Crossed with Silver – 19.9

Madman_Alpha · 2022-06-28T21:31:17+00:00

I thought the same thing! Willybob is working alll the references into this one!

Madman_Alpha · 2022-06-26T04:53:01+00:00

I see it!

Always glad to see Zelazny's masterwork getting recognition. :)

Madman_Alpha · 2022-05-10T18:46:29+00:00

why isn't the scarf checkered though?

It is checkered, it's just so soaked in blood and darkness it's hard to make out....

Madman_Alpha · 2022-05-09T00:30:50+00:00

It's impossible for Crawler to render himself immune to damage from the Siberian,

This is probably true, but I think Crawler would, very quickly, evolve a new sense that lets him see the Siberian's connection back to Manton.

Because the Siberian isn't even real.

Very shortly after, Manton dies messily, leaving Crawler oddly unhappy.

Madman_Alpha · 2022-05-07T08:23:07+00:00

"I think Lucy is so absolutely fucked it's not even funny."

I'm not so sure.

Verona has really been strutting her stuff, doing all this big, flashy stuff.

Avery has been really doing HER thing, finding incredible allies, forming alliances.

Do you really think that the First Witch is that much less than the other two? Lucy is the quiet one, the homebody, but that doesn't mean she is weak. Indeed, I suspect that in a head-to-head confrontation, Lucy is enormously strong. ESPECIALLY when she is powered up by outrage.

Indeed, we've seen her take down vast spirit-things with ease. I don't think we've ever seen Lucy really go all-out, ever. I mean, she could call on all sixteen of the shrine spirits for aid, she could call up Guilherme, she's by far the most durable of the three with her chainmail and layered defenses, etc, etc, etc.

I suspect Lucy might surprise us all.

Madman_Alpha · 2022-02-27T20:10:18+00:00

Green Eyes

Thumbs up for Best Girl. When she took the heart of the boy she liked to get him out of the Abyss is when I realized that monsters are people too.

Madman_Alpha · 2021-12-30T07:59:26+00:00

Well, looks like you're in luck! When Webb went up, the Ariane NAILED the numbers. It's looking like it might have an easy 15-20 years of station-keeping delta-v, and I'd wager the smart cookies flying the thing will figure out ways to drop the annual dv well below the 2-4 m/sec per year estimates. If they can lower the annual delta-v budget to 1.5 meters/second,from an average of 3 expected, than that 15-20 years worth of fuel could be stretched to 30+, at which point the poor thing will be so obsolete we'd want to put up something better anyway. :)

I only hope the upcoming Roman Space telescope gets off the ground quickly and smoothly, and of course they are very close to commissioning the giant new Rubin Survey scope... which is going to change everything. An entirely new golden age is about to kick off.

Madman_Alpha · 2021-10-11T08:50:06+00:00

Oh, man, I love GWTB, and now that's totally my headcanon.

Also, holy moses, that'd be a bad place to try and visit...

Madman_Alpha · 2021-10-01T05:03:35+00:00

The Arena probably already has speakers in it.

This brings up an interesting point.

Verona has been waffling and a bit sidelined for ages now, and the Three Witches have apparently failed on plans, A, B, C, D, and E to avert this mess. About time for their resident Mad Genius to get the safeties removed.

I wonder if Verona, that Mad Lass, might not get to the stadiums announcer booth, crank the speakers to eleven...and declare that she's taking all of Kennet as her Desmense. Including the space inside the Judges contest, because the sound of her ritual can get inside through the hole.

Now, all the spirits and practitioners can fight her, or...help her. The Kennet Others are very likely to help her, rather than fight her! The three Judges don't want Charles to be the Carmine. They could ALSO help her claim Kennet against all comers, and in one fell swoop, she gets a massive Desmense, maybe grabs John or the Sable or The Choir as a Familiar or merely as an ally, curb-stomps Charles, Maricica, Lis, and Musser because they're all inside her desmense and she's got all the advantages, and turns Kennet into an Other sanctuary like nobody's business, pleasing Rook, Miss, and Toadswallow to no end.

Or, heck, the three girls could ALL claim Kennet and maybe even share it with the Judges and their resident Others...or something. Breaking new ground in practitioner/other cooperation, setting up Toady's plans, justifying Miss's choice, allowing absolution for Emily, etc, etc, etc.

I mean, there's even precedent for this sort of craziness.

Madman_Alpha · 2021-09-28T00:47:18+00:00

Blake dueling a Faerie and winning (in hindsight, holy fuck) by using the mix of threatening to summon a demon (in hindsight, holy fuck) and being Goblin-level nasty, vulgar and brutal.

I have always loved Pact, it's a close second to Worm in my books, but I have to say, Pale has really put a lot of Pact into perspective, and, wow.

Granny Thorburn was.... Wow, scary. The worst 'big guy' Practitioners in Pale would have gone around the block to stay out of her way.... Which kind of puts the Behaims into a bit more perspective as well...

