs in places across the Earth, something the Sols haven't been too happy about due to their science-centric worldview.

Geist (I might change his name as well), in this AU, developed a particularly strong connection to the Limitless Realm, catching glimpses of Lear and his younger warrior form. From records the Sols had made public to humans, he learned about Lear's accomplishments as a scientist and fighter and was inspired to follow in his footsteps. Geist and like-minded 'gifted' humans decided that the power the original Fangshi gained from the Limitless Realm isn't to be ignored like the Sols are seemingly doing. Their New Fangshi guild is dedicated to both using advanced technology and cultivating their qi abilities to become more powerful, so that they may one day bring down the Sols' regime and bring humanity into a new era themselves.

Geist's ambitions are challenged somewhat towards the end of the story (which I've been able to develop somewhat), when XCOM raids Kunlun's Grotto of Scriptures and retrieves the holorecording of his dear Lear's Declaration of Inaction, which Yi gives to him. Soon after, both of them are summoned to the Limitless Realm, where Geist gets to properly meet Lear for the first time. The old master lectures them on what being a Taoist actually means, including telling his story about the Demon Dog. This is even more sobering to Geist, who begins to realize that, with how power hungry most of them are, he, like Lear long ago, may have to put down his fellow Fangshi if there is to be lasting peace after the Sols are defeated.

In terms of fighting style, the Fangshi are like XCOM 2 Templars, whose style in turn is incidentally a lot like Yi's style in his game (which is what inspired me to make them Fangshi like him here). Both use basically magic (psionic energy and qi/rhizomatic energy, respectively) to conjure blades for attacking and to avoid damage through parrying. So yeah.

[etherealvoidechoes]

The idea of writing Kon-Ris(Hunter) during his early years once he was fully ready to serve the Elders is an extremely distant idea, I have on my mind he wasn’t as flippant towards the Elders in the beginning.

He was more loyal but not fanatical like Dhay-Vol(Warlock), but definitely had his cocksure attitude.

Thinking of a mixture of the years he served, a few incidents where the Reapers got the leg up on him and ‘killed’ him, and a few spats with Dhay-Vol(both at fault), started undoing the indoctrination and some memory rewrites for him, so he sees through the Elders hypocritical bullshit and other nonsense. Slowly, the defiance begins here and there, but not too much since punishment from the Elders is not fun. Though part of him wishes those punishments would either kill him or accidentally set him free, so some days he pushes his luck. And those punishments makes that quiet voice a little louder for some days and brings forth feelings that unnerve him.

Then combine that with his attitude and his skills leads to him growing bored and letting the Reapers survive much longer than they should have since they kept life interesting, killed alien and ADVENT annoying the Elders more, and were the reason why he was created. If they’re all gone, what are the Elders going to do to him? Being melted down for his DNA would be nice but he has a feeling they may shove him into stasis and work on ‘fixing’ his mind so he can be a proper tool and he doesn’t want to get dragged off to the next planet in the Elders sights or the future war the Elders will wage with whatever is hunting them.

[becauseplot]

I don't know if you remember her backstory I typed up a while back, but yeah... Tallulah has never in her life been safe or happy, and Chayanne has only just discovered these things, and he wants to give her the universe. That's his brain-friend and little sister! She's been hunted most of her life and he'll stab you if you hurt her! But also he's sharing his dads because sometimes the monsters are too tall. Best Big Brother.

And yeah! Egg classes! They do also have stuff like reading, writing, and maths, but their education is extremely casual and all over. Especially as it doubles up as daycare. Main eggs range from about 11 (Chayanne) to 2 (Trump) in terms of development, and then there's A1/Allie who is in her late teens to look at but only about 3 months old, and because of speed growth both mental and physical development are a mess. So, education is very, very all over. Just whatever the adults fancy teaching. It's the likes of Pac and Mike and Cellbit who insist someone has to teach them maths and reading and writing hardest (AKA the ones who didn't get education themselves...), though everyone shares the burden of unfun subjects.

And writing this I realise this Cellbit probably had an extremely bad reading ability most of his life. He remembers a bit of the skill from before the amnesia, like he does many skills (unlike say Quackity's amnesia where he lost reading and maths and stuff too), but... He still had to piece it all back together. And even then his skill was only that of a 10 year old. It's good now! And he teaches the kids to read and does silly voices when he does storytime for them (Pac e Mike do maths, but also baking powder volcano type science). But... it's a skill he had to fight for. Mostly alone. The prison did force him into some education programs, but it was mostly just them ticking legal requirement boxes not actually helping him with it. Felps almost certainly also helped, but yeeeeeah. I bet for his birthday Pac and Mike are trying to find and steal him a set of literary classics and the sort of stuff you study at school as he never had the chance to do any of those. Those two at least remember the schooling they did, and made it to 13/15 which is more than Cellbit's 10, even if not enough!!!

