Random Banter #239 - Now 50% more tangible!

[LaZodiac]

Sorry, I forgot the ""

Ah.

In interested! Especially if it's embarrassing!

Well it's not embarrassing, sorry.

I'm working on Hidden Embers, obviously.
I'm also working off and on on two stories that take place further in the past- one in knight times, one not, to refresh.
I'm also doing a story for the 99 Fleeting Fiction anthology. Probably won't get in because I'm bad at writing but I said I'd do the first writing opportunity that came my way, so... I did.

[Anonymouswizard]

Well it's not embarrassing, sorry.

I'm working on Hidden Embers, obviously.
I'm also working off and on on two stories that take place further in the past- one in knight times, one not, to refresh.
I'm also doing a story for the 99 Fleeting Fiction anthology. Probably won't get in because I'm bad at writing but I said I'd do the first writing opportunity that came my way, so... I did.

Not embarassing is probably better in the long run.

Got back into Tiger &Bunny, because gay superheroes are best superheroes, and now I've got an urge to play a supers game or write a story just so I can have a hero sponsored by Weetabix. Just because it fits their current advertising campaign.

[LaZodiac]

Not embarassing is probably better in the long run.

Got back into Tiger &Bunny, because gay superheroes are best superheroes, and now I've got an urge to play a supers game or write a story just so I can have a hero sponsored by Weetabix. Just because it fits their current advertising campaign.

Naw, most people seem to be embracing the idea of embarrassing stuff being good. It's just not for me.

Is Tiger and Bunny actually gay? I looked it up and couldn't actually find anything about it.

[Rater202]

I like the idea of Cultivation Stories, that is people taking in energy from outside them, internalizing it, and refining it in order to improve one's self by some metric or another, a better body, a stronger soul, a stronger mind and so on with the ultimate goal of achieving immortality or divinity through one's own efforts. Usually in settings that are "if Wuxia is Low Fantasy, this is is High Fantasy."

In practice, almost all of them have the main protagonist, if not all "cultivators" as colossal narcissistic *******s who would rightfully be the villain in other stories, lying, cheating, and stealing to get what they want while murdering anyone who gets in their way and often literally sucking the life out of the world arond them in the worst cases. Even if they're genuinely heroic, they're probably the only one.

While a common theme in these stories is "I will defy my fate/the will of the gods/the cycle of karma and rise up beyonfd my designated station" and that kind of thing requires a degree of ego it goes well beyond what's reasonable or even necessary for character motivation.

The only cultivation thing I've found that doesn't fall into that pattern and isn't a parody/reimagining of the tropes is Triune Scriptures, which is... 1: Not a story, just some world-building documents as far as I can tell and 2: Technically a fan made Legend of Zelda AU.

...On the other hand, it explicitly makes people who act like typical Cultivation Protagonists the bad guys with benevolent Cultivators being the majority. Instead of Cultivation being defiance of fate, the Gods actively want people to Cultivate because doing it through approved methods bypasses conservation of energy in away that even the most gluttonous of "saint" Cultivators will at worst eventually break even with producing energy compared to taking it in and the majority eventually produce far in excess than what they need, let alone consume.

Also, the three strongest forms of Cultivation literally function by slowly turning yourself into a living universe. "I worked out and meditated for a million years, now all of my cells are planets."

[Anonymouswizard]

Naw, most people seem to be embracing the idea of embarrassing stuff being good. It's just not for me.

Hey, I'm finally embracing the fact that you know what, I like writing adult literature even if it's ****e adult literature. Ideally nothing would actually be embarrassing because we'd accept that everything has a potential audience.

I mean, making the sex scene in my novel more explicit than originally planned (but still not full blown erotica) probably kills any possible chance it had of a traditional publisher, but I think that ship sailed with 'pulp fantasy, aimed at teenage boys, starring a 25 year old trans women'. And I've got plans for like six books in this universe (two starring my current MC, four featuring a pulp superhero team).

Is Tiger and Bunny actually gay? I looked it up and couldn't actually find anything about it.

