Random Questions Thread

Does anybody know the name of the venomous snake species that looks spiky kind of like this but red? The eyes might have been green.

I saw it in a zoo show, but it wasn't namedropped and googling "spiky red snake" just got that one (despite it not even being red).

The African Hairy Bush Viper.

And yes, it comes in more colors than red too.

Hey, a fellow Magireco fan!

More seriously. I want to vet the following idea here.

I have an idea for a reference to School Mermaid in the form of a dungeon where (usually) teenage girls try to raid it for pearls used in Love Potions. The catch as per the reference is that the people that source of the pearls were people that had failed to get them and were assimilated into the dungeon.

The protags are there not for the pearls, but instead to to look for clues to other mysteries and are therefore in conflict with the people who are seeking the pearls as well as the failures. Any thoughts on the concept?

How many pearls drop per failed person?

Just one or is it their whole weight's worth turned into pearls that gets scattered into the waters?

Also, if mermaids are involved, then considered to spice the concept up a little and make them half girl/half oysters with the huge oyster shells looking like normal ones albeit much bigger, and then they open up, revealing a naked girl suggestively posed inside of it, and clad in pearl-jewelry such as necklaces, armbands, ankle-bands etc, laying there on the "soft mattress"(part of the oyster) and try tempt people inside for some "treasure" (what kind of treasure depends on how dirty/oblivious the mind is) to which the adventurer climbs in, the shell snapping shut on them, and then they get eaten alive while inside of the shell, spitting out anything inedible out once done, for the "mermaid" to do it all over again when hungry.

They aren't for specific reasons. (while the merfolk are amphibious, they do not transform to pearls.) I might use Oysters as a motif though.

Also, I should clarify that the people assimilated into the dungeon would also be the forces trying to repel subsequent intruders.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Mar 10th 2024 at 10:00:24 AM

Depending on how you handle it, it sounds like it could be a good source of horror.

So these pearls are basically an alchemy ingredient? Drop one in water and it dissolves into a finished love potion or does it need more mixed into it? Is one potion enough as a permanent love-fix or does it need more dosages to become complete? What happens if you just swallow a pearl as it is without anything else?

Also, here is an idea if that last one isn't decided.

If the pearl isn't diluted in water (or sea water?) then swallowing one whole will make the one doing it a Living Aphrodisiac which causes its own share of problems down the line as nobody really is immune to this and the only way to escape the effect temporarily, is by being submerged into water, while covering the skin with a soaked cloth in order to breathe without exposing anyone to the aphrodisiac effect.

Eventually, the bad side-effects of being submerged or forced to live in the bathroom from there on out starts to showing, ruining the person's life who either have to choose between living in isolation like a fish in a tank or risk getting "devoured" by other people getting too close and too exposed to the aphrodisiac-effect.

Children are immune to it, up to the age where the hormone-production really kicks in and sends them into puberty, to where the effects do affect them.

The effect is also weakened in people lacking in either estrogen or testosterone due to genetic conditions or illnesses as well. Or injury to the organs producing them.

Would it be understandable to think of someone with the power to not only control people's minds, but to actually change their bodies and how they work as a deity/god? The Evil Mentor of one of my story's villains thought of my main character's grandfather as a literal god due to him having a power like this. In fact a quote of his calls the grandfather a god and he phrases the idea of seeking out this man and working with him as an almost religious quest.

Whether the grandfather actually is one or not is highly ambiguous. He's not a human by any stretch of the imagination but he is a member of a verifiable supernatural species with numerous members and was born to parents and lived an ordinary life. He (and later his grandson, the main character) just happen to have powers that are unique and far superior to all of their kind and are capable of ending the world if they wished.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Mar 11th 2024 at 9:22:57 AM

From an Abrahamic perspective, God must create the universe and have total control over it.

But monotheistic Myths and fantasy stories have lower standards; any man who is immortal and can launch fireballs, may find himself worshiped, so why not a man who controls minds and bodies?

..........................

That Evil Mentor may even philosophize a bit, arguing that:

"Since the world is experienced mainly through our senses and the brain's interpretation of those senses, a being who changes how those senses and brains work, is effectively changing and controlling the universe for the people involved, and as such, he is a god."

@ jawal:

That's an interesting point; I did kind of think about that, at least in some form. I figured that in-story the reason for such thinking (at least in the mind of this one person) is because this power is so alien to the setting. It doesn't exist anywhere else and there's nothing even close to it, even among all the other supernatural stuff going on.

Thanks for the help; it tracks with some of what the in-story thinking going on and lets me know I'm on the right track.

Well thinking about it, as the phrase goes "God made man in its image" then any human would theoretically be a "god" from birth? Wouldn't the difference between a "true god" and a "false god" be that the "true god" never once claimed themselves to be an actual God?