Sorry got distracted by thoughts of like... the blorbos.

Loving the thoughts about the blorbos!! Give me all of the distracted thoughts about the blorbos!!!!!

First of all yes bestest big brother Chayanne! Beloveds <3

The classes thing is so fucking cute holy shit. And makes sense who's advocating for the Essentials the most, given their circumstances (everyone just wants better for the kids than they got themselves I'm ;-;). The ideas about Cellbit, Pac, and Mike's educations pre-everything is just so goddamned *bangs fist on table /pos* (Rrrrr that's what I love about your worldbuilding and character-crafting so much it's those little details!! They mean so much. Love love love this series so much you've no idea.)

I imagine those classes with the kids are also a nice kind of break from the craziness of ykno: alien invasions, dangerous missions, constant threat of death or annihilation or Worse hanging over their heads. Stressed out of your mind about your impending doom? Go wrangle the kids into a lesson about photosynthesis. Do finger painting with them with whatever paints you've got. Demonstrate how to use a socket wrench. Help them bake something nice to eat. Show them how to write their names. Read a book with them and help them sound out the big words. Teach them phrases in your mother tongue, and then teach them about the country you came from, and then teach them about the continents, and then teach them about the planet. Sketch the solar system with a sharpie on the back of an old mission report and draw a little arrow to the circle labeled "Earth" and tell them we are here and this is our home. Answer their million-billion questions and remember what exactly it is you're fighting for.

[elecman108]

me: I can remember the exact intricacies of what frames I can superguard in TTYD and how exactly to consistently do a frame perfect hazard respawn in order to acquire stuff early such as Ms Mowz, a fresh pasta, or put Mario in a train-based purgatory much akin to the Emmet of the Pokemon Legends Arceus timeline where his brother got yoinked into feudal japan out of nowhere by god for shits and giggles.

also me: what fucking movie had the two creepy twins in it (it was The Shining. like. its one of the most famous horror movies. how could I forget.)

ALSO also me: hehe I have (genuinely) over 350 OCs :)

[heljay]

Doodles Echo just to draw his AU self (compared to his standard og Sectoid self)

I've gotten used to the XCOM 2 Sectoids but I like the original skin colour for them and will therefore put it on my OC (same with the eyes, I like how they glow internally)

[purple-nautilus]

the xcom au again, but with snek!76

Hey look I drew viper

[factorialsotherfandoms]

Fanfic Masterlist - Desconjuração

Below the cut is a list of my fanfic for the thirs season of Ordem Paranormal, Desconjuração. They are listed by episode. Once you have finished the related episode, there are no longer spoilers for you.

This is where we start getting long and into multi-season AUs. At least one might be getting it's own post, we'll see. Gotta finish these first.

AOP [Link!] OSNF [Link!] OPD [YOU ARE HERE] OPC (part 1) [Link!] OSNI [coming soon] SDOL [coming soon] OPQ [coming soon] OPNM [coming soon]

Episode 1

Darkness Flies, All Is Light (Canon-Adjacent) Between seasons, Arthur has nightmares and joins Cesar about it. A Christmas gift. Characters: Arthur Cevero, Cesar Oliveira Cohen Rating: T Words: 471 Warnings: Nightmares Summary:

A few weeks after Santo Berço, Arthur finds himself drifting towards Cesar's room.

Gifts (Canon-Adjacent) Arthur and Agatha conspire to wish Veríssimo a happy birthday Characters: Agatha Volkomenn, Arthur Cevero, Senhor Veríssimo Rating: G Words: 617 Warnings: N/A Summary:

September 11th, and Veríssimo works in his office.

