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edited 11th Apr '18 6:31:51 PM by dRoy
Whatever supports their having an interesting role in the story.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOAccording to the TV Tropes page for Dhampyr, one way to handle a dhampyr's vampiric half is to make them a watered down version of a vampire. The psychic suggestion you mentioned fits that, so you could apply that to the other abilities, too- maybe they can only transform partially, are only half as strong as their vampire parent, don't feel quite as poorly during the day, only greatly dislike garlic and silver, and perhaps only feel weakened or ill when crossing salt, running water, or thresholds rather than dying or physically being unable.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."question: Want a Adaptational Context Change for Ahab's death and any prophecies thereof. As I don't think "death by harpoon snare will cut it with the aforementioned context.
FWIW My idea here would be for Ahab to use what is basically a WMD to kill the Moby Dick expy and wound up too close to escape's its blast range. Paired with a early attempted jettisoning of the Pequod's crew and allies on escape pods (Ishmael being the most successful of these attempts ofc).
Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jun 17th 2023 at 3:10:17 AM
Your current idea seems fine to me.
As an alternative suggestion:
As a means of attacking the space-whale, the ship's crew has been retrofitting small shuttle-craft to deliver payloads of either explosives or something else effective against the creature. (Perhaps remote guidance is needed, or simply a larger payload than conventional weapons carry.)
In the final confrontation, then, the last shuttle suffers a malfunction and Ahab rushes to fix it. Fix it he does—only to hear behind him the hiss-clunk of the shuttle-door closing, having been held open by the error.
He turns, horrified, impotent, as the shuttle launches automatically and flies at the space-whale...
Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jun 17th 2023 at 12:53:15 PM
My Games and Asset Packs
I'm mainly asking about the prophecy bit. I can work the coffins in but "hemp can only kill thee" is something that seems inapplicable even in a metaphorical sense and I'm not planning to shoehorn in something like laser tethers just for the allusion.
that said I can fit your shuttle suggestion in.
Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jun 17th 2023 at 3:56:15 AM
Aaah, I see—my apologies!
Hmm... If you go with your original idea regarding a weapon of mass destruction, then the prophecy might state that "only light can kill [Ahab]".
If you go with my suggestion, then perhaps it might state that "titanium alone can kill [Ahab]", with the shuttle's chassis being built of titanium.
(Although you might end up making your "American wood" titanium—or whatever your starships are made of, rendering the above suggestion repetitive.)
My Games and Asset PacksI dediced to go with Lightning. The reasons being
- per prior discussions you might've forgotten I'm having it in the same setting as the Astratherions, one of their few weaknesses is the aforementioned WMD, named after the vajras and astras of hindu myth (and yes the Moby Dick expy is an Astratherion)
- The former leaves the prophecy open to misinterpretation, as the vajras are said to have qualities of lightning and diamonds it can be misinterpreted as a more literal Bolt of Divine Retribution, rather than the light of the WMD in question.
I also worked your suggestion in via the hearses with the last of them Ahab seeing (the metal one) is his own escape pod.
Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jun 17th 2023 at 4:59:28 AM
If you're going with lightning, then I might suggest that the weapon that's used be somehow electrical in nature—an ion bomb, or an EMP, or some such thing.
My Games and Asset PacksIIRC it already has electric powers (among 3 other elements).
Thing is that this is a very risky play, as it is still a Fantastic Nuke that even when not aimed at a planet like in most cases would still incure massive destruction.
Can it kill the whale? yes. Will it also rekt the Pequod in the process? yes and then some.
Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jun 17th 2023 at 5:05:47 AM
Which might render it particularly susceptible to things like EMPs. (And, depending on how its powers work, perhaps things like ion bursts, etc., too.)
Conversely, I'm concerned that if the attack isn't in some way electrical in nature then it doesn't really fit the prophecy's mention of "lightning".
(Unless you can find some creative way to have it apply, of course—if it produces a bright, jagged arc, perhaps...?)
[edit]
Okay, I've looked up the Hindu elements that you mentioned, and see that one of the names in question actually translates as "thunderbolt", which might work.
If you're going with that interpretation, then I'd really suggest including both the name and the translation somewhere in the narrative—even if the latter is mentioned only at the end, as part of the reveal of the prophecy's meaning.
After all, not everyone is going to know what the word means offhand.
[/edit]
Can it kill the whale? yes. Will it also rekt the Pequod in the process? yes and then some.
Indeed, if you intend to go in that direction then an electrical attack likely won't fit.
Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jun 18th 2023 at 10:08:04 AM
My Games and Asset PacksI wrapped up the story that spurred the previous question for now. I want to move onto something related but more general.
ahem, recently Kurgesatz has released a video on Cancer
that uses an analogy of a city (Brooklyn for some reaosn) to illustrate how cancer works. I want to ask how this could be used as the basis of story, either more literally (a la Osmosis Jones or Cells at Work!) or somewhat less so (like say a civilization that is themed after the human body or something involving Genius Loci cases such as Marvel's Ego the Living Planet)
Not cancer per se, but I am reminded of the GunBuster anime.
Humanity is attacked by some alien monsters, and there is an implication that the universe is a living being and those monsters are the "antibodies" sent to deal with the human disease.
So a possible way to tell a story like that may be to do a Gaia's Vengeance type.