Not officially, annoyingly, but it's also pretty much official that at least Wild Tiger is not good at initiating romantic relationships. But considering how much teasing it gets I really hope it gets confirmed in this season.

Although I'm still trying to work out if Fire Emblem is trans or just genderqueer

[LaZodiac]

I like the idea of Cultivation Stories, that is people taking in energy from outside them, internalizing it, and refining it in order to improve one's self by some metric or another, a better body, a stronger soul, a stronger mind and so on with the ultimate goal of achieving immortality or divinity through one's own efforts. Usually in settings that are "if Wuxia is Low Fantasy, this is is High Fantasy."

In practice, almost all of them have the main protagonist, if not all "cultivators" as colossal narcissistic *******s who would rightfully be the villain in other stories, lying, cheating, and stealing to get what they want while murdering anyone who gets in their way and often literally sucking the life out of the world arond them in the worst cases. Even if they're genuinely heroic, they're probably the only one.

While a common theme in these stories is "I will defy my fate/the will of the gods/the cycle of karma and rise up beyonfd my designated station" and that kind of thing requires a degree of ego it goes well beyond what's reasonable or even necessary for character motivation.

The only cultivation thing I've found that doesn't fall into that pattern and isn't a parody/reimagining of the tropes is Triune Scriptures, which is... 1: Not a story, just some world-building documents as far as I can tell and 2: Technically a fan made Legend of Zelda AU.

...On the other hand, it explicitly makes people who act like typical Cultivation Protagonists the bad guys with benevolent Cultivators being the majority. Instead of Cultivation being defiance of fate, the Gods actively want people to Cultivate because doing it through approved methods bypasses conservation of energy in away that even the most gluttonous of "saint" Cultivators will at worst eventually break even with producing energy compared to taking it in and the majority eventually produce far in excess than what they need, let alone consume.

Also, the three strongest forms of Cultivation literally function by slowly turning yourself into a living universe. "I worked out and meditated for a million years, now all of my cells are planets."

I was gonna bring up this particularly weird, bad-vibe as hell story archetype to you the next time you brought up your jumping stuff as a recommendation that you might like that I don't.

I see I may have been wrong?

Hey, I'm finally embracing the fact that you know what, I like writing adult literature even if it's ****e adult literature. Ideally nothing would actually be embarrassing because we'd accept that everything has a potential audience.

I mean, making the sex scene in my novel more explicit than originally planned (but still not full blown erotica) probably kills any possible chance it had of a traditional publisher, but I think that ship sailed with 'pulp fantasy, aimed at teenage boys, starring a 25 year old trans women'. And I've got plans for like six books in this universe (two starring my current MC, four featuring a pulp superhero team).

Not officially, annoyingly, but it's also pretty much official that at least Wild Tiger is not good at initiating romantic relationships. But considering how much teasing it gets I really hope it gets confirmed in this season.

Although I'm still trying to work out if Fire Emblem is trans or just genderqueer

Given some of the stuff I've seen in actually published things, you'll be fine getting traditionally published. And none of what you're making is going to be worse than "abused slave falls in love with her abusive master and kills herself to make said master a super god".

Aah, okay.

[Rater202]

I was gonna bring up this particularly weird, bad-vibe as hell story archetype to you the next time you brought up your jumping stuff as a recommendation that you might like that I don't.

I see I may have been wrong?

There are a number of Jump Documents based on Cultivations stories. Including one based on Triune Scriptures, which is how I found out about it.

There's a Perk that just makes you a Link and a Perk that makes you a Zelda and there's nothing at all stopping you from having both of them at the same time if you're willing to spend 900 points on it and just confuse the hell out of everyone who can tell these things.

[HalfTangible]

I took a nonfiction writing class in college once. For the last day, they brought our class a group of submissions to the school newspaper so we could see what we were competing with.

Trust me: If you can write something that's legible - nevermind good, just something people can read - you already have a leg up on your competition.

[Lord Raziere]

In practice, almost all of them have the main protagonist, if not all "cultivators" as colossal narcissistic *******s who would rightfully be the villain in other stories, lying, cheating, and stealing to get what they want while murdering anyone who gets in their way and often literally sucking the life out of the world arond them in the worst cases. Even if they're genuinely heroic, they're probably the only one.