And The Only Things Left Are The Stars (Canon-Adjacent) Erin character study. Characters: Erin Parker, Jonathan Parker Rating: G Words: 382 Warnings: referenced backstory character death, grief Summary:

The stars are the stars, and the Parkers have always loved them

Tea and Consequences (xcom au) Shenanigans in an au I've written nothing else for yet Characters: Arthur Cevero, Joui Jouki Rating: G Words: 727 Warnings: referenced injury Summary:

Yesterday, Arthur, Liz, Kaiser, and Thiago conspired to make sure Joui did not go on a specific mission. Now, as the only one who had both been on the mission and has escaped the infirmary, Arthur must smooth over the consequences. (near future sci-fi-ish paranormal invasion au based heavily on xcom2, but hopefully makes enough sense alone)

Episode 2

Forget Me No More (Canon Adjacent) Joui dreams of losing everything all over again. Characters: Joui Jouki, Arthur Cevero, Kaiser Rating: NR Words: 2,137 Warnings: dysfunctional family relationships, gore, violence, nightmare character death Summary:

A nightmare, and a phonecall.

Episode 3

N/A

Episode 4

Of You, At My Side (Canon-Adjacent) Little Luciano study, set pre-OPD. Written for the prompt: ritual Characters: Luciano Carvalho, Leonardo Gomes Rating: M Words: 947 Warnings: hospital, terminal illness Summary:

Luciano makes a choice

Episode 5

N/A

Episode 6

To Hold Your Hand (Canon-Adjacent) Liz, and Thiago, at the end of all things. Characters: Elizabeth Webber, Thiago Fritz Rating: T Words: 300 Warnings: Choose Not To Warn Summary:

3 drabbles about death, and what comes after.

The Last Snowfall (Canon-Adjacent) Nina and her bullies. Written for prompt: Snow Characters: Nina, Henri, Gal, Nubi Rating: M Words: 250 Warnings: Major Character Death, Violence Against Children Summary:

Nina has never seen snow before.

Episode 7

Intercession (Canon-Adjacent) Johnny and Rubens, immediately following the end of episode 7. This one is a favourite of mine. Characters: Johnny Tabasco, Rubens Naluti Rating: NR Words: 3,229 Warnings: Major injuries, hospitals, broken bones, electrical injuries Summary:

Leaving Erin and Fernando to their investigation, Rubens and Johnny discuss what comes next Alternatively Johnny does the responsible thing, and drags Rubens (and himself) to a hospital

Cleaning Up (Canon-Adjacent) So the whole numbers written on people is deeply invasive and squicky, right? Especially the eyelids. Characters: Rubens Naluti, Johnny Tabasco Rating: T Words: 991 Warnings: hospitals, mild eye squick Summary:

Early November, and the numbers are still on Rubens' eyes.

Sychronise (Canon-Adjacent) Two weirdos does not an easy friendship make. Sometime pre-canon, they had to work for it. Characters: Johnny Tabasco, Rubens Naluti Rating: T Words: 3,466 Warnings: Miscommunication Summary:

Making friends with someone unfortunately requires a combination of time, mutual effort, and the ability to even comprehend where their level is. (Alternatively - 3 weeks into working together, Johnny and Rubens have yet to work out how to make their situation viable. The fact that Johnny is recovering from an injury isn't helping things, either.)

Pink, White, and Black (Canon-Adjacent) About Johnny's coffee preferences, via prankage Characters: Johnny Tabasco, Rubens Naluti Rating: T Words: 1,772 Warnings: crimes against coffee Summary:

Johnny, Rubens, an all-night research session, and coffee.

Trembling Fear (Canon-Adjacent) Rubens' greatest fear is drowning, right...? Characters: Rubens Naluti, Johnny Tabasco Rating: T Words: 1,146 Warnings: Drowning, Major Injury, Vomitting Summary:

Rubens, trapped on a bridge, surrounded, and unable to swim.

Sand (Canon-Adjacent) A fragment of Rubens and Johnny camping while on a mission Characters: Johnny Tabasco, Rubens Naluti Rating: G Words: 529 Warnings: N/A Summary:

Johnny heats soup, and Rubens tries to upgrade a radio

Don't Ask For Much (Canon-Adjacent) Mission mornings back when anonymity was paramount. Characters: Johnny Tabasco Rating: T Words: 340 Warnings: N/A Summary:

Four in the morning, some time in 2005

Nine O'Clock On A Saturday (Canon-Adjacent) Sometime years ago, Johnny does paperwork in a hotel bar Characters: Johnny Tabasco Rating: T Words: 918 Warnings: N/A Summary:

Johnny Tabasco and a hotel common room, sometime between then and now.

Episode 8

Heed No Call To Die (Canon-Adjacent) Erin and her grandmother, a little before canon, written for the prompt signal. Characters: Erin Parker Rating: G Words: 100 Warnings: None Summary:

Erin comes home from a mission to find her grandfather's radio turned on.

