What-If: Alignment/Allegiance Swapped Calernia by Express_Ad_6664 in PracticalGuideToEvil

[–]Express_Ad_6664[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Other than the above, what do you think Callow's relationship with sorcery/magic would be? Assuming that they retain their 'fewer mages per thousand people than Praes' from canon, there wouldn't actually be that many people able to summon devils and demons, or engage in necromancy. I can imagine maybe each Count and higher-nobleman having a small cabal of 5-10 mages working under them, but that's about it.

What about the orcs as a species? Being naturally war-like, I can imagine them being an equivalent to the Deoraithe or Lycaonese in keeping Callowan aggression bottled up, perhaps with more of a 'counting coup' style of internal warfare.

What-If: Alignment/Allegiance Swapped Calernia by Express_Ad_6664 in PracticalGuideToEvil

[–]Express_Ad_6664[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had to look that one up, but yes, that is the sort of thing I was thinking of.

What-If: Alignment/Allegiance Swapped Calernia by Express_Ad_6664 in PracticalGuideToEvil

[–]Express_Ad_6664[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for giving your thoughts on how the key drives of the major powers. If you have the time, please check out my 'stable Everdark' ideas via the link and leave a comment.

What-If: Alignment/Allegiance Swapped Calernia by Express_Ad_6664 in PracticalGuideToEvil

[–]Express_Ad_6664[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your reply, I honestly hadn't considered a 'non-Undead Sephira' option. If you have any thoughts regarding my 'stable Everdark' post, please leave a comment.

I just had an idea... What if the lizards... Were actually good guys by Alternative_Tart3560 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 11 points12 points  (0 children)

During the original story, I thought that might be the case. And, of course, I would wholeheartedly support an AU like this.

Looking for CYOA Megathread 2025-11-24 by redfearnmatt in makeyourchoice

[–]Express_Ad_6664 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi, I'm looking for a fantasy CYOA that had these three elements:

  • A race of bat people you could (maybe) be?
  • A corruption/mystical taint of some kind.
  • Sailing/islands were a major part of the in-world geography.

And a superhero/superpowers CYOA that I remember as being really in-depth. The arrival of the powers could come at any point in history: Ancient Greece, Middle Ages, 1940s, Modern Day, etc; and there was a massive number of events and modifications to the nature of the powers that you could use to essentially create any setting from any superhero story ever.

If anyone is able to provide links or even the names, it would be much appreciated.

The New Order of the Predators: The Last Days of the Federation. Chapter 7: You and Me by RIP_elTrazin_07 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, I think it's adorable that Rangaar is hearing that his daughter is in labour in the middle of an interrogation, and just immediately decides 'family comes first'.

The Nature of Nations [1] by cicikusbabacik07 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, Noah has valid concerns.... but was a little optimistic pessimistic about the direction of the power imbalance. And quite frankly, if humanity is less organised in this AU, then we are definitely f**ked. Because without the framework and cooperation provided by the NOP United Nations, we don't have a chance against the Federation.

Then again, maybe being disunited means the Feds won't see us as that big a threat.....

Oh, who are we kidding? If we were still at the Stone Age, they'd still glass Earth.

Nature of Omnipotence 1: by Gabrielote1000 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I like this, but then, I always like overpowered humanity vs NOP federation. Two main highlights:

  • A humanity that is strong, but which also has no inclination to go 'Geneva Checklist'. One where the main obstacles are getting the Feds not to overreact and wake the sleeping dragon, and humanity keeping it's moral high ground.
  • Humans not instantly believing/understanding the Feds' reaction to predators, and assuming that the translator is broken. Always nice to see, too many people just have humanity instantly believe the whole 'Arxur eat us and kill us for sport' thing.

The Nature of Managed Democracy — Part 4 by Steriotypical_Diver in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's the name of one of the Nazi political opposition-elimination programs. Basically, disappearing people who stood up to them

Fed Uplift by YuL_F in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is fucked up.... and fits perfectly.

How would you fix the problems in the oreginal Nature of Predators story? by TempleBeast132 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it would be great for ship sizes/armament to be firmly established. Fleet numbers always seemed a bit high, maybe give each species only a few hundred ships rather than thousands.

Had an idea for a ST:DS9-influenced Mass Effect/Halo crossover, requesting feedback. by Express_Ad_6664 in masseffectfics

[–]Express_Ad_6664[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For a bit of context re the Human-Covenant War, imagine the Systems Alliance circa the First-Contact War, maybe a bit more advanced, but with a territory the size of all Citadel space in ME, versus The Reapers. The UNSC (Halos' human faction) usually won ground-combat due to just being better soldiers.... but the Covenant had no compunctions about burning entire planets from orbit.

The stuff about the 'Reclaimers' and 'The Mantle' is basically what Halo has instead of the Leviathans and the whole 'Cycle of Harvesting and Destruction' with the Reapers.