While a common theme in these stories is "I will defy my fate/the will of the gods/the cycle of karma and rise up beyonfd my designated station" and that kind of thing requires a degree of ego it goes well beyond what's reasonable or even necessary for character motivation.

Sounds like Black Mana planeswalkers but with chi.

Also, the three strongest forms of Cultivation literally function by slowly turning yourself into a living universe. "I worked out and meditated for a million years, now all of my cells are planets."

that sounds like really slow Infernal Exalted, but without the benefit of also still being the person you started as.

[Rater202]

that sounds like really slow Infernal Exalted, but without the benefit of also still being the person you started as.

Cultivation, even in the worst settings, doesn't really change who you are any more than living longer and being physically/spiritually/mentally healthier and stronger than normally would. Smarter, stronger, more enlightened, more experienced, but the same fundamental person underneath.

Honestly, you'd probably change less than that: Improved memory tends to be a benefit for some reason or another, either becuase your brain is part of your body and thus is improved when you improve your body or becuase there's some kind of mind/soul and body dualism and you're improving you mind/soul separately from your body to the point that it no longer needs such limitations.

Especially in Triune Scriptures which seems to be mostly about taking the power Fantasy aspect of Cultivation stories and playing it straight in a way that doesn't make you an asshat.

Like even of it grows wrong it won't change you, it'll just kill you which... Personally, I find preferable.

...Though, all cards on the table, since there's a Triune Scripture's Jump document, my advice for planning to head there usually includes doing the Addams Family document first, since it has a perk that gives you an unshakable ego that prevents your mind or spirit from being altered against your will and another that gives you full control of your "character development" so that you can always grow to be the person you want to be and will never become the kind of person you're not.

Those aren't necessary for actually cultivating, but per the world building document there are certain tests of character you need to pass to profress to certain levels.

It also has a perk that makes you highly resilient to injury(anything short of death or dismemberment is never as debilitating as it should be and you're guaranteed to make a perfect recovery for anything that you live through) while also letting you find genuine enjoyment in the sensation of pain. That would specifically be useful for Ki Cultivators in Triune Scriptures, becuase Ki cultivation puts a lot of stress on the body and some stages of its development are noted to hurt like Hell.

[Anonymouswizard]

Given some of the stuff I've seen in actually published things, you'll be fine getting traditionally published. And none of what you're making is going to be worse than "abused slave falls in love with her abusive master and kills herself to make said master a super god".

Aah, okay.

Oh shush, I'm trying to justify self-publishing here! But yeah, nothing like that, it doesn't get worse than making it explicit that noncis-het sex has happened and that the characters involved aren't cis-het. Also explicit relatively casual nudity, but uhm author appeal?

Well, the plan for book 2 is to introduce an immortal who insists the main character is their true love, that they've loved every one of their previous lives, and evidence suggests their telling the truth. But it's played for creep factor rather than romance, because a) she's already in a commited monogramous relationship, and b) it's ****ing creepy.

[Form]

Ok, aborting my plan to temporarily invert my day/night rhythm. The first evening I tried it I could already tell it wasn't going to work. Not on such short notice, anyway. If I needed to change my day/night rhythm for several months then it'd be worth the effort, but I'm not going to get this done within the span of a day or two and it'll just mess me up. I'll just suffer The Scorching then.

Oh shush, I'm trying to justify self-publishing here! But yeah, nothing like that, it doesn't get worse than making it explicit that noncis-het sex has happened and that the characters involved aren't cis-het. Also explicit relatively casual nudity, but uhm author appeal?

It might not catch on with the mainstream audience, depending on how explicit the sex scenes are and how much the book consists of them, but if it catches the eye of a niche audience and that audience is big enough then you're still golden.

Well, the plan for book 2 is to introduce an immortal who insists the main character is their true love, that they've loved every one of their previous lives, and evidence suggests their telling the truth. But it's played for creep factor rather than romance, because a) she's already in a commited monogramous relationship, and b) it's ****ing creepy.

