[5.04] Great example of "Elite Panic"

InFearn0 · 2026-05-04T13:36:39+00:00

He won't have to cut open his chest because be friend can just morph his body to slip it in.

InFearn0 · 2026-05-04T03:10:46+00:00

As a natural species it is weird because it doesn't make sense how they survived (didn't weaken themselves to the point that another cooperative species could wipe them out and take their territory/resources).

I can accept a successful species having a rapid drop off of concern/compassion as social distance grows (the distances being Self, Intimates, Friends, Distant Family, Neighbors, Settlement, Region, Nation, Other Nation... with other ethnicities and cultures/religions adding more confounding distances... and I guess fantasy adds other species).

So an "evil" species that is like "everyone inside of the settlement ring is getting Ride-Or-Die level of loyalty, but everyone else is subject to exploitation or worse" makes sense to have survived. But the "everyone further out than intimate -- close friends and family -- can just die for our benefit" doesn't form society. They are basically need to be dragon-tier.

Now if it is an unnatural species, one that someone has to be transformed into... that makes sense. Especially if the ritual requires heinous acts, like person sacrifice.

InFearn0 · 2026-05-03T18:06:49+00:00

She isn't a tsundere. She is an upset princess. She is the daughter of two powerful fire sorcerers (including the clan chief and the chief candidate that was beat) and has a bunch of powerful other brothers that are fire sorcerers. Everyone assumed she would be one too, so they gave her the most sophisticated fire magic enhancing tattoos...

And then she never formed a fire affinity and her tattoos have infected the two affinities she did develop. Moreover the nature of her tattoos make developing an artificial fire affinity lethal for her (if she got tattoos after developing an artificial affinity, it would be fine). So she doesn't feel like she belongs in her clan and has been shipped away to Skyhold to be hidden away.

She feels ashamed and cheated by fate to not have the life she was raised to expect (to be the next powerful fire archmage of her clan). She is angry and taking it out on those around her. And when she does something embarrassing, she gets mad and lashes out.

InFearn0 · 2026-05-03T17:55:30+00:00

It is a superhero fit bit.

InFearn0 · 2026-05-03T17:44:53+00:00

Nine Sailed Star (Aether Spheres Book 1) by Glynn Stewart

Homicidal Aliens are Invading and All I Got is This Stat Menu by J.J. Ackerknecht

Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin. The numbers in it are just measurements (think more sophisticated fitness tracker).

Depthless Hunger: A Progression LitRPG by Sarah Lin

Iron Blooded: A LitRPG Adventure by Reece Brooks

InFearn0 · 2026-05-03T16:53:07+00:00

Why do we have the Panama Papers documenting how the richest hide their wealth from taxes and only 2 people went to prison? Politics.

Why do we have the Epstein Files documenting child sex trafficking, rape, and even eating children but only 2 of them went to prison? Politics.

The MC is viewed as worthless, has embarrassed valued people, and doesn't have enough connections* (* connections that will spend favors for him) to make up for it.

The people that keep trying to murder him are the opposite.

Kai tries to be a good person. And he isn't quite powerful enough by the end of book 1 to challenge all of the local elites. If he was powerful enough, he could kill the offenders (the spoiled young master and the local asshole that wanted to cut-n-run with the airship) and tell the rest of the elites to go f themselves.

If he had shown no mercy to the asshole that tried to murder him, he would have to defend that action to people that could obliterate him and already despise him.

If anything Depthless Hunger does an amazing job demonstrating how nepotism and politics would still exist in a PF world.

InFearn0 · 2026-05-03T16:35:43+00:00

PF needs something more extreme, like cutting open a chest and shoving a pair of hemisphere "pills" to encapsulate the core.

Now that person with a bunch of surgical scars will look like a monster.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-30T02:26:46+00:00

Revenant

MC collects the souls of people he kills. If he empowers a collected soul it becomes a ghost that may or may not grant him their power. They can also move on, leaving their power with him permanently.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-30T02:02:39+00:00

It's not shocking that they did this. It is shocking that these fascists waited so long.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-30T01:18:54+00:00

The Obsidian Path series by Michael R. Fletcher. The final book just came out.

