Content Violations Review: Fanfic.The Naked Jedi

This looks like it might just be pure smut, or something approaching it. It appears to depict an alternate version of the Jedi Order whereby the Force is essentially treated as Sex Magic, and includes lots of NSFW AI-generated art. A large number of the on-page and character tropes are devoted to describing how attractive the characters are or sexual activity.

Edited by Azorius24 on Apr 10th 2024 at 10:23:02 AM

This seems to be a retread of Vow of Nudity IN SPACE, so I'm voting keep.

I did read through rather quickly and it seems as though each 5-chapter work in the series just seems to exist for the purpose of including two sex scenes, plus exhibitionism fetishes and "sexy" AI art. Was Vow of Nudity similar?

Okay, I just don't seem to know what the standard for "porn" is. Sorry.

Edited by Azorius24 on Apr 12th 2024 at 7:20:39 PM

Vow of Nudity doesn't have the AI art

Hm. That doesn't sound like wall-to-wall sex to me. We have keeper books with sex every few pages (Anita Blake: Vampire Humper, I'm looking at you).

"every few pages" would definitely not be "majoroty of the work", though if someone has read Anita Blake, they can make a separate report if there's a need to.

Vow of Nudity was kept due to being analyzed and not being "bad enough".

Here we'll need some more in-depth recap than "exist for the purpose of including two sex scenes".

Also, "character tropes are devoted to describing how attractive the characters are" may require a cleanup regardless of the outcome.

Anita Blake started as a standard Urban Fantasy series; it didn't turn into glorified erotica until way later. The first book doesn't have any sex scenes at all, even.

Back on topic, this is sounding like porn for the sake of porn. I'm leaning cut.

Edited by StarSword on Apr 12th 2024 at 6:03:25 AM

I glanced through the first chapter of this fic on AO3 and it's basically straight-up fetish/smut. Our own trope article makes that clear. Cut.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 15th 2024 at 2:03:31 PM

cut

Having a glance at the history, it looks like both pages have been created and extensively edited by the troper Erik Modi, who just so happens to share the name of the work's author. Is this literal Auto-Erotic Troping?

The majority of their output seems to be unambiguous smut, and they've also created a page for another work of theirs which might have similar problems.

Edited by Azorius24 on Apr 16th 2024 at 9:39:48 AM

Ugh, this fic reminds me of Rose Potter.

Cut

This seems suspicious.

Currently advocating to cut the page.

Is it okay to page that user?

That's a very old user, too. ~Erik Modi, we'd like to talk to you about our Content Policy standards, as well as Auto-Erotic Troping.

Changing my vote to cut.

@Fighteer: In general, Content Violations does not pre-emptively censor work pages, for the record. I would personally assume that the page was made in good faith (despite being auto-erotic - that isn't itself against the rules) and that the writer did not think of it as pure smut. If I'm wrong, of course, they can correct me.

I'm not suspending the author or anything, not without a warning at least. But it can be problematic when an author tropes their own work, especially where the Content Policy is concerned. Further, I've spent a fair bit of time on AO3 and am familiar enough with its... content... to recognize a work whose purpose is tittilation vs. literary merit or whatever.

[x] Cut. I read through the first three chapters, and it's just written porn mixed with AI porn.

I looked at Modi's forum post history, and it looks like he doesn't make posts that often. This makes me wonder how long it'll take for him to answer Fighteer's ping - assuming he even answers at all.

(Voting cut, by the way.)

Edited by JHD0919 on Apr 17th 2024 at 9:18:34 AM

Cut

Looks like there's an overwhelming majority to cut, and ~Erik Modi has yet to respond to Fighteer's ping. Should I ready the cobalt nuke on this thing?

I may be wrong, but I haven't actually seen any votes against cutting it in this thread. Never mind, missed Ramidel. Still, that's 1 against and... 6? for.

So... pretty sure you can call it by tomorrow (at most). Maybe earlier.

Edited by Floater on Apr 18th 2024 at 10:28:22 AM

Modi just messaged me. He'll reply soon.

Also, Ramdiel is voting cut.

Edited by Siegfried1337 on Apr 18th 2024 at 8:14:58 AM

Yep, changed my vote after hearing Fighteer's eval.

Based on the assessments I've seen, I also agree that we should cut this.

Hello! I am ErikModi. You want to cut my tropes page. Prepare for a lot of words.

So, yes, I don't frequent the forums, because I have generally not had good experiences on them. I don't want to believe anyone's trying to be mean, and if you think I am being mean, I honestly and sincerely do not mean to be. If something I say affronts you, point it out to me, and I'll try to correct my error.

We don't have to be mean. Because no matter where you go, there you are.

I'm not going to say The Naked Jedi isn't smut. That would be insulting your intellects and the efforts I've put into writing it. It is intended to appeal to a certain adult audience who enjoys some eroticism in their stories. But it is also intended to be a story, with a meaningful plot and engaging characters. It is intended to be one of my explorations of some of the deeper themes and larger questions Star Wars raises, and of course, to have Star Wars style action and adventure.

