Random Questions Thread

@ Altris:

Okay good. I was trying to convey a sense of intelligence and cunning in this particular character. It's important to me since she is very much The Big Guy of the protagonists and I wanted to show an example of her being more than just brawn.

...as for the other comment yes it is intentionally horrible. It's intended to be right in your face sort of awful nothing fridgey about it. Worse this is a common power among werewolves so it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 14th 2021 at 4:55:04 AM

As to the question of whether it counts as Loophole Abuse, based on a quick look at the trope-page, I would say so, yes: The character does indeed seem to be using a technicality of the compulsion to bypass the spirit of it.

Another strange question by Maslovar — where I can find information about workings of court-martials in USA? I'm interested in all procedure like investigation, gathering prosecutors and attorneys (and whom can play that roles), criterias for court-martial judges etc. Thanks in advance!

@ C105: Good suggestions all around. I like the second idea. Only snag is that most of the boys (not all of them though) do have girlfriends and they're also loyal to those girlfriends. I do have 3 single boys though, and one of them sounds like a decent candidate. He has a love interest but not much has happened with them yet and it wouldn't be cheating or scummy since at this point he and the girl are just friends.

Hiding in the resevoir of an outhouse is probably a doomed idea, since any group of agents worth their salt would check down there, but you what if there were a hidden opening located about midway down, put there by previous owners and not known to Character B? Maybe the original owners of the house (B's parents?) were moonshiners.

Also, asking a girl for a dance does not mean the boy has Mating Dance in mind, so some of your boys may well be asking girls without having any intention of cheating on their girlfriends or love interests. Maybe my age/inexperience is showing, but I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people in clubs for whom a dance is just a dance (although I'm even less of an expert when it comes to London clubs, though).

Fair point, but I do like the idea of the single dude, who is probably pretty drunk at this point, just trying to dance with a pretty girl and then somehow being kicked out for sexual harassment, especially since despite all his positives and development, his character was still originally written as just being a Jerk Jock rival to the protagonist and a pretty big flirt to said protagonist's girlfriend. I think seeing him sincerely try and dance with a girl, only for it to backfire in such a way, would make sense in context and with his character, without setting him up as a bad guy (since it'd be a drunken accident).

I'm trying to figure out of these are plausible reasons for a character not to kill someone he has every reason in the world to want dead immediately.

One of my characters, a powerful vampire, has finally defeated and cornered one of the story's villains. This is a werewolf supremacist and terrorist who has been playing deadly whack-a-mole with the vampire covens and even werewolf packs of the United States for decades at this point. Only minutes prior to being defeated, she turned all of his human servants into werewolves and sent them after him, forcing him to slaughter them just to stay alive and put them out of their misery. Despite being a vampire noble, this guy is very much a Noble Demon and acted as A Father to His Men when it came to these particular humans, rather than just view them as food or slaves. So he is absolutely enraged at this latest development.

However he stays his hand from killing her and instead decides to simply stick to his original goal of capturing her and then trading her to another powerful vampire coven.

The reasons I've given for his sparing her life are these:

• He was ordered to capture her alive and carry out the trade and is devoted to serving his higher ups, both due their obvious rank and the fact they are his parents.

• He is worried that killing her will actually worsen the Fur Against Fang war in the US that is escalating after years of peace. She is hated by vampires and werewolves alike but paradoxically she has a pretty big following amongst werewolves nonetheless, a movement that is rapidly picking up momentum as she pushes her rather populist appeal towards "ordinary" werewolves and their interests. He feels that killing her would create a martyr of sorts.

• He's aware that she is being manipulated by some outside force for some unknown goal (her past actions of terrorism/werewolf supremacy are entirely hers alone, but her recent behavior is markedly different and more erratic than usual) and he wants to figure out the identity and motivations of this outsider who has inserted themselves into the conflict.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 15th 2021 at 6:09:41 AM

The order said "alive", not "unharmed".

He can vent his anger on the wolf as long that one condition isn't broken.

Also, much easier to transport if whats left can fit in a suitcase.

Those sound like pretty decent reasons to eschew killing her, I do think. (Especially if his superiors are prone to violence: there might be punishment should his captive die.)

@ Titan Jump and Ars Thaumaturgis, thank you both for your responses and judgements.

@ Titan Jump: Yes, he does have a similar point outlook on this point. His method of bringing her down was incredibly brutal and he does proceed to deliver another No-Holds-Barred Beatdown once she has sufficiently regenerated from her initial defeat so that his actions won't threaten her life. He does this while explaining that he specifically won't be killing her any time soon.

@ Ars Thaumaturgis: Thanks, I'm glad they made sense. It seemed fairly straightforward, but I was worried that the extent of her crimes made sparing her unrealistic. I need her to live past this specific point for plot reasons, so I didn't want to it to seem to "transparent" for lack of a better word.

It isn't so much that his superiors are prone to violence (well, they are, even if it's more violence-by-proxy). It's that they are his parents and even more than that, he has a sworn duty to serve the leaders of his coven, similar to how a knight serves his liege-lord. Doing anything less would violate his familial and personal honor.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 15th 2021 at 8:03:04 AM

What are the biggest superhero (team) cliches of this decade?^note  I'm not really able to make such conclusions by myself because there's not enough superhero comics available in my home country, i've only ever seen Marvel in my language -and i have no idea where they even sell it- and ordering anything from abroad -especially america- would be too expensive, so i barely read any. I just watch the movies and cartoons.

The flying brick - The speedster - the elemental - the mentalist - the busty chick - the powerless gadget user - the animal themed super...