...........
Note that zombie stories can be a metaphor for cancer if you think about it.
1- A calm city living in peace (Human body)
2- A strange phenomenon appears. When some people (cells) transform to a corrupt version of their former selves, and start spreading through the city (body).
3- Desperate, the government tries to use nuclear weapons (chemical therapy) to stop the spread of the zombies (disease), but sadly, it is no use, and this only make things worse.
4- The last remaining humans are under siege by the zombies (the patient is in his last moments).
.................................
Finally, I am reminded of this cartoon too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time..._Life
What would world leaders do during an apocalyptic event that dominated the land? I know that certain leaders such as Vladimir Putin have a gigantic plane/airborne command-center and of course there is Air Force One, but would all other leaders similarly retreat to the air? Or would they take refuge on large ships out on the open seas to avoid being consumed by the disaster taking over the world's landmasses?
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
@ Jawal:
Thanks for the response. I guess I just assumed all world leaders would flee to the safest locations if they could. I didn't even think of the various other outcomes like trying to negotiate (in this case not possible).
I did count on them joining together to fight back, so I guess a mobile command center of some kind might work?
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar WalllaceFunny you should mention that... one of the things I'm writing is a fantasy political thriller that leans pretty heavily into both "city as living organism", "undead as class metaphor", mostly focusing on the idea that a police state is a society with an autoimmune disorder. One of my inspirations was a comic short story called "A Touch of Grapefruit" (where the entire continent of North America ends up quarantined to protect the rest of the world from Los Angeles), by Richard Matheson... better known as the inventor of the zombie apocalypse.
Noir and cyberpunk are good genres to go to - both tend to "cellularise" their characters and personify their setting, emphasising their individual insignificance next to the geopolitical forces treated as the 'hungers' and 'ailments' of the entire culture.
Edited by Noaqiyeum on Jun 19th 2023 at 11:23:57 AM
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOWant to have a supporting character in one of my books be transgender, but was curious how that should be mentioned or acknowledged in the book. Should the narrative just mention they're transgender, or it be brought up in dialogue?
I haven't fully developed the supporting characters in my story, so I don't know yet what else should really be done beyond that.
Like creepy stories? Check out my book!A question related to my previous one, ahem. How would one best analogize the effects of certain diseases (such as rabies. Vampires notwithstanding) and organs (lungs, heart, brain, etc) to a societal macro level.
That is to say, what scenarios can be framed as allegory for bodily diseases or organ functions?
@Tropers/Brandon:
You should do what you feel is the most natural when you write about them.
alright gonna see if I can rephrase my last post.
ahem. What kinds of "buildings" (as in businesses, facilities or institutions) correspond to organs of the human body. Like what does a power plant represent? A waste management facility? etc.
Likewise what kinds of organizations corresponds to cells with certain purposes that are not covered by the above question?
I already can hazard that a City Hall corresponds to the brain and that the police or security forces maps with the immune system
The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell
The function of the analogy will depend on the perspective you want to take on what a city is. In what sense is a city alive? What does it eat, breathe, or bleed? With what organs does it metabolise or self-regulate? Is its heart the bank that circulates currency, or the transit centre that circulates people, the reservoir that circulates water and electricity, or the post office that circulates news? Does it think at the university, the city hall, the temple? Or do different buildings perform the same function in different cities?
I mostly think of Sonnambul socioeconomically - the ports are its mouths, the factories its stomach, the markets its intestine, the streets its arteries, the sewer system its colon (with character conflict basically over whether the city's body is "made of" the physical infrastructure or the people who use and maintain them, and whether those are different). But that's hardly the only option.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO@Brandon: To build on what AdeptGaderius said above, I don't think that there is a single way in which a transgender character should be described. How the fact of it comes up—indeed, whether it comes up—will likely vary from story to story, and character to character. It may be impacted by in-universe culture, too.
Not to mention that it will likely vary according to where the character is relative to being transgender: Do they themselves yet know? If so, are they out? Have they taken any steps towards bringing their body in line with their gender, and if so, what steps? How do they feel about these things? And likely more besides!
And of course, it may be affected by your writing style, specifically your approach to giving character details.
So, as Adept said, it comes down to mentioning it as and whether feels most natural to you for the specific instance of such a character that you're writing.
Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jun 20th 2023 at 10:06:08 AM
My Games and Asset PacksWhat is the timeframe that a charismatic figure could persuade a group of kids (teenagers in this case) to turn against their community and families? One of the story's Big Bad Ensemble (and overall villain of Part 1) sweeps into town and she quickly manages to turn many teenage werewolves to her side, which means making them hostile to their pack, and therefore their own families.
I figure something like that would take a very long time to do, so I'm trying to incorporate that into the story. Would it be a few months? More than that? I don't want to go into a year or over since the events of Part 1 are supposed to happen in a short timeframe.
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace

What abilities and weaknesses should my dhampirs (human-vampire hybrids) have, when the vampires...
There's one major dhampir in the story, who so far has the psychic power of suggestion (not outright mind control) and another ability that is sort of like Perception Filter, causing people to not notice her or not recognize her or not process/remember her appearance. It's some kind of a variant of the trance power.
Edited by Nukeli on Jun 17th 2023 at 11:42:05 AM
~*bleh*~