I've noted some of you have "skimmed" only the first part, which I think is not a wholly fair evaluation of the work as a whole. So let me take you on an author-guided tour of Sarza's journey thus far, with some hints at what's to come.

The first story arc, "Escape From The Lost World," is meant to accomplish three things. First and foremost, to introduce Sarza and the Nue Jedi. Second is to introduce the Nue Jedi and my concepts of what the Force is and means, what role the Jedi play in it, and to take the Prequel-era Jedi to task in a more constructive way than most Star Wars fiction does (more on that in a minute). Finally, to get Sarza to the point where she can leave and explore the wider galaxy, introducing a whole new Star Wars setting.

Sarza is obviously the main character, and establishing her, her skills and talents, and who she is is important, as she'll feature heavily in the story moving forward. Along with her we need to establish the Nue Jedi, explaining her going about naked. But hand-in-hand with the Nue Jedi is my explorations of what I feel the Force is and means. One of the most exciting things to me experiencing a new piece of Star Wars fiction, fan or not, is what this creator's take on the Force is. I don't agree with all of them, and some make me leave immediately ("Gray Jedi" is particularly apt to raise my hackles). And I make no claims of my way being the One True And Right Way, it's just my interpretation.

A thing that bothers me about a lot of Star Wars fanfiction (and some official media) is looking at the flawed Prequel-era Jedi Order and assuming they're just as bad as the Sith, but at least the Sith are honest about what they are (and get to do cool stuff like Force Lightning). But few really think about why the Jedi Order developed the rules it has, why it insists on training only infants. Because the Dark Side is real, and terrible, and indoctrinating a mindset to resist it's temptations is important. The problems arose when the Jedi became so dogmatic — I like to use the phrase "ideologically inbred" — that they couldn't cope with someone who thought differently than they were trained to.

So, Master Haara's Nue Jedi are something of a response to that. And I should note, I never present the Nue Jedi way as "The Way," the superior ultimate truth that the Jedi should always have been aspiring to. It has its benefits, but also its drawbacks, and it is not correct in all things. Yeah, it requires adherents to be naked, but that also means going without a lot of the tools and gear that others rely on, the idea that the Force should be their tool. That's an interesting idea, but can lead to problems (I'll touch on that later).

Once you get past "hot pink naked chick," this is intended to provoke thought about the nature of the Force and various versions of the Jedi Order that have appeared in Star Wars. What do you agree with, what do you disagree with, what do you think has been done wrong, what do you think has been done right? Why? I don't condemn the Jedi for the sake of condemning them, I just point out what I perceive as flaws, but also why I feel those flaws came about.

There's also the very emotional scene of Sarza's mother dying in the crash, her father dying a year later and leaving her all alone until she finds Master Haara's holocron. A scene that, honestly, came out a lot more emotional than I'd planned, but I had to follow the writing.

In "Escape From The Lost World," there are. . . I would say two-and-a-half sex scenes, so let's round up to three. To my mind, a sex scene is exactly like any other scene: it should make the audience feel at least one emotion, and should advance at least one of character, plot, or world-building. The first is unlocking Sarza's special Nue Jedi power, giving her a very limited power boost in very specific circumstances, advancing her character, but also advancing the plot as she rebuilds Essex and gains access to a droid (really a floating toolbox so she can have some gear). The "half" is when she builds her lightsaber, but the focus is less on her and more on it, again advancing character and plot by having Sarza perform this critical Jedi rite of passage. The third is her fighting off the Dark Side spirit, which is more a metaphysical combat than a scene strictly written to titillate. The emotions should be a blend of arousal and hope and excitment for the first two, more dread, fear, and finally triumph for the last one.

Finally, we have Sarza's escape, what I'd hoped would qualify as a Wham Episode, but apparently didn't (Wham, to my mind, is an "audience reaction" trope, something authors are forbidden from adding). A tense launch of Sarza's barely-repaired ship, fifteen minutes before she chokes on carbon dioxide or burns up in the atmosphere. But she sent out a distress call in the Force and it was received, and a ship comes to rescue her. But Star Wars fans should feel the description of a great, gray wedge-shaped ship with a flattened hexagon on top is familiar, feel great concern as her ship is carried by tractor beam into a shining landing bay filled with white-armored and black-uniformed people, and a tall man with wavy hair and a lightsaber. Everything feels familiar, but somehow off. Then the man introduces himself as Kael Skywalker, and the audience should be TOTALLY confused.

Sadly, didn't seem to work out that way. Ah, well.

That sets us up for the second arc, "A Galaxy Exposed," where we learn what's going on. We're in the Legends continuity, a thousand years after the New Jedi Order novels, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances has fallen, the Imperial Remnant has resurged as the Second Galactic Empire, working with a renewed Jedi Order to bring peace and security to the galaxy.