Damn, that's some dedicated stalking there.

[Fyraltari]

Damn, that's some dedicated stalking there.

Is there such a thing as half-arsed stalking?

[Anonymouswizard]

It might not catch on with the mainstream audience, depending on how explicit the sex scenes are and how much the book consists of them, but if it catches the eye of a niche audience and that audience is big enough then you're still golden.

If I self publish, one person downloads a free ebook, and that person likes it, then that's a big enough audience.

Damn, that's some dedicated stalking there.

Yep. I saw a meme about two years ago presenting it as romantic, and my first thought was essentially 'creepy stalker'. That stuck with me, and eventually morphed into the plot of Purification 2.

[Form]

Is there such a thing as half-arsed stalking?

Maybe a stalker wants to follow their victim to an Italian restaurant, but they don't like Italian so they just go a sushi place they like instead? Or they tape a GPS tracker under their victim's car, but when it falls off they're like 'eh... maybe I'll replace it sometime next month' instead of doing it right away? That might quality as half-arsed, I don't know.

[LaZodiac]

Oh shush, I'm trying to justify self-publishing here! But yeah, nothing like that, it doesn't get worse than making it explicit that noncis-het sex has happened and that the characters involved aren't cis-het. Also explicit relatively casual nudity, but uhm author appeal?

Well, the plan for book 2 is to introduce an immortal who insists the main character is their true love, that they've loved every one of their previous lives, and evidence suggests their telling the truth. But it's played for creep factor rather than romance, because a) she's already in a commited monogramous relationship, and b) it's ****ing creepy.

Yeah that's fine, and cool.

I want to chop them into pieces and feed him to betta fish. Monster human.

[Fyraltari]

Spoiler: The longest river in France as of today

Show

****ing hell.

[Metastachydium]

I want to chop them into pieces and feed him to betta fish. Monster human.

How do you know it's a he? How do you know it's a human? Why do you want to dice both of them? And, most importantly, if you're doing that anyway, would it kill you to also feed them both to the betta fish? Betta fish gotta eat, too.

♣

In largely unrelated news, I've recently found out that back in 2007, someone added the following passage to Thoreau's Wikipedia page, naturally enough, for faeces and giggles:

Thoreau also wore a neck-beard for many years, which he insisted many women found attractive. However, Louisa May Alcott reportedly mentioned to Emerson that Thoreau's facial hair "will most assuredly deflect amorous advances and preserve the man's virtue in perpetuity." Thoreau did in fact die a virgin.

It stayed right there for a good 6,25 years and I somehow find that hilarious.

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler: The longest river in France as of today

Show

****ing hell.

Damn. That's really ****ed.

How do you know it's a he? How do you know it's a human? Why do you want to dice both of them? And, most importantly, if you're doing that anyway, would it kill you to also feed them both to the betta fish? Betta fish gotta eat, too.

♣

In largely unrelated news, I've recently found out that back in 2007, someone added the following passage to Thoreau's Wikipedia page, naturally enough, for faeces and giggles:

It stayed right there for a good 6,25 years and I somehow find that hilarious.

I was trying to use gender neutral pronouns since that's what Anon used and accidentally dropped a him in there. I (obviously) would only want to dunk the creepy immortal stalker- which is an incredible character idea by the way, only seen it once before. I do love it. I love playing with love and immortals, my own writing's got two immortals who fell madly in love but broke up so hard that entire nations have been born and ended by each other out of (rather justified) spite for each other.

That is pretty funny, yeah.

[Rater202]

Basic Comprehension: Laughing at the irony when, in Deah of a Propane Salesman, Hank Hill dismisses the story of the man and the tigers as a bad joke when the story's moral is one he desperately needs right now.

Deep comprehension: Realizing that he understood what it meant to entire time(as evidenced by it being his go-to when trying to comfort Bobby, before giving up and making his own version) but dismissed it as a joke because he was still in denial regarding his own trauma and acknowledging the meaning of the story would force him to confront said trauma.