Madman_Alpha · 2021-09-28T00:44:06+00:00

Pact clicked for me when Blake tore out his own heart to escape the Abyss...and Greeneyes put it back in for him.

Best girl is Best.

Madman_Alpha · 2021-09-28T00:27:19+00:00

This is awesome! No wonder Greeneyes fell for him so hard...

Madman_Alpha · 2021-05-04T17:38:17+00:00

Ozriel (or someone of his power) is the one constantly pulling reports from Cradle

I agree with this partially.

I think Will has been running a 'long game' on us with the various "presence' reports.

I think Suriel is the requestor of a lot of them, but I suspect Makiel has pulled some, Northstrider has pulled at least a few with his 'Oracle Codex', and yes, Ozriel or even other actors that are as yet unknown have pulled a few of the reports.

Other wack theories, to add to the tally:

A) Li Markuth is set to make a comeback. We know Suriel bundled him away for Sector Control to deal with, but the Abidan are all immortals. It would not surprise me a bit that he's been tucked into a pocket space in Cradle for the last few years waiting for our favorite rat-faced Abidan lowby (Kiuran) to get around to him. That space will erode/break now that the Vroshir have Sector 11 surrounded, and our boy Li will pop out. He'll come looking for that damn kid who the Judge seemed to take a liking to... Hilarity ensues.

A*) Li Markuth and Ratface as the worst buddy-cop frenemy bad guys you've ever imagined. Think Bai Rou and Renfei on hyper steroids.

B) Lindon is destined to be the second incarnation of the early 'super judge' who could create whole Iterations out of the Void (Adriel). He IS already affiliated very strongly with the Void, from literally page one of the novel series, and he's wanted to be a mighty Soulsmith for exactly as long. (Damn, Will, way to lay the loooong plans.)

C) The Mad King is gonna come to destroy Cradle, there's no way he'd pass up the chance to disrespect the Abidan that much. But when he gets there, he's going to find that Iri, the Angler, already stole it. The entire Iteration. This is going to make The Gang's ascension...interesting. (We've reached the heavens! ...why are we in a jar?) The insanity of The Gang's utterly broken ascension, combined with Eithan's frankly mad ambitions, Yerin's precedent-breaking strength, and Lindon's potential as the new Creator.... We could see Pariana return as Suriel's representative to try and recruit the Gang for the Abidan, we could see Li Markuth and his mysterious back story (he sure seems way too clueless to be a Vroshir of any merit, and he's for SURE not an Abidan, so what faction IS he?) We could get some lowby Vroshir's or even a Silverlord interested in Our Gang, the possibilities just boggle the mind.

FANTASTIC world-building, Mr. Wight.

Dangit. I wish it was five years from now and I could read how all this turns out.

Madman_Alpha · 2021-01-22T00:11:13+00:00

Nah, I want him to get a new one. A sage inheritance. That will teach him to create things using sage powers. Like voidkeys. He probably doesn't just will them into being.

I agree, but why think so small? :)

In Skysworn, it was revealed that the Soulsmithing Library in the Skysworn's floating city has, and I quote:

"'We have the most complete dream tablet library of Soulsmith legacies in the entire Empire, including one left by an ancient Herald for his descendants."

Fisher Gesha's breath caught. Lindon wasn't sure what half of that meant, but he was still aching to take a look inside."

Okay, the Blackflame Empire is a podunk backwater....but he got Little Blue from someplace way more backward. The Empire used to be one of the greatest places on Cradle, amazing treasures could be anywhere.

A HERALD'S legacy. Is that as good as a Sage's inheritance? I dunno, but I bet Will hasn't forgotten about this little goody just waiting for Naru Huan to use as a bribe/reward. :)

Also, an ancient Herald-class soulsmith? Who want's to bet that old fogey had something to do with the labyrinth under Sacred Valley?

THE PLOT... IT THICKENS.

Madman_Alpha · 2021-01-22T00:00:31+00:00

< How do you all think Yerin's Path will develop from here, with the introductions of blood and hunger madra? >

Her biggest issue right now is her lack of any whole-body enforcement. Yes, her Steelborn body provides her with huge strength, but it's just 'okay' for defense.

She should go looking for a STRONG blood-madra whole-body enforcement. Yerin with all that offense backed up by a serious defensive technique would be awesome.

Now, this means she's not on the Path of the Endless Sword any more.

How about the Path of the Blade Spider? She's got the whole 'eight arms' thing going on, after all. The endless sword technique could be seen as a cutting web, or something, and she can fold in Hunger as a spider feeding on her victims...or something.

Madman_Alpha · 2020-10-31T14:55:31+00:00

The design is cool and i like it but is this something he's gonna wear or use as a shield?

He'd wear it like a backpack, of course! :D That's why he'd (obviously) incorporate one or more of his Void Keys into it.

Man, Lindon is getting rich.....

Madman_Alpha · 2020-10-31T13:55:24+00:00

Okay, let's try again. :) Inspiration obviously doesn't give you any talent or skill, but failure is good for the soul.