@ Nukeli:

• The "Token" hero-with-no-powers who kicks ass anyway due to assistive technology or simple skills (Batman/Iron Man and a host of others that would take too long to name).

• The super-genius whose intellect is a superpower on its own, allowing him to outwit his enemies with science and create technological marvels...yet cannot seem to solve mundane problems like world-hunger, cancer, etc).

• The hero/heroine who draws power from a dangerous/unstable/evil source and must maintain constant focus and control to ensure their power does not consume them or drive them into a frenzy that will be dangerous to others. The Hulk from Marvel comes to mind or Raven from DC. There are others, but again, they take too long to name.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 15th 2021 at 12:57:20 PM

TLDR: Can anyone give any ideas as to the punishment an organization would mete out to a member who partnered with and then conceived a child with a target he was supposed to be watching and spying on? Conceiving the child is actually a major part of his transgressions too, almost as bad as abandoning the assignment.

More Detailed Explanation:

• A male character within my story belongs to an ancient knightly order turned paramilitary organization. He was assigned to track and spy upon a certain woman and report her movements, actions and general health and state of mind back to the organization. He was not to interact with her directly and if forced to, he was to remove himself from the situation as quickly as possible without drawing suspicion.

• Through a series of circumstances what happens instead is that they meet, start to strike up a friendship that becomes a relationship and then results in a baby. He abandons his duties to the order and journeys with her. He assists with her endeavors and plans as best as he can and otherwise devotes himself to keeping their little family safe.

• Eventually he winds up back amongst members of his old organization who utterly despise him, and want him punished. The thing is, I cannot think of a suitable punishment for him...oddly enough because he has broken so many different rules and so badly messed up that it feels like simple death is both too extreme and not extreme enough.

How ruthless is the organisation he belongs to? The character's actions are quite incriminating, so they will definitely want to make him pay, and how much depends on the lengths they are prepared/capable to go. His death sounds like a good start, but if they want to make him pay more they could probably try to also kill his wife and child before him (or kill them and let him live). But once again, I don't know if they are ready to kill children or if they are able to kill the mother.

@ C105:

They're incredibly ruthless; one of the most foreboding factions in the setting. They're capable of and have perpetrated eugenics, many assassinations including of entire extended families, and they rule an entire supernatural species with an iron fist of terror.

They are unable to kill the mother or the child which is part of their frustration. The mother is the last member of an ancient bloodline they are very interested in preserving, but her actions have left them considering killing her multiple times...hence why he was sent to spy on her to help aid this judgement.

Conceiving a child with her "contaminated" that line, but they don't want to kill the kid because now there are factions within the order who want to observe the child to see if he inherited his mother's powers.

It may be that they just decide to execute him for desertion since the situation is so convuluded.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 15th 2021 at 4:26:51 AM

An alternative to just killing him would be to cripple him severely (e.g. destroy his eyes, crush his spine, cut his hands, etc) and let him live with the knowledge that he won't be able to protect his family. It is maybe too cruel, but if they are that ruthless and want some payback (as well as making an example) it would probably be more satisfying to them than death.

@ C105:

That’s a pretty good idea actually. The only other punishment I had “on the table” was one that punished him and his entire family (his blood family not his wife and son). But that would violate the order’s code of honor since those people have been loyal to the group their whole lives. So mutilation/crippling and then locking him up is a good compromise.

What kind of names did Yugoslavian muslims generally have? Specifically people who would be children during the Yugoslav wars?

Let me note here that the question here is that of whether it's unrealistic for the character.

After all, different people have different attitudes to killing: you can find people who abhor any killing of another person, regardless of any crimes that said other may have committed; people who advocate for killing all criminals, regardless of the crime; and people scattered about the space between, I daresay!

As an alternative to the option that you already have, given the viciousness that you describe for this organisation, one possibility might be extended torture.

Question for a historical fiction.

The main character is a teenager living in Chinatown, San Francisco in a boarding house built for Chinese girls who have been rescued from human trafficking.

Coming from a family of military officers and being a talented fighter (despite being a freshman he becomes the captain of his high school's wrestling team), he decides to teach the girls how to fight (read: Mixed Martal Arts) so they can protect themselves better.

Unfortunately for the girls, he goes full on drill instructor to instill some sense of aggression to them.

Now, what are some creative insults you can use to traumatized girls without hurting their feelings too much?

@ Ars Thaumaturgis:

Yes you are right. The biggest problem in this situation is that if I go by the characterization of the potential killer, it's a 50/50 split as to whether he'll do it or not. I need him not too but I didn't want the readers to see the "wires" behind the scenes, if that makes sense.

As for the question about the rogue organization member...yes, crippling might actually result from the extended torture you suggest. These people are some of the darkest Hero Antagonists imaginable so that seems to be about the way to go. He messed up so badly and confounded so many carefully laid plans and research outcomes that there isn't much else for them to do.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 16th 2021 at 1:28:43 PM

@ dRoy:

I had to really think about this, since I have to admit it made me a little uncomfortable to consider. I'd stick with "generic" insults, such as comparing them to unflattering animals. Like "maggot" and such. Maybe if they don't perform a kick right, he could say "An earthworm could perform a better kick than that!" or something like that.

That seems kind of lame, but it's all I have, my apologies.

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Apr 16th 2021 at 12:36:10 PM

@dRoy: I agree it is quite a sensitive question. I would suggest things on the lines of "do you want to stay a victim all your life?" or "if that's all you can do they will have no problem taking you back", but I'm really not sure how far this crosses the line.