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edited 11th Apr '18 6:31:51 PM by dRoy
In one of my story ideas, there's two groups which had a war over a century ago, and the losers' descendants are second-class citizens. They have some kind of a government and policing force of their own, subordinate to the war's winners, to deal with and control their own so there ruling group has less work and less contact with them. The oppressed group's authorities try to stifle dissent and rebellion because they're afraid the oppressors' reprisals will make their conditions even worse.
In the story proper, the oppressed group's policing force gets a civilian from their caste who's some kind of a scientist (not sure how he could get the education, but the plot requires a scientist) to infiltrate a revolutionary group that aims to overthrow the oppressors and is looking for peoole with the scientist's expertise, to leak information to the policing force. However, the scientist ends up betraying the policing force to the revolutionaries.
I was thinking of showing the recruitment, but i'm not sure how they should approach him. Ideas?
Edited by Nukeli on Jul 14th 2025 at 7:44:54 PM
~*bleh*~
@ Nukeli:
Perhaps show a scene where someone the scientist cares about (child, spouse, friend, parent, etc) gets in trouble and is taken in by the police. Not for being a member of THE rebel faction, nothing so organized as that, but some minor act that could be seen as causing trouble and puts them in grave danger. The police could then either make a deal with the scientist where they offer to have him go undercover as a double-agent in exchange for his loved one's freedom and clean record or just threaten him into compliance using the same methodology.
Or—if they are a little less evil—they could simply point out that his loved one's rebellious behavior while not connected to the actual rebellion, is caused by the atmosphere of dissent they cause. They make everything worse for everyone by existing and if they were gone, people could live their lives (oppressed as they are) in relative peace. Thus, they offer the scientist a way to tear this group down from within so everyone can live their lives.
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar WalllaceHow far into the ground does something have to burrow to cause an earthquake or at least to make the land tremble so much that it appears to be one?
In Part 2 of my story, my main protagonist accidentally creates a gnarled mass of Meat Moss and other assorted flesh that expands rapidly above and below ground. At some point the "below" part causes the ground to shake nearby, so those who haven't seen the "upper" part at least know something is going on by the way the ground under them is behaving.
Edited by Swordofknowledge on Jul 15th 2025 at 4:52:07 AM
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
It's not a matter of depth but of energy. Well, I suppose depth matters a little, because if you're too shallow, a portion of the energy you put into moving the ground will displace upwards and into the air, reducing the power of this "quake".
Technically, an ant burrowing makes an earthquake, just at magnitude -5 or something equivalently tiny. If we refine the question to how big does a thing have to be for its movement beneath the ground to be felt by nearby people... I'd say pretty large. I couldn't provide exact figures, though.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
@ Fighteer:
Thank you very much, I appreciate the analysis!
This thing is supposed to be both extremely big and extremely fast (it comes into existence almost instantaneously, so I imagine it displaces a lot of material while underground). So, I guess it fits the criteria to force the ground to shake with the force of its "coming".
Edited by Swordofknowledge on Jul 15th 2025 at 5:40:08 AM
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar WalllaceSo, this is kind of an awkward question but it's one of those "elephants in the room" for my story that will have to be addressed at some point.
What kind of "etiquette" would be appropriate for Mindlink Mates who are unequal in their psychic abilities?
The main character and one of the other protagonists eventually enter into a Childhood Friend Romance and because both of them are supernatural beings with built-in telepathy (she's a werewolf and he's from a Mage Species), their minds become highly interlinked.
Here is where my issue comes in—even without his personal Story-Breaker Power the main character's species is far superior when it comes to their psychic abilities. Thus, their link is highly unequal; if he doesn't want her to read his mind, he can shut down his side of their bond, but it doesn't work that way for her. He can know if she doesn't want him to see certain thoughts/emotions but can't actually keep him out if he wants to read her mind anyway.
This lopsidedness is addressed/acknowledged in a number of ways, but what I don't have an answer for is how they would conduct themselves in this situation. Is it just as simple as him not reading her mind when he senses she doesn't want him to do it or does it have to be more complex and in-depth than that?
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar WalllaceI'm looking for Latin translations of the following phrases
- Regulations written in blood be carved in stone
- But even stone erodes.
The former is meant as a Latin motto and equivalent to arc words for if anything involving regulatory policy comes up. The latter is a counterpoint that posit that no matter how eternal the proponents wish it to be, no law or regulation lasts forever.