Episode 9

N/A

Episode 10

Dandelion and I ( @becauseplot 's Cyber!AU) A much later part of curly's cyber!au, the first part of which is found here. Cute Erin/Joui stuff, with background Joui/Cesar (he is bi and confused) Characters: Joui Jouki, Erin Parker Rating: G Words: 673 Warnings: dehumanisation Summary:

"Joui" finds an incorrect flower in Miss Beatrice's garden, and reports the anomaly to Miss Erin.

Episode 11

My Best Friend (Canon-Divergent) Erin, Luciano, and grief. Divergent only because I wrote it half way through this episode Characters: Erin Parker, Luciano Carvalho Rating: T Words: 600 Warnings: Discussion of character death Summary:

Erin and Luciano talk after Tristan's death.

Episode 12

N/A

Episode 13

N/A

Episode 14

N/A

Episode 15

N/A

Episode 16

N/A

Episode 17

N/A

Episode 18

N/A

Episode 19

N/A

Episode 20

Lights, Take Me Home (Canon-Divergent) #### Lives AU, pt1. The rest of the au has OPC spoilers. Characters: Arthur Cevero, Ivete Beicur, Kaiser Rating: T Words: 3,472 Warnings: Grief, Panic Summary:

Hours after events at the Orphanage, Arthur finds something unexpected on his doorstep.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (Canon-Divergent) Disconnected canon-divergent au where Kaiser and Joui and Arthur all get out. Characters: Arthur Cevero, Joui Jouki, Kaiser Rating: G Words: 400 Warnings: N/A Summary:

Kaiser gets home late, and checks on his family.

He Comes To Make His Blessings Flow (Canon-Adjacent) Arnaldo Fritz as the orphanage's gift fairy Characters: Arnaldo Fritz, Gal Rating: G Words: 615 Warnings: N/A Summary:

Senhor Fritz delivers a gift to the orphanage for Gal's birthday.

Tit for Tat (Canon-Adjacent) Teenage Gal/Dante Characters: Dante, Gal Rating: T Words: 293 Warnings: N/A Summary:

When Dante was still Gaspar, making arrangements with Gal was second nature to them both.

Maybe This Time (Canon-Adjacent) Danarthur unhealthy work habits ship fic. Characters: Dante, Arthur Cevero Rating: G Words: 390 Warnings: N/A Summary:

Dante promised to take an evening away from his work. Arthur catches him with his notes regardless.

Revelando

Put On Your Doll Faces (Canon-Adjacent) If you don't care for the revelando, episode 7. Eva van Gloss childhood character study (yes, the archaeologist from osnf). Prompt: Orphanage Characters: Eva van Gloss, Johnny Tabasco Rating: M Words: 1,190 Warnings: Child Abuse Summary:

Eva, a boy, and some bandages she stole in the name of thanking him for a rescue.

[rollforrandom]

I know the "Canon" is that XCOM failed in the first 1-2 months of the invasion, but does anyone else feel that's not -quite- the case? Hear me out:

The ADVENT mechs look very similar in design to the MEC trooper from EW, minus the actual person in it. This could just be standard mech design/reused assets, but it makes sense if the Elders found that humans had made something useful with MELD, they would take it for their own purposes.

The ADVENT troopers use magnetic weapons, which while not fully Canon to EU/EW (the main one was the railgun for MEC troopers), are rather prominent in Long war, a mod that helped inspire aspects of XCOM 2 and whose development worked with/for the actual game studio when XCOM2 was developed. But why would ADVENT use a weapon like that if they have plasma? Cause XCOM already designed it. It was cheaper, designed for humans, by humans, and coopted by aliens

Bradford's forces are too well organized at the start of XCOM 2. They have a WHOL ALIEN SHIP, with a launchable drops hip? That's not something that just "goes missing" without repercussions. Especially if we get stomped into the dirt with no resistance in 2 months. This feels like an opportunity was taken while the world was still in turmoil, fighting was going on, and XCOM grabbed what it could while the aliens were suppressing major dissonance across the globe. Something that according to the elder, didn't happen. And we all know we can trust them /s

This is all just theory and hypothetical. But I am really into that rn, especially other theories like "The commander/player is actually the Ethereal from the Bureau" level of theory. Tell me if you agree/disagree/want to hear more rambling.

[xcommatriarch]

Haha Victor brainrot goes brrrrrrr

[anaveragedisaster]

I've been thinking of how a Nine Sols story set on a modern Earth would play out, as one does.

