It's a little while later when it happens. Jimmy and Pearl are still too busy arguing over whether spruce or birch is the prettier block to notice the creeper slowly approaching. Against the green grass of the plains, Bigb can’t really blame people for not spotting it. And it's midday, most mobs are long gone and burned to ash by now. He sees it, though.
a ready army in my throat
is a Role Swap AU of the Life SMP written by confusedkestrel
and illustrated by bigb-enthusiast
.
In this Alternate Universe Fic, various alliances and players across the series take different roles in the 3rd Life SMP storyline, with special focus placed on BigB in Grian's place and Pearl in Scar's.
This fic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: BigB is the one to final-kill Bdubs, Cleo, and Ren in this continuity. In canon, the equivalent kills were made by Scar (corresponding to Pearl here), whereas BigB has a generally low kill count in canon overall.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Players who debut in later seasons of the Life series — Gem, Lizzie, Pearl, and Mumbo — all make appearances in this alternate 3rd Life.
- Downplayed. Due to a mild Setting Update, elements only present in later seasons of the Life series due to Minecraft updates, including wardens, are mentioned in the fic, though no wardens actually make an appearance.
- Adaptational Skimpiness: Downplayed. Due to Pearl taking Scar's place in the roleswap, she's bare-chested as a Red Life as well, though in the artwork, what's normally covered is covered.
- Adaptation Species Change: Two ways — in Limited Life, Froggy is the Nosy Neighbours' cat, and takes the place of Pizza the llama in this continuity. However, Froggy is here a donkey instead.
- Apologetic Attacker: Unlike canon, Ren is genuine about not wanting to take BigB's second life, but he has loyalty and honour to uphold to his own faction.Ren: I'm sorry it has to be this way, my dude. I'm sorry it can't be both of us. But I'm going to win this. For Martyn and Lizzie, and the life we shared. The loyalty I owe them for their own loyalty to me.
- Back to Front: The flashback storyline, in italicized text, starts from Pearl going Red (equivalent to Day 3 of canon) and goes back to the very start of this alternate 3rd Life.
- The Beastmaster: Implied with Tango, who has an iron construct workshop and would have probably wrangled a warden to the surface had there been any relevant structures that allowed them to spawn on the map.
- Chessmaster Sidekick: Played with. BigB has declared his loyalty to Pearl, but is pretty good at talking his way out of trouble for them, as well as a decent tactician. The story is mostly told from his perspective, though.
- Color-Coded Eyes: It's established early in the fic that following popular fanon, players' eye colours correspond to the number of lives they have.
- Crusading Widow: Implied. With Scar being in Scott's role (alongside Mumbo, admittedly), he goes on an equivalent murderous Roaring Rampage of Revenge when Grian is Killed Off for Real, but it's never stated if they're romantically involved in this continuity.And Scar clearly isn't dealing well with losing Grian first. Man's not even on red and he's already made more kills than most of the rest of the server combined.
- Dramatic Thunder: Similarly to later seasons, lightning strikes the spot where a player is Killed Off for Real.
- I Gave My Word: Scar's No-Kill Passes are here adapted into oaths and promises with the Lords. This results in Ren calling in Pearl's protection pact to turn her blade on anyone threatening the faction at their choosing — and mirroring canon roles, the threat in question is BigB. Downplayed, however, as Pearl simply steps aside to let BigB be killed by Ren instead of doing the killing herself.
- In Medias Res: The main storyline, in normal text, starts off at the Battle of the Wastes, the equivalent to the Battle of the Red Desert on Day 7 of canon.
- Invulnerable Horses: Averted, with BigB killing Cleo's mount during the Battle of the Wastes.
- Mythology Gag: It's mentioned that Tango operates an "iron construct workshop" in this fic. In real life, Tango was regarded as a professional in iron farming before the 1.14 "Village and Pillage" update made it much easier to make these farms.
- Red Baron: In lieu of Ren as "the Red King" and Martyn as his "Hand", we have Bdubs as "the Lich King" and Cleo as his "undead Blade".
- Role Swap AU: The premise of the AU, with different players and alliances taking each other's places throughout 3rd Life.
- The Wastes correspond to the Red Desert, with BigB playing Grian's role for the most part and Pearl playing Scar's.
- Mossdeep Hold are equivalent to Dogwarts, with Bdubs in Ren's place and Cleo in Martyn's.
- The Flower Forest faction is here Flower Power Incorporated, with Grian taking Jimmy's place as the first to be Killed Off for Real, and Mumbo and Scar jointly taking Scott's.
- The Lords' Tower is equated with the Crastle, with Ren being the most prominent among them and taking on Bdubs' role in canon.
- Etho takes on aspects of both Tango and possibly Joel, having previously hosted a game and had at least one pet dog mourning him.
- Gem and Joel roughly correspond to BigB in canon, lasting almost until the end but are still ultimately taken out.
- The Stations of the Canon: Despite the roleswap, many prominent plot points in 3rd Life are revisited throughout the fic, though some are adapted accordingly to accommodate for the different characters.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: After losing Bdubs, Cleo follows BigB to admit her defeat and request death, saying that she hopes he wins if it means causing him more pain. BigB still complies.
- Switching P.O.V.: Although most of the fic is told from BigB's perspective, a small section near the end is told from Ren's — from shortly after BigB's second death to Ren's own final death.
- Titled After the Song: The title of the fic is from "The Well" by The Crane Wives.
- Tragic Keepsake: In his last confrontations, Ren holds on to his late allies' possessions — Martyn's sword and Lizzie's chestplate.