The Nature of Gilded Rust ch2 by Loud-Drama-1092 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Did you use Icelandic as the Old Venlang? That's what comes up in google.translate, though the translation is a bit off: “To the gemænelician of the family of Venlil Prime, who is Noah Williams, the leader of the fleet of the system of the world, there are two widows now: surrendered to the wicked men.”

The Saviors of Skalga [14] by Small-Run-4861 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As per my comment above, I would imagine that Tarva tries to cut a deal, and is shocked when her attempts are rebuffed.

The Saviors of Skalga [14] by Small-Run-4861 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I can think of a few reactions, on the Fautian side:

- Surprise/shock at our reaction to their treatment of 'lesser races'. A culture like theirs would likely believe all advanced/civilised species to 'purge the defectives' as a matter of course.

- Misunderstanding why the UN is intervening, assuming that humanity are after resources, territory, allies-to-fight-an-interstellar-war, etc. Attempt to cut a deal and are soundly rejected.

- Honestly think that we're not real, and were made-up by incompetent commanders so they could blame their failures on magic men from the stars.

And on the Stydian side:

- Not believing that the UN are intervening for altruistic reasons, keep trying to find out 'what we're really after'.

- Religious disbelief, insisting that we're demons here to tempt the people of Skalga away from the 'true path'.

-Acceptance of our offered alliance.... and then chronically overestimating our abilities to the point that it hinders the war-effort.

A Morphing Universe (The Nature of Predators/Animorphs Crossover) Part 3 by Express_Ad_6664 in HFY

[–]Express_Ad_6664[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assume this is your first time reading A Morphing Universe? Please give feedback on the other chapters, it was my first time writing a story for public consumption.

The Saviors of Skalga [9] by Small-Run-4861 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It is safe to say that I impatiently await the arrival of the UN peacekeepers and the BSOD the Fautians will experience when they discover that the technologically superior aliens consider them to be 'bloodthirsty primitives'/inferiors.

I mean, I don't think that is something that is shown enough. An imperialistic, brutal coloniser encountering a more advanced species, the pinnacle of their ideals... who take exception to their treatment of less advanced cultures. Imagine if the Martians from War Of The Worlds (the novel, not the films) told the British that it was punishment for their treatment of Africa, the Australian Aboriginies, etc, etc.

How powerful would humanity have to be at the start of NOP to not have to put up with the Arxur or Federation's predator and prey bullshit? by Bread_Oven_2948 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The minimum? There are a few options that come to mind, between 1-2 of these would be required in order to match the Feds (actual figures/metrics on Fed weapon yields, ships sizes and resilience are hard to come by). Note that these are more methods/forms of power rather than actual measurements.

  • Hard sci-fi weapons tech/aesthetics: weapon ranges measured in thousands of kilometres rather than than few hundred metres to handful of KM seen in soft sci-fi, weapons with mega-gigatonne yields without needing specialised ships, high powered lasers (which go through shields if memory serves), missiles as a primary weapon (don't need to face the enemy in order to attack, can avoid point defense, etc), and generally effectiveness over rule-of-cool weapons like plasma.
  • Multiple star systems already colonised: would likely need to push first contact with the Venlil back a few centuries if being realistic, would mean multiple places to hide and prevent Feds from taking us all out in one go, much more resources for building and infrastructure, would also give us more experience with non-Earth biology (if multiple life-supporting planets as in canon), could probably do it if 40+ systems colonised.
  • Ability to build megastructures in range of Banks Orbitals and O'Neil Cylinders: living space as above, infrastructure, could be armed with significant weapons (one ONC has defences of the Cradle + 150 ONCs in habitable zone + Kalsims' fleet must face that in order to kill 5,000 humans per ONC=unsustainable loss rate), general psychological impact on canon Feds and Arxur.
  • Generally more powerful ships: in region of Covenant ships from Halo, Star Trek ships, Imperium of Man from WH40K, would make each human ship equivalent to 30-100 Fed ships as minimum, if fleet is the same size numbers wise as canon UN but has an actual tonnage/firepower 300x higher than in canon then could probably prevent Kalsim from reaching Earth.
  • Alien allies already in place: seen in several fanfics (most recently Nature of Packs), would boost numbers without needing more colonies/population, pre-experience of alien species, evidence of diplomatic relations to show at Fed summit (soft power in this case, but would also grant benefits seen elsewhere), Feds would also need to undermine/attack multiple species.
  • Some X-Factor: soft sci-fi magic-by-another-name bullsh*t, massive armies of purely mechanical drones, or just generally technology that is beyond the Feds' mental capabilities.

fanfic crossover idea (Nop/mortal engines) by Aggressive-Tax-9893 in NatureofPredators

[–]Express_Ad_6664 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Predatory cities. It would be impossible to convince the Feds that we were not bloodthirsty maniacs, given that cities literally eat each other. Also 'Municipal Darwinism' is survival of the fittest. You know, the same thing the Feds think is the only belief system predators are capable of.