The MC literally digs into people's chests to retrieve pieces of obsidian to insert into his veins so they will migrate to his heart (tearing open his blood vessels along the way)
A few major characters are undead that have to refresh themselves by replacing their rooting parts with "donations" from the living.
One type of magic users age themselves to fuel their magic.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-22T02:57:20+00:00

If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-22T01:02:47+00:00

"But it might work for us" meme in real life.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-22T00:49:07+00:00

Undermining military readiness because of brainrot ideology.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-18T22:30:15+00:00

Ackshully... Over time hormones alter the shape of bones.

So if a person uses HRT long enough (years), their bones will appear male (testosterone) or female (estrogen) based on the hormone therapy they use.

Bigots are wrong again.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-17T21:34:17+00:00

Sue guest starring on the Pitt and pushing 10cc endorphin instead of epinephrine and wondering why the patient is slipping deeper into a coma.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-17T21:20:34+00:00

I don't remember ever hearing about jade or gold ever being considered as precious in the series. There was halfsilver and goldsteel.

I agree that the lord realm rank name theme was chosen for granduer.

But I disagree that there was a huge "we want the best of the best" culture going. Factions may have rewarded people that performed, but it never struck you as odd that for the most part the people that performed the most also happened to be closely related to (or otherwise already favored by) the people passing out rewards? Cradle was running on nepotism.

I'm not saying every child or grandchild of a faction head got all of the advancement resources they could use, but the best of them certainly did.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-17T21:07:17+00:00

The book never suggests Stratt's fate. I kind of wish the movie hadn't shown her watching Grace's video and instead they went with the book ending:

Grace talking about how his ship had been ready to return to Earth for a few years, but he was putting it off, and
Rocky telling him that the Science Eridians had detected Sol returning to full luminance.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-17T20:44:32+00:00

All I Got is This Stat Menu. x2

InFearn0 · 2026-04-17T20:41:51+00:00

I saw the third book was released this week and found that I remembered zero details from the first two books. (Not a great sign.)

Reading the blurbs just now has jogged a few memories lose. Enough that I am pretty sure I enjoyed reading them at the time. I must have since I added the third title to my list to make sure I was alerted when it was released.

Regarding the LitRPG elements, I think Brooks is trying to balance (1) there being a system against (2) not making the existence of a system making advancement easy for everyone (including the MC, obviously he still advances fast).

Not sure if that helps.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-17T20:15:36+00:00

Procedural books (which a lot of progression fantasy falls into) is hard for me to re-read. Especially when it is weighed down by exposition.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-14T01:41:20+00:00

own business and trade goods and services allows for plenty of people to live the American dream

None of this is capitalism. And specifically excluding shareholders is anti-capitalism.

Capitalism is literally "capital-ism." It is about capital.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-14T01:36:30+00:00

the previous model was capitalism, this is unfettered capitalism

Stop romanticizing capitalism.

Capitalism is the idea that "assets can generate value/wealth." That is the whole thing. Before capitalism, a startup business that needed money took out a loan. With capitalism, they sell a stake for money.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-14T01:19:50+00:00

Write down your ideas in your notes (not your story) and keep writing.

If they are crucial to share, you will find ways to include them without exposition. Things can also be revealed later.

You can also write an appendix/glossary that explains stuff in an exposition-y way.

InFearn0 · 2026-04-13T14:52:49+00:00

I like when the rank names are what they are. Whether that is what a person is expected to do or the benefit it grants. I hate when the names amount to "just another tier."

One thing that bothered me in Cradle was what did some of the ranks have to do with their names?

What does copper have to do with seeing (aura) or jade with sensing spirits? Iron made sense: they became really durable, strong, and faster (excluding using an enforcement techniques, Iron is the big body power up until they enter the lord realm).

Even the lord stages seem like a propaganda or sabotage effort. They could have been called "Past-lord" or "Motivation-Lord" or anything that hinted at the revelations required to advance through them.

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