I debated a lot, when the seed for this story began sprouting in my head, about where to set it. I discarded all the canon options — Clone Wars, Rebellion, Post-Endor Legends, Post-Endor New Canon — for pretty much the same reason. Either Sarza's presence would make it a Fix Fic, or I'd slavishly adhere to canon and Sarza might as well not be there. So I dusted off the Second Empire setting I'd been working on for awhile, and brought that to life. It's kind of "Star Wars's Greatest Hits." Galaxy-spanning Empire with a mighty war machine, huge armies and huger ships. Jedi Order at the height of its influence and power. Clone troopers. Lovable Rogue smugglers. Everything and the kitchen sink.

This arc also includes some ruminations on the politics of the galaxy, and a touching scene of Sarza naming the system she was stranded in after her parents, the planet after her mother and the moon after her father.

"Their legacy would live on, long after Sarza herself was dust and memory, and beyond the point where memory of Sarza faded to nothing.

It was a fitting tribute."

Once Sarza gets to know the new Jedi Council and I've explained much of the state of things (but not all, there's still things I'm trying to work in, like how the Jedi can ethically maintain a clone army), we move on to the next arc, "Return To The Lost World." Aayla goes with Sarza to Tarizal to learn of the Nue Jedi and verify it isn't a Dark Side order in masquerade. Here is where I take exception to characterizing the series as "Strictly Formula." I don't have a formula, my writing process precludes it. I shoot for five chapters when plotting out Naked Jedi stories, and sex scenes occur as they make sense for the story. "Return To The Lost World is only four chapters, because that's all the plot the premise provided. If I'd been slavishly adhering to a formula, I would have padded it out with more sex, but the scenes wouldn't have served character or plot or world-building, so they would have been gratuitous. We also get to meet the character I'm probably proudest of, Meelan Lah. Not only do I love her backstory, that for whatever reason she was unable to secure the loyalty of a Vonduun Crab to serve as her armor, but she's a great contrast to Sarza, and gives me an opening to explore what the Yuuzhan Vong are like a thousand years after the New Jedi Order.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot something I said I'd touch on later. "Return To The Lost World" also has Aayla demonstrating a "Force illusion" power for Sarza, suggesting she could use it to appear clothed. This is the same Force power Luke overused in Legends to hide his face from people, the one Papa Zahn took other EU authors to task for in Hand of Thrawn. And Sarza arrives at the idea that reaching out and distorting someone else's perceptions of reality for her own convenience is awful close to the Dark Side, and Aayla mostly agrees. Again, my ruminations on the nature of the Force and where those lines might be drawn.

We start exploring that in "Mystery Of A Reclaimed Planet," hearing references to Yuuzhan Vong Shapers working with Ithorians to restore Ithor, which was scoured of life during the "Vong Wars," and we meet Yuuzhan Vong on Honoghr trying to help the Noghri restore their world. But something's gone wrong, and. . . did you ever see The Thing (1982)?

This brings me to the subject of metaplot. A hint was dropped in "Return To The Lost World," with the pirates attacking Aayla and Sarza. Not only did that give a rousing combat scene (and a taste of what my idea of a Jedi Master in the FFG Star Wars RPG system looks like), but those pirates shouldn't have even known the planet was there, let alone that anyone was on. But they were there specifically to find Aayla and Sarza. Which means, as Aayla says, someone got information out of the Jedi Temple, which is supposed to be impossible. And in "Mystery Of A Reclaimed Planet," we have the creature introduced to Honoghr's brutalized ecosystem. Who put it there? Why? How do they have access to the most illegal and restricted of illegal and restricted Yuuzhan Vong Shapings?

The arc that's currently in progress (and going slower than I'd like. . . I have less time to write than I used to, and LitRPG stories like this are more complicated to work on) involves Sarza and Meelan Lah going in search of answers to some of those questions. It'll be difficult and dangerous, and involves Sarza putting herself in a position no sane being should want to be in. It'll also involve sex scenes not necessarily intended to titillate, Sarza's first real lightsaber duel, and looks into the criminal underworld of the Second Empire, for worse and better.

Yes, this story is intended to, as Tom Lehrer said, "arouse the prurient interest" of the reader. But it is also intended to just be a good story.

Final note: I find it highly questionable Alien/Species Crossover: Return to LV-426 should be considered for nuking, when a casual glance at tags and ratings shows that the only things the stories have in common are being written by me and extended shout-outs to The Thing. There are a grand total of two sex scenes in the crossover, and neither is explicit.

I also take umbrage at characterizing the majority of my work as smut. Counting the Alien/Species Crossover series and Naked Jedi as one work each, 9 of my works are rated Mature or lower, only 4 are rated Explicit, and the M work is rated more for violence and language than sexuality. I am particularly proud of my Babylon 5, Conan, and Godzilla vs. Kong fics, two of which are Teen rated. The Babylon 5 is rated M for dealing in mature themes.

I sincerely thank you all for your time and attention. I hope you have a great day, and wish you all the very best.

Edited by ErikModi on Apr 18th 2024 at 11:38:15 AM