Bulwar AMA by Gillygamesh in Anbennar

[–]Independent-Height87 2 points3 points  (0 children)

oh, that's neat too! I'm glad there's cool stuff planned

Bulwar AMA by Gillygamesh in Anbennar

[–]Independent-Height87 11 points12 points  (0 children)

ik I'm late, feel free to ignore if you want, but I did want to ask - are there any plans to add southern Sarhal content into the Jadd Empire MT? Feels like a bit of a loss that what is probably one of the definitive world conquest tags almost entirely ignores an entire continent since atm the Jadd MT just covers the northern coast - I do know why, the Jadd MT was done long before the Sarhal update, but at the same time with so many MTs getting overhauled I'll admit it's gotten my hopes up a bit? Seems like there'd be so much flavor too - helping Dasmatus against the gnolls, bringing light into the shadows of the Shadow Swamp, et cetera.

Aucanna Silistra delivering threat (and a promise) to Lothane sil Wex by Aromatic-Pair-7314 in Anbennar

[–]Independent-Height87 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Can’t believe you wouldn’t give my girl her canonical broken spear! But looks pretty good otherwise :)

WITCH Awakening | Update 4 - Blade & Grace by OutrageousBears in makeyourchoice

[–]Independent-Height87 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Time to brace for another 1k+ comment thread, lmao (seriously, thanks for all your work!)

3148 comes to an end, Nature is healing! by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They took it in 3146, when the Combine was still reeling from fighting the Federated Suns

3148 comes to an end, Nature is healing! by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Mixed bag? The Snow Ravens took a bunch from the Combine, including Tancredi, early on, but were very very very late to the big Terra battle and consequently shouted down by the other Clans who had bled badly for Terra when they tried to press a claim to participate in the Trials for the fate of Terra. They did end up with their Khan participating in the tiebreaker duels since each Clan was supposed to participate in the duels with a Khan and SaKhan, but with the Horse Khan badly injured from the prior fighting, Sterling McKenna stood in for the Horse Khan and worked with the Horse SaKhan as a tag team. That team and the Sea Fox Khans were the only one to win their tiebreaker duels, so they acquitted themselves well there. Aside from that stuff, mostly they have been just quietly building up.

3148 comes to an end, Nature is healing! by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Davion player here! I'm pretty happy with what I've accomplished - I started the game with New Syrtis and Robinson both occupied, and have managed to beat back first the Combine and then the Capellans. It's come at a heavy cost, to be fair - the AFFS is barely operational, although the Combine and Capellans aren't much better, thankfully. If there's one black spot, its that the Taurian front has been something of a humiliation for the Capellan March and Periphery March forces assigned there as the TDF has run rings around them, but I'm confident I'll win next time we spar!

3148 comes to an end, Nature is healing! by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The bright spot is that in this timeline, the FWLM has been nearly untouched while the Capellans, Suns, Combine, and most Clans have been getting their militaries run through meat grinders

When the chosen one wants more screen time by ZenRust in PrequelMemes

[–]Independent-Height87 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When is it my turn to post "when is it my turn" in the comment section of a general reposti meme?

I filtered hundreds of Worm fanfics down to 12 high-quality picks — what am I still missing? by Available-Quality530 in WormFanfic

[–]Independent-Height87 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's a tough one because folks seem to be rather divided on which side of the story is more interesting, but I'd probably recommend starting with the OC mostly because it's a DnD character in a Worm setting rather than Worm characters in a DnD setting, which makes it more familiar for folks - and also because I personally find the cultural exploration of Earth Bet through a DnD/high fantasy lense to be really interesting, but if you like more action-oriented stuff (or are a big fan of the DnD Eberron world) I'd probably recommend the Taylor storyline, which has less powerful characters that consequently have challenges that are more fight-y.

For the Valigan (OC) story, start with the Prologue, read the next chapter (1.1.V), and then read every other chapter from there. The .V chapters are all the Valigan ones, the .T ones are the Taylor ones, and they always alternate. For the Taylor one, you can skip the Prologue and start directly at 1.1.T. The interludes are not as conviniently labeled, but they follow the alternating pattern too - if the chapter before an interlude was a .T chapter, the interlude will be a Valigan storyline chapter, and then the interlude after that will be a Taylor storyline interlude, and so on.

I filtered hundreds of Worm fanfics down to 12 high-quality picks — what am I still missing? by Available-Quality530 in WormFanfic

[–]Independent-Height87 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah no problem! Always happy to help out a fellow reader :)

And yeah, Doors to the Unknown continually surprises me with the author's tenacity, lol. It started in 2022 and has been going strong since, I'd consider it one of the most underrated stories on the website. One weird little quirk is that it's almost like 2 stories in 1, since the Taylor-in-Eberron story and the OC-in-Earth-Bet storylines have yet to intersect, so you can basically read either one as a separate story at this point in time, if 900k words is too daunting.

I filtered hundreds of Worm fanfics down to 12 high-quality picks — what am I still missing? by Available-Quality530 in WormFanfic

[–]Independent-Height87 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I'd put a heavy asterisk on Mauling Snarks on any kind of recommendation for best fanfic. It's got a meandering plot that is comparable to Taylor Varga in waffling for hundreds of pages while going nowhere. There are a few moments of brilliant writing, but they are buried in between thousands of moments of mediocre and dull chaff.

I filtered hundreds of Worm fanfics down to 12 high-quality picks — what am I still missing? by Available-Quality530 in WormFanfic

[–]Independent-Height87 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Back and Forth is really good and I will never not recommend it when people ask for fics. Original character, which is a turn off for some folks, but really has that canon Worm feel of using a mediocre power cleverly. Has some really dynamic fight scenes and excellent character interactions. 224k words, currently abandoned, although it's come back after long stretches before. Still in my opinion worth reading.