@ Trainbarrel:

I'm not going to lie, that kind of boggled my mind reading it but it is an interesting thought.

The grandfather definitely doesn't think of himself as a god (and to be honest despite his very very flawed thinking, neither does his grandson who makes far more destructive use of this power). It's more that the mentor character here is...not the most stable individual and seeing something like this, he is overwhelmed and considers it the closest thing to the divine he's ever beheld.

The mentor's actual quote is this, if it puts it into context or helps:

It kind of comes out of nowhere for this character and as it slowly starts showing that he's actually not as calm, rational and put-together as he might seem, although he does have a bit of a point.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Mar 11th 2024 at 11:51:54 AM

I Have a logistic question that has to do with a trope classification of a character in a fantasy series that I am trying to write: One of the beasts in this series is The First Horror Story Told, A Tulpa who was essentially born from the fear the very first horror story told invoked in the listeners and this supernatural being's strength and powerful comes from the fact that they more they fear it as a concept, the stronger it and his abilities become. Now, my question is this, would said would this be a case of Emotion Eater (As he feeds of fear) or Gods Need Prayer Badly (as the fear of others is what created him and his power rises or wanes depending on the fear) despite not being a god?

Any opinion you could give me is greatly appreciated!

The difference between the two is a matter of morality.

God Needs Prayer Badly is on the "good" side of the scale.

Emotion Eater is on the other side.

And for a fear-sipping entity, Emotion Eater is the appropriate one to use.

Based on a quick look at the former page, I don't think that this is true.

Specifically, the former seems to be a neutral trope, applying to any deity, of any morality.

Not to mention that the latter trope seems to indicate the existence of rare benevolent examples.

I'd say that the difference is more one of the nature of the "meal": In the Gods Need Prayer Badly, the entities need to be believed in and/or worshiped and/or prayed to. In Emotion Eater, belief doesn't seem to be required; just the existence of a "food source", aware of the entity or no.

Does it matter? Troping is, I would argue, primarily an analytical tool—a means of dissecting a work after it is released.

It's not really a reliable way to build a work, I daresay—and indeed, may limit one's perspective, I fear.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Mar 11th 2024 at 9:55:02 PM

Is foaming at the mouth a reasonable substitute for a Nosebleed?

Edited by InvisibleWater on Mar 11th 2024 at 7:34:19 AM

I don't think people would interpret it as sexual arousal, if that was what you were trying to convey. At least in the media that I mainly consumed, foaming at the mouth signifies that someone is shocked. If you make nudge the viewers or readers into thinking that it is an example of Something Else Also Rises, like representing the discharge of body fluids, I could see that making sense.

Edited by minseok42 on Mar 11th 2024 at 8:22:37 AM

For myself, I think that I might interpret foaming at the mouth as a sign of poison, or certain diseases. ^^;

Given the ambiguity of the trope-name, let me ask for safety's sake: Is the nosebleed here intended to signify arousal? Or something else—like psychic strain, or blunt force trauma, or imminent death, etc...?

Now, foaming could be used to signify arousal, I daresay, if paired with other indicators—Heart-Eyes, or Heart Beats out of Chest, for example.

Still, even there I think that I'd be inclined to take it to signify arousal of a particularly wild sort, and a character then given to loss of self-control.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Mar 12th 2024 at 9:57:54 PM

It's specifically the first kind. The trope name is more than a little ambiguous.

Fair enough! Well, then I stand by my comments on the matter! ^_^

Is there a gender-neutral term for "womanizer," as in someone who attracts people of all genders?

There's "playboy" (I'm fine with that because the character I'm writing about is male) but I don't really want to use that one

Lech or philanderer?

Roué or flirt?

I'll note that a "womaniser" isn't simply someone who attracts women, but one who further engages in a lot of casual sex with them.

If you want a term for someone who simply attracts people, perhaps "heartbreaker" or "charmer"?

I'm wondering how to "hide" a certain aspect of my character's powers until The Reveal or rather to avoid readers figuring out that things aren't entirely what they seem.

So, my main character's abilities are a Story-Breaker Power and highly feared/coveted in-universe. However, due to a restriction created by his grandfather (the power's original user) they cannot be used at all unless seemingly impossible condition is met, as part of the grandfather's plan to ensure no one could ever utilize this power and endanger the world.

Here is where the misdirection comes in: there are two times in the story that he uses this power yet most of the time he cannot, no matter how much he needs to or wishes he could. In both cases where he used brief "spurts" of it, it seems like a case of Heroic Willpower since those were times of great need. But in reality, the reason he could do it was because he briefly fulfilled the condition needed to bring out his abilities.

I'm trying to find a way to hide that fact to avoid smart readers figuring out what is really going on. Does anyone have ideas on how to do so?

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Mar 13th 2024 at 8:17:13 AM