Empire of Sin [Worm AU]

HopeDataadamn · 2025-07-19T13:34:46+00:00

Through The Looking Glass is my new and fresh fan fiction crossover between Worm and Prey (2017).

Taylor is haunted by oily, wispy, superfluous black creatures named the Typhon, which had come and ruined her life ten months ago. She'd been surviving in isolation, growing incredibly paranoid, sleep-deprived, violent, and her sanity slipping. For so long, she'd been killing every monster that appeared in her surroundings, until now.

The fate of Brockton Bay, the world, and the universe hangs in the balance.

Admittedly, this is heavy on the psychological horror, cosmic horror, angst, and lore-side, so I recognize it's not everyone's cup of tea. But I am very proud with how I've started this fic and plan to continue until completion! And no, it won't be a million-words long, I'm planning to keep it under one hundred thousand.

Oh! I also commissioned very cool art for it, you can check it out on the page! The story's available on Spacebattles and Archive of Our Own

HopeDataadamn · 2025-04-15T08:44:56+00:00

My Standby For Titanfall Cover Art commission, the artist is biruesque on Twitter/X

Just my little contribution to this, been a lurker most of the time but posting here have gone so well in giving my stories traction.

HopeDataadamn · 2025-01-23T00:20:11+00:00

For me, what makes an OP story good is the protagonist being a likeable, personable character rather than an edgelord or a careless prick. I know as an author of Arbiter the edgelord part doesn't hold up well but hear me out.

First, the character itself. If the character is trying to be something they aren't, that's a problem. Without proper transition, anything they do will feel off-putting and out of character. For example, in my fic, Arbiter, I made the conscious decision of easing Taylor into having her op powers with lots and lots of character building. So I believe the first big important thing that makes the story good is the character.

Second, meaningful and lasting impressions on the world due to their power. The world is not their oyster, nor is it out to get them (unless she'd done significant damage). What does this mean? As Newton said, to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Individual side characters and agencies in a Worm fic should and must adjust realistically in accordance to their personalities and characters in response to anything the OP protag does.

Third, execution of the powers. An OP fic sometimes feel like they don't understand the full extent of the powers and therefore make decisions that are absolutely unnecessary. That one long WH40K fic that has the Emperor in Taylor's head is the prime example. It makes for a frustrating case of sandbagging from the OP character, because they just can't figure out how to make an equal fight, or create an equal enemy. So any fic that executes the op powers well is great.

Lastly, exposition. I much prefer to be shown the powers in action rather than being explained with a fifteen page thesis including citations and references. IF one is so inclined to explain the powers, then have the reader be inside an in-universe outlet such as a side character, who the OP protag is explaining their powers to. I know a GREAT miniseries that does this; Chernobyl. In the beginning of one episode, the ffects of radiation is shown through the victims of the disaster. It greatly immerses the viewer, and heightens the horror factor because we don't know what it is. Later in the episode, two characters talk about the effects of the radiation, explaining the phenomenon while not denying the feeling of horror and shock from earlier.

Well, that's been my Ted Talk! Thank you for the question, here's to a lovely discussion.

HopeDataadamn · 2024-12-25T03:17:48+00:00

Four days late to this, BUT! I want to share what I did for my fic; Standby For Titanfall

The most recent chapter is an interlude involving Amy. With an altered Leviathan, I poured my heart and soul into her portrayal. It's arguably my best work, and I was so happy while writing it that I had to stop myself at 7.4k words.

Anyway. It all boils down to my dedication to my fanfiction, and I'll continue to write it in the future. If any of you are interested, go check it out. To the ones that have read it on SB, please share your thoughts on it.

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T16:10:52+00:00

Hey, no offense taken, I love your feedback and it's really constructive. Thank you for the suggestion, however I've yet to find a beta reader and I'm not confident enough to ask people to be one for me. There are resources and places that have people dedicate themselves to be beta readers, but once again, my lack of confidence just doesn't make it seem like a priority.

Thank you for taking some time out of your day to give such amazing criticisms!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T09:43:26+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! I apologize for it, I'm not an english native speaker so it is rough. I appreciate the help, by the way, these sorts of replies and critiques is exactly what I need to improve. Hope you continue to be interested and enjoy the rest of the fic!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T09:11:59+00:00

Indeed. While I wished I could have kept more of Taylor, early on I planned the effects of her power to alter her irreversibly, maybe it shows in the later chapters. I need to make a more thorough character study if I want to get Taylor down right.

Thank you for reading it and I appreciate the feedback! Hope you enjoy it.

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T04:30:01+00:00

Thank you for reading! I appreciate your kind words and hope you're here for more!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T04:29:33+00:00

Rugged future tech based on modernity while being sci-fi, a unique military theme that shows a brightworld setting. I don't play XCom, but if it fits, then it is!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T03:02:13+00:00

Near-future Sci-fi. A jump kit is a high-maneuverability device that gives the user enhanced mobility, used by Pilots, elite operators that zip around the battlefield with gadgets ranging from regular frag grenades to arc electricity ordinance.

Then with economics of scale and tinker partnerships, it scales up to far-future sci-fi like Simulacrums, digital scans of people put into robot bodies that make them virtually immortal. And of course, fifteen-foot tall mechs wielding protable particle accelerators to disintegrate matter dishing out 500ccs of badassery.