- Regulations written in blood be carved in stone: Regulae sanguine scriptae in lapide incisae sint.
- But even stone erodes: Sed etiam lapis eroditur
I got that by inputting your words into a English to Latin translator, but I am not completlely sure of its accurace.
Does anyone have thoughts on the question ![]()
?
I don't see this as any different from any other strength or power imbalance in a relationship, albeit one that would be particularly creepy to abuse. "Etiquette" is a set of rules for unrelated persons to avoid stepping on each others toes. What you want to portray is a person who is "considerate" - or not, as the case may be. Take a character who is very physically strong and martially trained; then compare their partner, who isn't. If they're a decent person, would they ever use that strength against their partner outside of dire emergency or play scuffles that they are both enjoying?
This might mean that the stronger person has to break a habit of just hard-blocking when he doesn't want to talk about something. Maybe use actual words (or the telepathic equivalent) "Hey babe, I need a little space to work through this before I'm ready to discuss." or "That's XYZ's confidential information. I really can't talk about it."
@ underCoverSailsman:
Thank you for navigating that and bringing up some things I hadn't even thought of. The part about using words rather than blocking for example. I largely focused on how the psychically stronger person would need to always be mindful not to invade the weaker one's privacy but I never once considered how the enforcement of his boundaries needed to be done in a certain way to avoid a form of abuse.
I guess that makes sense; I didn't particularly think of it that way when I was describing things.
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar WalllaceTrying to make an all-female Cast Herd of Humongous Mecha pilots that exhibits a Rainbow Motif; each one is assigned a Color Motif that is symbolic of their personality and combat doctrine, which consists of a primary color that dominates their palette (e.g. clothes, hair), and a secondary color that appears as "highlights" (e.g. eye color, clothing trims).
Current arrangement is as follows; my apologies in advance for the amount of text.
- Prima (white/pink): The psychologically balanced leader of the team, whose predominantly white palette reflects her idealistic and heroic spirit. Using force is always a last resort for her unless the villain has clearly gone beyond the Moral Event Horizon, and even then they will only earn her pity and lament than hatred; however, when she does fight, she demonstrates incredible martial skill and ferocity, seeking to end the battle as quickly and with as little bloodshed as possible. Her mecha is an all-rounder (and arguably a low-level Lightning Bruiser) in both base performance and armament, being both decently mobile and robust, and armed for both close-range and long-range combat.
- Brenda (red/flame-orangenote ): The Lancer of the group, whose flame-like red and orange shades match her fiery passion, emotional freedom, unfeminine boorishness and propensity for violence. Her mecha is a Mighty Glacier of a Tank-Tread Mecha that's oriented around maximum firepower and destructive mayhem, with BFGs, rotary autocannons, incendiary ammunition and cluster munitions being her weapons of choice.
- Cristal (blue/indigo): The intellectual whose levelheaded rationalism matches her finesse. Her combat doctrine revolves around the principle taking out enemies before they even see you is the most prudent approach, and so is screwing with the more delicate systems of the opponent's vehicle; thus her mecha sports a precision plasma railcannon as its main weapon to not only deal massive damage but also inflict high levels of heat upon the target mecha and disrupt its electronic systems, while using a shoulder-mounted Surveillance Drone Deployer for long-range reconnaissance and target spotting. If an enemy gets too close, she can rely on the cryo-missile launcher mounted on the other shoulder to freeze them in their tracks long enough to blast the now brittle target with the large-caliber handgun that she keeps as a sidearm.
- Delizia (yellow/lime-green): The Baby of the Bunch, whose childlike cheerfulness, playfulness, and belies both her emotional intelligence and combat prowess. Her mecha is an exemplar Fragile Speedster, allowing her to zip around in all three dimensions like a hyperactive bumblebee while showering her enemies with her dual-wielded submachine guns, shoulder-mounted micro-missiles and decoy countermeasure deployer, all while she laughs and taunts.
- Maia (green/wood-brown): The Team Mom who always fusses over everyone else's well-being, and will visit hell upon any who dare threaten or harm her "children". That same maternality translates into a Barrier Warrior / "mothership"-style combat doctrine; her mecha is a Stone Wall that boasts the heaviest armor, a wide-area Deflector Shield emitter on one shoulder for both her own protection and that of friendlies, and a Drone Deployer on the other shoulder that launches a swarm of Attack Drones to harass the enemy while she closes the distance, often ramming into the enemy with the full force of her energy shield, staggering them with both the impact damage and electromagnetic disruption right before she lays into them with her electro-baton, with the Pile Bunker delivering the coup de grace.