So far I've had two ideas. One's a follow up to the Shooting Star ending that involves the Solarian ship used by Kuafu and the Apemen getting unearthed that I might post separately about if I can actually get my thoughts in order. The other is basically 'what if New Kunlun showed up in the Solar system in our time.'

The thing is, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Solarians/Sols and the Ethereals from the Xcom games. Both are technologically advanced civilizations being driven to extinction by a disease and have invaded Earh to harvest humans in their efforts to find a cure, all the while presenting themselves as benevolent gods to those humans.

So now I've spent a considerable amount of time brainstorming how a Nine Sols and Xcom crossover au / total conversion mod would look like lore- and gameplay-wise. Here's the setup:

After realizing that the sapients on the Pale Blue planet are more advanced and numerous than initial images from the Haotian Sphere suggested (though still primitive by Solarian standards), the Tiandao council decides that instead of abducting a few hundred (or however many Apemen there were on Kunlun in canon) and leaving the rest of the species to fend for themselves in an ice age caused by the Fusang blocking sunlight, they'd colonize the planet proper. Not only would this make it easier for them to access their precious livestock. In their minds, it would also only be fair, even noble of them to uplift the remainder of the species with their science (or at least it's how the Sols that aren't Jiequan cope with the abject atrocities their plan involves).

For their invasion, they bring along a larger number of the biomechanical soldiers we see in the game, a fleet of Yuanbao ships (which do kind of look like flying saucers and by extension the xcom UFOs), as well as unseen warmachines from the Turbulent Era.

Right before Kunlun launches, like in canon, Yi discovers the secret behind Tianhuo and is murdered by Eigong.

After warping to the Solar system, the Sols spend maybe a few years preparing for the invasion, during which they abduct some humans to more thoroughly study what they're like. The actual invasion goes the way it does in XCOM 2 canon, with the Sols defeating any resistance and creating their worldwide regime (I haven't thought what it would be called yet, but it wouldn't be something as western as ADVENT). The date New Kunlun makes landfall on Earth is celebrated like Unification Day at the start of XCOM 2. Though I haven't decided whether it should be situated in the middle of the Pacific like the Etherals' facility or somewhere closer to land.

Instead of XCOM 2's Psionic network, there's a Rhizomatic/Fusang network created by the spread of Fusang roots from Kunlun throughout the Earth, generating clean energy and allowing for communication and maybe even teleportation due to their connection with the Limitless Realm.

The Gene therapy clinics are still a thing in this version of the story. We know Solarians in canon did gene modding. The Apemen were modified and the reason Tianhuo even exists is because Eigong tried to make Solarians genetically immortal. Like in XCOM 2, the clinics are also used to disappear an increasing number of humans, to be harvested for their brains, as well as biomass for Jiequan's transmutation factories and after a certain point, for Eigong's experiments with Tianhuo and the Tianhuo mutation.

As for Tianhuo itself, it is obviously kept secret from the humans. The official narrative as to why most Solarians are still in cryosleep is that humanity still needs to be 'raised' some more before they are ready to mingle with such an advanced species. The few non-Sols that have been woken up to help administer the planet are ones Eigong's made sure are loyal to her and even then, still closely monitored so they don't reveal anything.

Again, like in XCOM canon, at a certain point, survivors of the invasion led by Bradford get together to reform XCOM to start a guerrilla war against the Sols, steal an alien ship to use as a mobile base etc, etc. But no matter what they do, they can't seem to find the Commander. It's at this point that Yi wakes up.

Because Yi becomes the Commander in this au.

Instead of getting revived on New Kunlun, the Fusang roots, which stretch across the Earth now, spit him out in rural China. He's found and nursed back to health by Shuanshuan, whose parents left to get gene therapy in a city center some time ago but haven't been heard of since (the local representative insisted that they decided to stay, since the Sols make sure life is so much better there and as soon as there's an available spot, Shuanshuan will be able to join them).

At this point, I'm split on some key details. An idea I have is that initially, the roots revive Yi in a human disguise, specifically as a dead ringer for the missing Commander. This would make it easier for the rest of XCOM to trust him at the start, but would cause interesting conflict later (plus it would be so wonderfully karmic for him to have to be one of the humans he condemned into the role of cattle, and also I like me some TF in my fanfic). However, I'm worried about the effect this would have on Yi's and Shuanshuan's relationship. We know he's older than he looks in Solarian form, but still not that much older, so them as brothers still works. The Commander would have to be an older human, so if he looked like that, it'd start feeling less like a brotherhood and more like a father-son thing, which I'm not sure I want.