[LaZodiac]

Basic Comprehension: Laughing at the irony when, in Deah of a Propane Salesman, Hank Hill dismisses the story of the man and the tigers as a bad joke when the story's moral is one he desperately needs right now.

Deep comprehension: Realizing that he understood what it meant to entire time(as evidenced by it being his go-to when trying to comfort Bobby, before giving up and making his own version) but dismissed it as a joke because he was still in denial regarding his own trauma and acknowledging the meaning of the story would force him to confront said trauma.

Excellently done, Rater, A+ on your report card.

(please read this as a joke I think it's cool as hell and always wanna encourage reading comprehension being increased).

[Metastachydium]

I was trying to use gender neutral pronouns since that's what Anon used and accidentally dropped a him in there. I (obviously) would only want to dunk the creepy immortal stalker

Figured that much. I'm just a bit like Mr. Lee in such things.

which is an incredible character idea by the way, only seen it once before. I do love it. I love playing with love and immortals, my own writing's got two immortals who fell madly in love but broke up so hard that entire nations have been born and ended by each other out of (rather justified) spite for each other.

It's pretty neat, yeah. Immortality's not really my cup of tea (sorry, Bookmark), so creepy abnormal stuff done by creepy abnormal folks gets bonus points from me. I'd absolutely settle for Form's half-arsed stalker concept, though.

[Fyraltari]

my own writing's got two immortals who fell madly in love but broke up so hard that entire nations have been born and ended by each other out of (rather justified) spite for each other.

I too ship The Doctor and The Master.

[LaZodiac]

I too ship The Doctor and The Master.

I don't **** with Doctor Who if that's what their relationship is like I don't know that. This is my writing.

[Fyraltari]

I don't **** with Doctor Who if that's what their relationship is like I don't know that. This is my writing.

I was kidding.

[LaZodiac]

I was kidding.

So was I, I just think we were going for different levels of intensity.

(though seriously I just, don't watch Doctor Who)

[Anonymouswizard]

I too ship The Doctor and The Master.

To be fair that's pretty much canon. I'm 90% sure the two married and had a kid back when the Doctor originally settled down.

[Rater202]

I don't **** with Doctor Who if that's what their relationship is like I don't know that. This is my writing.

The only time it was explicitly romantic was when there was a female Master and a Male Doctor but the typical depiction of The Doctor and The Master is a pair of former best friends who had a falling out but keep running into each other and have a horribly toxic codependency even when acting against each other.

[HalfTangible]

I don't **** with Doctor Who if that's what their relationship is like I don't know that. This is my writing.

I don't think it's ever made explicit that the two dated. But the Master is obsessed with the Doctor, with beating him and showing the universe that he's the better, smarter man. As you might imagine from a guy who took the name THE MASTER he is incredibly egotistical and controlling. The Doctor, meanwhile, continues to think that there's something in the Master worth saving and helping (and a later special I never watched implies it's because the Doctor was in a similar place to the Master once upon a time).

[LaZodiac]

To be fair that's pretty much canon. I'm 90% sure the two married and had a kid back when the Doctor originally settled down.

Fascinating, and I kinda figured that from what I knew about the two.

The only time it was explicitly romantic was when there was a female Master and a Male Doctor but the typical depiction of The Doctor and The Master is a pair of former best friends who had a falling out but keep running into each other and have a horribly toxic codependency even when acting against each other.

People afraid of making the Doctor gay so waiting until they have a girl one to do this is hilarious.

I don't think it's ever made explicit that the two dated. But the Master is obsessed with the Doctor, with beating him and showing the universe that he's the better, smarter man. As you might imagine from a guy who took the name THE MASTER he is incredibly egotistical and controlling. The Doctor, meanwhile, continues to think that there's something in the Master worth saving and helping (and a later special I never watched implies it's because the Doctor was in a similar place to the Master once upon a time).

Yeah I don't expect subtle motives for a man calling himself THE MASTER. Dude's gotta be bombastic as hell. I vaguely recall hearing there's a scene of him dancing around to Scissor Sister's "I Can't Decide" and look maybe that's bad, but it's also very very good.