- Xenia (black/aquamarine): An Unscrupulous Hero and a Femme Fatale par excellence who serves as the Token Evil Teammate. Off the battlefield, she cracks her way through enemy cyber-security and conduct Sinister Surveillance, sabotage, and other forms of espionage, while also maintaining contacts in the Black Market. Her combat doctrine, meanwhile, is a dark mirror to Prima's own and can be summed up as "ambush predator"; her mecha has very similar specs and armaments, but with the addition of active camouflage and other stealth-enhancing systems allow her to ambush her targets with ease and constantly harass enemies with hit-and-run attacks, driving them mad with fear or rage so that she can exploit their lapses in judgment, or simply to relish their suffering. Yes, she can handle her own in a straight fight like Prima... but where's the fun in that?
My issue: I was hoping that the team's assigned primary colors would reflect the traditional number of major color bands in the visible spectrum, i.e. seven, but so far I only have four of them (red, blue, yellow, green). I tried figuring out personalities, combat styles and secondary colors to pair with "orange" and "violet", but kept getting stumped. Any suggestions?
Edited by MarqFJA on Jul 18th 2025 at 11:47:17 AM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Not sure I fully grok what you're saying, but for suggestions for orange and violet...
Violet
- What about an occultist? Like, it seems you're going for a kinda sci-fi premise, so it might be interesting to have a more mystically inclined character, even if she's wrong. Purple is also a kinda grown-up color, so maybe this character could be, like, sexually frank? Like, more honest about sexuality and such things. Drawing heavily on Nanapon here. Could also pull it more in a nerd direction.
- Honestly, the more I think about it an occult nerd feels really nice here. It feels like it'd pair well with the other characters you listed.
- For a fighting style, a drone specialist would make sense to me based on what I've suggested. Perhaps a large variety of versatile drones to contrast with Maia? Would probably want to stay away from the direct battlefield, and would rather keep a safe distance. Could also more directly interfere with the enemy, flash-bangs and radio jacking and such?
- For second colors, I notice you've went with mostly similar or thematic colors. I'd suggest some kind of pink, since that's typically paired up with violet in my experience. Perhaps more of a rich magenta to contrast with the more pastel vibes of Prima?
Orange
- Yeah, this is an odd one. I feel like orange isn't used that much. Well, looking at what we have here, we have a traditional feminine hero, a tomboy, a smart girl, a childish one, the mom friend, and the evil one, while I've also suggested more of an occultist nerd. Maybe take the sexually frank thing I suggested from Violet and pull it over here? I'm thinking a Gyaru Girl, so a proper cheerful extrovert, though it'd have to be tweaked a bit to not be too similar to Delizia.
- Perhaps codify her as more of a social butterfly party girl? The idea is that Orange is a warm color, so this is a warm and inviting person? Also, probably a bit of an image of bad spray-tans... But I do kinda feel it's a kinda "fashionable" color too?
- This one's fighting style... I'm drawing more on her personality, but I'm imagining some kind of support unit? Fast enough to clear the way/scout ahead, enough weapons to provide supporting fire, enough armor to protect the frailer members... I'm also kinda imagining a flight-capable mech? Could work for violet too, come to think of it, but I'm imagining orange could get some good utility out of it. Like, acting as an emergency spotter for the other girls or something? Maybe some special tracking equipment she can shoot into enemies?
- Second color... Sky-Blue maybe? I'm imagining Orange in this case representing the sun, with the blue being the, well, sky. Unsure, since it's mostly pictures of the big plasma ball that look orange, while the big spotlight is more yellow-ish white, right? Yellow or Red could work as a "Variant Color" type. Yellow would be the most unique of those, I think.
- Honestly, purple is a pretty nice contrast, IMO, if a bit halloween-y. Teal is also pretty nice... Of these I'd personally lean towards sky-blue or purple.
This good?
Read Otr of the Flame (She/Her)Fwiw I have a slightly similar team of color coded magical girls. The orange one is a tank (therefore more defensive in fighting style.) and the purple one is similar to Marchen's idea about but more of a Mage Marksman.
Perhaps you can borrow these ideas for your own team?
Seconding violet as the "occultist". Alternatively, the verbose intellectual lady.