Otherwise, he'd claim he's a random defecting Solarian, demonstrating his hatred for the Sols in some way that convinces the humans to let him join them (though his getting the Commander's role is harder to justify in this case).

Either way, Shuanshuan refuses to part from Yi and is begrudgingly let on board the Avenger (which Yi realizes is his former personal transport and research ship, even being partly modelled after his Pavilion back on Kunlun). Either way, Yi gets to witness the devastation caused by the colonization that he masterminded and to work to dismantle it.

I haven't fully thought up how the rest of the story would play out, what the missions would be like and whatnot.

One thing I want there to be is XCOM being the one to discover an actual cure for Tianhuo, preferably through a method that combines science and the supernatural power of the Limitless realm. I like the sci-fi trope where humanity is the key element in figuring out something important, even when more advanced civilisations are involved. And I know that accepting the inevitability of the Solarians' extinction is a main theme in 9s, but it would also be fitting and nice if genuine help from humans (instead of them as cattle) proved to be the salvation not only for Yi, but for all remaining Solarians, giving them some hope.

Though Yi still gets to die heroically at the end and reunite with Heng within the infinite Tao, as a treat.

I''ve got more ideas about this that I want to share, but am too tired to rn. As a final note for now: Advent Burgers (or a differently named equivalent) are also very much a thing in this au and are enjoyed by both humans and awoken Solarians.

[etherealvoidechoes]

Commander Base Locations for My AUs

Just a little thing that’s popped into my head again concerning my(and friendo that helps) Commanders.

A little, “I’m pulling stuff from the og X-COM: UFO Defense” for my fics of having multiple bases across the world as the Invasion went on. Each one started a little smaller than the Main HQ, but in due time would match its size and power. The default for me across all Commanders (unless stated otherwise) is that the Main HQ will be in the United States.

Main AUverse:

Main HQ - United States//Colorado(ish) -  Commander Jynn Gresham Reeves

Base 2 - China//Hunan - Sub-Commander Kamon Áki Anker

Base 3 - Africa//Nigeria - Sub-Commander Thaddeus Seaver

Base 4 - South Australia//The Outback - Old Opal Mines - Sub-Commander Elli Shadiin Amano Antonov-Ferro

—

AU 1:

Main HQ - United States//Colorado(ish) - Commander Thaddeus Seaver

Base 2 - China//Hunan - Sub-Commander Elli Shadiin Amano Antonov-Ferro

Base 3 - Africa//Nigeria - Sub-Commander Jynn Gresham Reeves 

Base 4 - South Australia//The Outback - Old Opal Mines -  Sub-Commander Kamon Áki Anker

—

AU 2:

Main HQ - United States//Colorado(ish) - Commander Kamon Áki Anker

Base 2 - China//Hunan - Sub-Commander Jynn Gresham Reeves 

Base 3 - Africa//Nigeria - Sub-Commander Elli Shadiin Amano Antonov-Ferro 

Base 4 - South Australia//The Outback - Old Opal Mines - Sub-Commander Thaddeus Seaver

—

AU 3:

Main HQ - United States//Colorado(ish) - Commander Elli Shadiin Amano Antonov-Ferro

Base 2 - China//Hunan - Sub-Commander Thaddeus Seaver

Base 3 - Africa//Nigeria - Sub-Commander Kamon Áki Anker

Base 4 - South Australia//The Outback - Old Opal Mines - Sub-Commander Jynn Gresham Reeves 

[savior-of-humanity]

art dump under the read-more since i havent had the energy to write lately but still wanna post something

xcom ethereal redesign

elder thing + deep one

average stellaris playthrough (real) (factual)

random OC that came to mind w/ extra (WEIRD!!!) art

y'shua expression study

spyro stuff

five pebbles but if it was a halo au

[becauseplot]

A gift of a handful (tumblr character limited me) xcomau species notes! Specifically flaws. avians - weak to poison gas, certain broken bones can cause suffocation in people with specific traits. fish-folk - can't get gills dry, wounds there cause big complications. spider - if balance gets fucked, it's super fucked. balance on 2 legs not 8, but don't have as many as 8... cats - prone to overstimulation especially light, reduced depth perception. ~Factorial

ooohohoohhoohhhhh. the whump potential is enormous for this let me tell you.