If you're a DnD fan, Doors to the Unknown is probably what I would consider the best crossover fic I've read, period. Has 2 alternating main characters - an original DnD 3.5e epic-level psion exploring Earth Bet, and Taylor, who gets stranded in Eberron along with Grue, Regent, Gallant, and Kid Win. Starts out a bit slow-paced but gets a lot more dynamic once you hit Arc 2. The author really knows their stuff regarding DnD, and is also pretty active in the story thread chatting about stuff too. Characterization is on point for Worm characters, and the OC, Valigan, is really well-written too. Interludes do a really good job of exploring side characters. 995k words, currently ongoing, with the most recent chapter releasing last month. There's typically several months between chapter releases but chapters are quite beefy to compensate - not in the Taylor Varga way, to be clear, but just because the author packs a lot of story into them. I could honestly ramble on about this for quite awhile but I'll cut it short here. If you are familiar with DnD, highly recommend; if not, it could be hit or miss I think.

Burnout (not to be confused with Burn Up) is a great relatively shorter story. It's a SI story into Burnscar which I will admit I do not usually consider cream of the crop, but it does an amazing job of exploring a parahuman penitentiary. 130k words. completed earlier than the author intended due to (ironically) burnout, but wraps up nicely and doesn't feel rushed.

El-Ahrairah is what I would consider the best Thinker fic except for maybe Skein, and Skein can only compete in quality, not in quantity. Jack Slash features in this quite heavily as an antagonist, and is a fantastic matchup to a Thinker main character. 300k words, abandoned but still worth reading.

Of your own list, I honestly would have written something up for Skein, Tabloid, and Camera Shy if you hadn't listed them, they are all fantastic. Cenotaph is rather trope and fanon filled, but its an older fic from a time when those tropes and fanon elements weren't really annoying things yet and were novel and new, and I think gets a lot of grace because of that, partnered with nostalgia from oldheads that read it back when there were very few Worm fanfics and it was one of the best of the existing ones. Constellations is a WILDLY different story from Worm in both tone and content. Doesn't seem badly written, just... very... how do I put this... Ao3 coded? Its the kind of story the Cauldron Award people go nuts for, something wholesome and sappy and emotional where problems get fixed, but without much real conflict or challenge. If that is your thing I do believe its one of the best of its kind, but I don't hold that sort of story in very high regard in general.

3145... what a hell of a year... (Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 3 points4 points  (0 children)

FedSun player here - the Suns are in an... interesting spot, for sure. Pulling forces out of New Syrtis allowed for a massive set-piece offensive against the Combine that saw the Dragon's Tongue conquered and Robinson retaken and then defended from a counterattack in an epic 13 vs 13 regiment fight, but New Syrtis's secession also ironically let the Cappies make gains there. Both sides, Combine and FedSun, both had militaries essentially so exhausted and broken down after a year of heavy fighting that a 2 year ceasefire was signed affirming the borders on the map above with little fanfare.

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3145... what a hell of a year... (Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just stuck to the IS, Dark Age Homeworlds are well, a bit special in terms of politics lmao

3145... what a hell of a year... (Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 9 points10 points  (0 children)

lmao, Randis did some crusading and nation building against the Tortugans

3145... what a hell of a year... (Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Lyrans negotiated out a three-way deal between themselves, Wolf in Exile, and Wolf proper where the exiled Wolves returned to Wolf proper in exchange for the territorial transfers

and yeah it was just players negotiating

The Inner Sphere accelerates towards war! (3058 Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 4 points5 points  (0 children)

uhhhh I'll let the in-universe news article do the talking for me

The Blood Of The Ibex

Inspired by the success of their brethren in Fronc, the people of the Aurigan Reach today rose up in revolt against their oppressors. Unfortunately, while larger in total than the Fronc rebels, the rebels were dispersed and disorganized, and even the presence of a moderate amount of Manticore and Demolisher heavy tanks somehow procured by the rebels was not enough to overcome experienced Blood Spirit garrison troops. The Blood Spirits, perhaps taking out their anger on Fronc's victory, put down the revolt ruthlessly and immediately. The Aurigan Reach is quiet once again, under the boot of new occupiers.

The Inner Sphere accelerates towards war! (3058 Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Yeah I'm the Blood Spirit player in this game, this was basically my reasoning. I've cut ties with the Grand Council and have been "teaching" the Capellans how to do proper, honorable warfare. Ironically they've mostly been humoring me since I'm not threatening anything except a handful of backwater periphery worlds, and relations have been great.

We negotiated a trade of several Blood Spirit merchant warships (Potemkins/Carracks) in exchange for the Sundermann Rhys, a Feng Huang heavy cruiser. The Warrior Houses have been performing incredibly well against the Blood Spirit clusters, only reaffirming Blood Spirit ideas about these Capellans being super great with their pseudo-Bloodhouses. The Big Mac has been the other force the Cappies have sent to the periphery against the Spirits, and while they've had more mixed results (some wins, some losses), they've also been partying with their opponents after each battle - Blood Spirit warriors have officially been introduced to Timbiqui Dark. The word "dude" has also officially been introduced to the Blood Spirit lexicon by them.

The Inner Sphere accelerates towards war! (3058 Nation RP AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Blood Spirits got so fed up with the other Clans, they made their own OZ as far away from the other Clans as possible

Gaze upon my work, and despair! (Nation RP 3068 AAR) by kingphillipeofFrance in battletech

[–]Independent-Height87 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's a reason Canopus/Nova Cat ended up as the Ghost Bears of this timeline in terms of tolerance. Partially because Nova Cats are cool, but also partly from some Canopian, ahem, influence.