For orange, I'd say the "weird one", like the Cloudcuckoolander or The Loonie of the team.
Oo oo ah ah@MarqFJA: Perhaps you could replace black with violet, and wood-brown with orange?
In the latter case, orange might pair with the idea of warmth (here maternal) and energy (as in her energy shields). And you already have green to convey the connection to nature.
In the former case, well, violet can look pretty dark to human eyes, and is close to the invisible ultraviolet.
~
[edit] [edit] Moving my question to a new post, due to another post appearing below this one...
Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jul 18th 2025 at 7:59:22 PM
My Games and Asset PacksI knew I must've forget something or two in my preoccupation with writing everything else.
OK, first a few clarifications:
- The mecha and the setting in general are Armored Core.
- The team in question are independent mercenaries in a Crapsack World dominated by Corporate Warfare (though The Government is far from toothless). Their "normal" lives are considerably limited in comparison to, say, those Gundam series that aren't set in a post-apocalypse; by and large, they have only themselves and a select few others for social interaction.
Now without further ado...
@Marchen
So like, being obsessed with divination and other supersititions, to the extent of performing occultic rituals just before going out in her mecha for the sake of soliciting cosmic providence and warding off misfortune, and becoming nervous at the sight of ill omens?
That's Xenia's sthick. Femme Fatale, remember?
Actually, if we go by the occultic vibe you suggested, I'm thinking that her mecha's armament would comprise of weapons that purposefully screw with the enemy's systems (e.g. status debuffs, as a technological version of magical "hexes"), like a medium-range "shock rifle" to rapidly electrify the target until the accumulated static charge disrupts or even fries its electronics, a laser handgun for overheating, and shoulder-mounted electro-missile and heavy plasma blaster that can respectively shock and overheat enemies into powerlessness if they don't outright destroy them.
... Huh, how about that. A purple lightning
-themed one to fit with the other elemental motifs. That wasn't planned, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Yeah, definitely magenta, given its exoticness as a prime example of extra-spectral colors. The violet would have to be relatively dark/muted in comparison, of course.
I initially had my misgivings about your suggestion... until I had an epiphany.
- She could mix together a measure of Delizia's cheerfulness, Brenda's passion, Maia's caregiving and Xenia's sensuality to fill the missing role of Cool Big Sis, and in fact be a better choice of The Heart for the group, with Delizia as the backup option (basically this one would do it through social expertise and diplomacy, while Delizia would essentially brute-force it through sheer "innocent child" energy).
- Even though they're more or less nomadic as mercenaries, her extroversion and social butterfly party girl-ness could have an outlet through maintaining a faceless utaite or even vtuber side gig.
- She could be the Gamer Chick, regularly playing online video games as another outlet for socialization.
Given your suggestion of making her a Gyaru Girl and the generally free-spirited vibe of her personality, I'm feeling that it would appropriate to make her a "flashier" counterpart to Delizia; her mecha would be another flying Fragile Speedster, but with rapid-fire lasers and shoulder-mounted rapid-fire plasma blasters instead of kinetic submachine guns and regular missiles.
Sky blue seems like a good choice, all things considered. I'll have to think about it later, though.
@MorningStar1337: I already have an offensive tank in Brenda and a defensive tank in Maia. Don't know if I could fit in a third and not overlap too much with either one.
@TMH-Sir-Iron-Vomit: Cloudcuckoolander / The Loonie is an interesting idea. Might take the magenta color from the occultist girl (giving her yellow instead) and give it to this one, while setting up her mecha to be the equivalent of a Lethal Joke Character — highly unorthodox and seemingly useless on the surface, but in her hands is unexpectedly ultra-dangerous.
@ArsThaumaturgis: Thanks, but I think I'm satisfied with what I've got now.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Fair enough.
~
A question of my own, if I may:
What do you understand in the word "sepulchre"? In particular, what meaning do you derive from its use as part of a compound noun?
For example, if you heard of a "Sepulchre Plateau", what would you make of that, and what connotations would you draw? What would you expect of such a place?
My Games and Asset Packs"Sepulchre Plateau"? That makes me think of some desolate highland, where something happened in the past that killed a lot of people and/or animals. And the bodies are still there, either buried underground, or even embedded in the stone, but visible.
Edited by TMH-Sir-Iron-Vomit on Jul 18th 2025 at 8:19:15 PM
Oo oo ah ah![]()
MY first instinct is getting Problem Sleuth flashbacks. Second is looking up the meaning, which is basically an old-school tomb?