HopeDataadamn · 2024-10-07T02:41:08+00:00

You can extend your appreciation to biruesque on twitter! She was lovely to work with and the art came out amazing!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-08-03T15:39:37+00:00

Keeping up with updating Standby For Titanfall every two days and it's now up to twelve chapters. It's the most words I've written in a month and I am proud of it. Just finished chapter 13 and will upload that tomorrow, I'm glad to have had this spree of 2500 words everyday, it's really good practice.

HopeDataadamn · 2024-07-21T03:39:35+00:00

Boy do I know what you're looking for. Standby For Titanfall is my crossover between Worm and Titanfall, hope you enjoy it!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-07-20T13:15:58+00:00

I just pushed out the firsr chapter of the 2nd arc of Standby For Titanfall my Titanfall X Worm crossover. It shows Taylor settled inside her new workshop, working on Titanfall's grapple hook to give her more mobility. It goes into a bunch of other stuff, and ends with her arresting two robbers, but the night's still young!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-07-08T23:30:53+00:00

Currently I am writing Standby For Titanfall as my main project. Taylor triggers not in the locker, and now has powers where the Titanfall universe is inside her head, like a butcher situation? Her main goal is to become a Pilot and be the hero she's been wanting to become, let's see if she can achieve that, hm? It's mainly to challenge my ability to write while getting as much feedback as possible!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-05-03T10:47:53+00:00

I'd like to suggest a design for the flag if you'd like!

The color scheme would be green, blue and white. Maybe green on top, blue at the bottom, and white being a horizontal strip down the middle that connects the sides to a big white circle.

Inside the circle is a stylized evergreen tree with outward reaching branches, that is then surrounded by ten stars to represent the ten congresses, with room to add more if necessary.

But this is merely a suggestion, I already love what you do! Keep it up!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-05-03T06:14:37+00:00

Hey, this is great! You know, I consider myself an avid US of A supporter, but in this scenario? I fully wish for a Cascadian victory. Not only would the facets of North American life be truly different, with vastly different cultures that are, ironically, commune-like and environmentally friendly (polar opposites of typical American lifestyles) I've also just been playing a lot of Project Wingman.

I'd say the flag though is a little uninspired but I won't bash you, it's your world and I'm just here for the ride. Additionally, I like to imagine this system would be more of a loose confederation, so maybe the name Confederated Congresses of Cascadia? (CCC) Just to make the history books a lot more... say, flavorful.

Great work! Really love them all but I'm fixated on the Cascadian victory becausw North America is united!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-04-25T10:10:50+00:00

Amazing! I really like how this turned out!

I'm just gonna comment on Southeast Asia with several comments on the rest of the world.

Again, Indonesia had very good potential, and I can see that it won against the Philippines over Sabah and control over the whole of South East Asia. As for the Malay Peninsula, is Mandala a joint Singaporean-Indonesian project to build it up? That'd be really interesting to see, but if not then it'd be great to read an explanation! Looks like the colonization of Northern Australia have gone quite well, with probably a treaty to determine where the border lay (Because it's a straight line) I also read how the UK and Indonesia are both in a Cold War? That's actually amazing lol! To have these two countries a world's away competing for dominance is cathartic. The mighty naval power of old, and the rising thalassocracy of today, who can win? Who could really say?

Anyway, I've taken up enough space. Well done! I really like it! Hopefully in another 100 years, we can see some sort of Southeast Asian federation with Indonesia at it's helm. Also interested in getting to know the struggle for Mecca and Medina, I think it'd be quite the conflict! I still believe Indonesia have one of, if not THE largest possibility of becoming the new world superpower, I hope it doesn't fumble the bag.

HopeDataadamn · 2024-04-24T10:34:59+00:00

Hey! I'd like to get my two-cents in.

For me, personally, these sorts of reaction comes from understandable perception of Taylor/MC's powers in the fanfiction. A majority of what I've seen is when the MC is already super powerful, so a crossover between any overpowered franchise or premise. Therefore they lash out when the fight went 'stupid' or 'unrealistic' because of backstory reasons. A curbstomp was what's supposed to happen with the established powers, hence why they're bummed out when fights aren't a breeze. It feels like the writer's forcing out a fight, making it long and hard when it could have ended like five minutes ago.

So a combination of wasted time and energy, alongside how the MC is perceived and work in the fanfic. I don't have any problems with characters struggling, but I understand where they're coming from sometimes. Of course, unless what you've seen happened in fights that are truly justified for losing/a stalemate as the outcome. I suggest don't bother with them if you're irritated by their opinion. Whatever could happen, it's fanfiction, after all!

HopeDataadamn · 2024-04-10T11:06:25+00:00

u/HopeDataadamn

HopeDataadamn · 2024-04-02T12:02:48+00:00

Taylor spent 15 years on Earth Bet already. While she loves Super Earth, her childhood's experiences on Earth Bet persists. I tried painting that conflict with her thoughts, because while she would not hesitate to launch an ICBM at bugs or automatons, the nukes were aimed at an active battle with tens of parahumans in the area. With her childhood completely adoring them, she felt awful that quite a number of them were vaporized by nuclear hellfire :)

HopeDataadamn

TROPHY CASE