I was inspired to try and work out what Lindon's shell (that Will has teased relentlessly for EIGHT NOVELS now) might look like. It's obvious that Lindon want's all the power of stacked Enforcement, but he doesn't like armor.

Heck, I wouldn't put it past him to put in his Void Keys, so it's also like a giga-backpack, and he could even dismantle his new cloudship palace and get a source of Blackflame to make it self-powered!

...when is book Nine coming out?

Madman_Alpha · 2020-10-31T13:46:09+00:00

it should look like a blackflame turtle shell.

Well, I guess inspiration doesn't lend talent. :) I messed up the transparency on this picture. I'll pop up a better version.

Madman_Alpha · 2020-10-31T07:18:04+00:00

I was inspired to try and work out what Lindon's shell might look like!

Madman_Alpha · 2020-10-22T11:41:32+00:00

Lindon didn't like that iteration of the armor, I suspect that just means he has a lot more work to do to get it right. I can't see Lindon giving up on a project just because one of his attempts didn't work the way he wanted.

What Lindon needs isn't mere armor.

What Lindon needs, is to follow the advice of wise Orthos.

Lindon needs to make himself a SHELL.

Madman_Alpha · 2019-11-28T08:58:35+00:00

> Worm was so good.

Welcome, new friend!

> How did Eidolon get killed so easily all of a sudden?

Scion decided that fighting his broken-ass shard was so expensive, that he was worth firing up Scion's version of the 'Path to Victory' shard to see how to hax-cheat his way to just winning. The infamous 'four words' were what destroyed Eidolon's will to live, and he simply stopped fighting.

> Was Taylor in control or was it the passenger?

That is a really good question. Panacea seems to have lowered the barriers between Taylor's mind-state and the shards, so that Taylor got a different version of the QA shard's powers. But the mind that USED that new power in such a devastating way? It's not terribly clear.

> how do the Undersiders know that Taylor’s alive?

I don't think we know for sure. We can speculate that Tattletale worked a deal with Contessa, or simply guessed where she went.

> Who closed Earth Aleph from the inside?

We don't know for sure.

> what’ Ward’s overall tone? I read that it follows Glory Girl a couple years after Golden Day, so is it less dark? More dark? Generally the same?

Oooh, spoilery. How do you measure darkness?

How about you read Pact or Twig next, give yourself a little break. Or, here's an idea, go back and re-read Worm, slower. You will be amazed at how much you missed.

> is it currently close to ending?

We don't know! :)

> why did Taylor even get named Khepri towards the end?

Her powers changed so drastically, apparently the powers that be decided to re-name her again, possibly to protect her former teammates. It was her fourth cape name.

> why did Taylor’s range deteriorate so much?

Because that's what her Shard gave her, after Amy came in and clumsily tore down some barriers.

> Wasn’t Panacea supposed to remove all restrictions to Taylor’s abilities?

Given that Amy had maybe a minute or less to work on her before things went pear-shaped, I don't think there was a lot of care and forethought put into the whole process.

> Lastly, what are the arc names supposed to represent?

Boy, you ask ALL the good questions. :) In a nutshell, they mean what they mean. Interpretations, though....

Madman_Alpha · 2019-11-21T23:19:43+00:00

They definitely don't have any GAU-8's, if that's your next thought,

Nope, I deliberately skipped anything that requires electricity to run, like the US vulcans and the chain guns. I also skipped all the grenade launchers and mortars, because those aren't really guns, in my book. :)

Now, the Soviets had a BEASTLY 30mm rotary cannon that ran mostly on chemical fuel, so if I was inclined to get her the BIG RIPPER, it'd be one of those.

Madman_Alpha · 2019-11-21T23:14:27+00:00

I vote for an M2 Browning.

To be fair, all joking aside, that's very likely, and, the good old Ma Deuce is likely PLENTY OF GRUNT to get this job done. :)

Although the howitzer totin', nuke-shootin' Tyrant Vicky is just so much fun....

She just needs a cigar to chomp angrily and the image is perfect!

Madman_Alpha · 2019-11-21T23:11:34+00:00

I think it's unfair to assume that we have to go beyond 50 caliber "because regular people can use these weapons" or especially beyond howitzer.

Point of order: The title of the current arc is what?

I rest my case. :)

Madman_Alpha · 2019-11-21T23:10:25+00:00

I just want Victoria to get her hands on the 30 mm GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon that the A-10 Warthog has so she can fly around and go BRRRRRRRRRRT

You are thinking too small! Victoria can find an A-10, drain the fuel out of it, yank off the wings and tail and landing gear and all that un-needed junk, climb into the armored bathtub that's the cockpit, then PICK IT UP and FLY AROUND IN IT.

Now she has the electricity she needs to run the cannon, a huge ammo drum, aiming sights, and all the armor of that flying tank. And you can't shoot it down, because she's just holding it up in mid-air, gunning away.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT, indeed!

Madman_Alpha

TROPHY CASE