So, I'm getting death vibes, but also a slightly silly vibe too. It's... intentionally old fashioned, I suppose. I guess what I'd expect from it is, like, a place with a single sepulchre. It feels like it'd also make sense grammatically speaking if there were multiple sepulchres, but based on my expectations, I'd assume only one, maybe.
Read Otr of the Flame (She/Her)![]()
![]()
That name gives me "land of the dead" vibes. Like, the plateau is full of graveyards / mass graves, or is home to the ruins of an ancient city that was once a major, prosperous bastion of civilization.
Edited by MarqFJA on Jul 18th 2025 at 12:04:59 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Ahh, thank you all! It looks like I'm more or less on-track with my use of the word, then! ^_^
(I was a little uncertain, as "sepulchre" has additional meanings, and I wasn't confident of how well-known those were or how they might have impacted the connotations drawn.
Since it looks like people primarily just think of "tomb", or "old-fashioned tomb", it seems likely enough that I'm in the clear! ^_^
(Of course, I could just use the word "tomb"—and indeed have been up until now—but in its intended place that word incurs a rhyme that I feel undermines the effect of its use. And in any case, I find "sepulchre" to be a more redolent word than the simpler "tomb"!))
My Games and Asset PacksI want to ask for ideas for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass themed magic tricks and general spells. Only thing I got so far was the "drink me" drinks and using a deck of cards to make Mooks
(yes, its for an Alice Allusion)
Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jul 20th 2025 at 10:54:10 AM
- Some sort of Dodo moves in a circular motion?
- Fireball? Drawing a magic circle? Evil Pokemon Ranger?
- Pepper that turns you into a pig?
- A rabbit watch that makes things run late, but always arrive at their destination
- For example, a bullet might miss, but ricochet into it's target, but, like, slower?
- A delayed effect, but also just slowing down
- Teleporting piece by piece, but always leaving the smile for last
- A time loop that only works at tea-time
- Driving people to madness, but only during the month of march
- Making people fall asleep, but only if they're sufficiently mouse-like
- So, they could be a mouse, or have a mousey personality, or mousy brown hair, or have recently visited Disneyland, or...
- Of the playing card minions, the queens should be able to decapitate people, the kings should have unstoppable healing powers and can undo the beheadings, and the jacks should be master thieves
- A magical Hookah that lets you read minds
- Rokurokubi neck powers
- The ability to promote to various chess-based forms
- Or possibly minions that do the same. Either way, I feel promotions would work for the chessy bits.
- A vorpal blade that goes snicker-snack, but requires a lengthy nonsensical chant to be summoned from within a book
- Since the Jabberwocky doesn't actually appear in the looking glass
- A wooden walrus who lures people into it's maw with it's siren song?
- A monstrous crow that induces amnesia?
- a magic egg that... something with words and definitions?
- Makes words mean exactly what you mean them to, and nothing else? So, homonyms for any of the other powers could apply?
- Or you throw it at someone, and they start speaking gobbledygook, but they can't tell because they're saying exactly what they intend to say, even if others can't tell what their words mean?
- Something something lion and unicorn minions?
- Lion's the better fighter, but the unicorn gets magic stuff?
Something like this?
Read Otr of the Flame (She/Her)Spells that conjure...
- A disembodied smiling cat head,
- A hypnotic walrus,
- A "mock" clone of an existing creature,
- An ugly baby pig,
- A flood of tea,
- And a bunch of animals running in circles.

This might be slightly off topic (especially because it was a vampire of all people who did this). But that quote reminds me of a book I read long ago where this is kind of what a vampire did to a human who discovered the existence of the supernatural. Just locked him in a closet in one of several empty houses he owned and nearly starved/thirsted him to death until he was mentally and physically broken, whereupon he submitted to not telling anyone about what he'd learned.
That's actually a pretty "good" idea, especially if you have a large wooded area for these types of prisons. It's horrible but it fits with their policy of not killing people, since they really don't like the idea of murdering their neighbors.
As for this:
This was actually my go-to idea, but it conflicts with an existing plot point wherin people in these positions of power are the human helpers of the pack that I mentioned; they use their power to avert human attention to the werewolves' antics when it is needed. I suppose they could threaten to ruin the lives of rebels by proxy using these high-ranking human citizens.
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace