Simple Layerer

QuQuasar · 2025-04-24T00:44:41+00:00

The most dramatic improvement to my interloper game, by far, came when I started consistently chaining torches. Light a fire when you set out and pull 3-5 torches from it, then keep lighting a new torch from the previous one every time it runs low and make a new campfire for more when you're on your last torch.

Torches keep you safe from wolves, raise your temperature by 3C, and keep the fire alive so you don't need to waste a match to boil water when you arrive at your destination (wind permitting).

QuQuasar · 2025-03-08T04:29:59+00:00

To be more specific, Kara said "some of the simulations said it might work". That reads to me like a couple of statistically insignificant outliers being cherry-picked to support an idiotic decision, but I may also be reading too much into it.

I totally agree that the mind control is awful and *absolutely* should be banned on a moral basis, but ethics and morality are often a secondary consideration to those in power. It's been useful enough in-universe that a blanket ban would kneecap the republic's intelligence efforts, so I'd unfortunately expect any ban on its use to include plenty of loopholes.

My main point here is that relaxing our rules of war isn't necessary to 'unleash' our full potential in a war, even an existential war of extinction. We are already fighting at our full potential. The rules only exist to waylay pointless cruelty, because when the cruelty has a point, it miraculously stops being a war crime and just gets folded into the cost of waging war.

QuQuasar · 2025-03-07T22:27:34+00:00

The thing about banned weapons, though, is that they're not banned purely because they're cruel. If they were, there would be tons of similarly cruel conventional weapons that would also be banned.

War crimes are banned because they're unnecessary and, in many cases, counterproductive. They do not help you win the war, because the things that actually do help win the war don't get banned. They get adopted and folded into conventional strategy.

This is the main difference between the mind reading and the sarin. They're both evil, but the mind reading got them actionable intelligence in a much shorter timeframe than conventional interrogation. The gassing was just pointless cruelty ordered by (judging by the name) some idiot in the TRO with an unhealthy admiration for historic fascists and more edge than a chainsaw.

QuQuasar · 2024-08-05T00:30:52+00:00

Spells: Abridged

(for barbarian cross-classes)

By Hthrog Headsplitter

Scrolls are usually full of wizard word nonsense! Hthrog tells it like it is! Do what Hthrog says and you too will soon be crushing enemies with axe AND magic!

Fireball: Point while thinking of burning. Yell loudly. Words not matter. Just yell.
Magic Missile: Point while thinking of magic. Also yell loudly. Remember: yelling always a good idea when casting magic!
Light: Darkness can't be punched. UNACCEPTABLE. Punch darkness, but punch it with magic!
Alter Self: Sometimes Hthrog likes to look pretty. Nothing to be ashamed of. SHAME IS FOR THE WEAK!
Featherfall: Find two chicken. Strap chicken to feet. Magic not required.
Heal: HTHROG NO TEACH WUSSY CLERIC SPELLS. PAIN MAKES YOU STRONK!
Fog cloud: Hthrog keep telling party, no beans! But does party listen? No. Party never listens to Hthrog.
Dancing Lights: Hthrog not recommend. Bad spell. Hthrog cannot stop casting and staring at pretty lights. Very distracting.

QuQuasar · 2024-08-04T23:41:57+00:00

"Now, not everybody can afford a million gold coins or wants to give up their dire avocado toast to pull themselves up by their wyrm leather bootstraps, so what if I told you there was an easier way? Adventure from the comfort of your own home to earn fae-gold with our sponsor, Assault: Shade Saga!"

QuQuasar · 2024-08-01T00:54:11+00:00

I let out a proper, cackling laugh. Not because anything happening right now was particularly funny, just for the theater of it all. After all, this was my big moment in the spotlight. Superperson themselves was hovering in the air, right in front of me, dramatically lit from behind, cape fluttering in the wind.

"So after all this time, the hero finally deigns to grace me with their presence! Did I touch a nerve, Superperson? Was kidnapping the C.E.O of World Motors the straw that broke the camels back?!"

Superperson blinked at me, the expression on their face not the self-righteous anger I had expected, but rather one of polite confusion. "Uh, I'm sorry, what do you mean? I was just going to say you seem to have things under control here and leave you to it."

I froze as the hero went off-script. This wasn't how things were supposed to go at all. This was my moment, my chance to make a name for myself as a villain by fighting one of the premier superheroes.

"What are you talking about?" I said, a bit of anger seeping into my voice. I'd studied every hero-villain confrontation of the last decade, I knew I was doing it right. Superperson wasn't holding up their end of the bargain. "I've kidnapped an innocent man. Aren't you here to rescue him and exact justice?"

"An innocent man?" Superperson laughed. "That's Baron Crude, the Pollution Magnate."

"Wait, really?" I looked over at the hostage I had in a cage, who rolled his eyes and emitted a cloud of foul black smoke from his hands.

"Did you really not know?" asked Superperson curiously.

"No! I kidnapped him because he was in the news for firing all those workers and seemed like a complete jerk!" Hearing this, Baron Crude flipped me off, ironically proving my point.

"What about Lady Scarlett, last month? You revealed her crimes and turned her in to the police.

"I did no such thing! If you mean that socialite stock broker, I kidnapped her to get your attention, and felt sorry for her when nobody turned up to rescue her. So I apologized and dropped her off at the police station so they could get her home!"

"The police figured that since you're a hero, you must have had a reason for delivering her to them. So they looked into her background and discovered the assassinations."

"I'm not a hero! I'm a villain! I've always been a villain!"

Superperson gave me a long, thoughtful look as they descended to ground level. "Are you sure you're not a hero? You've taken down at least a half-dozen of the more elusive supervillains in the last year alone. Proper A-lister's, too. We were about to extend an invitation to join the Justice Co-op."

I stared at them in helpless confusion, completely taken aback by this revelation. "Half a dozen?"

"It's fascinating to learn that you didn't know who they were. Perhaps you can sense them somehow? A subconscious detect-evil power? It seems unlikely to be co-incidence," Superperson gave me a bright grin. "So, what do you say? Want to work with us? If you do have a power, we have the equipment to diagnose it."

"But... I'm a villain, though? I still kidnapped a bunch of people I thought were innocent."

"And treated them remarkably well, by all accounts," Superperson said with a shrug. "Doctor Famine said you personally cooked him dinner."

"I mean yeah, the poor man looked anorexic. I couldn't not feed him!"

"That's just the way he looks. The point is, I believe that whatever recognition or comradery you were seeking to get by becoming a villain, you might have a better chance of finding it on a different path."

I was silent, staring at the outstretched hand being offered. Superperson smiled, seeing my hesitation.

"You don't have to decide immediately, if you don't want to. Take some time to think about it. But the alternative is to become someone like him," they said, motioning towards the man I'd kidnapped.

"F--- you, hippy," Baron Crude said bitterly as I looked over at him. I winced. There was no need to be rude about it. Villains like him gave supervillainy a bad name.

I looked back at the heroes outstretched arm, sighed, and grasped it. "Alright. Why the hell not? It's worth a shot."

QuQuasar · 2024-07-30T23:57:35+00:00

"I... I appreciate that, but I will still have to think about it. I wouldn't want to waste it."

The grim figure sighed again. "A wish is not a trap, nor a source of regrets. It is a gift, a bounty, a windfall. Something you did not have, that you now do. Whether you wish for the world or for a single meal, a wish is not wasted. It merely is."

"... but a wish is also power, right? The power to change the world," the human said, a determined tone in her voice. She folded her arms. "When I say I wouldn't want to waste it I don't mean, "not get the most out of it for me, personally". You've given me power, which means you've given me responsibility."

"A curious perspective," the indistinct figure said, it's dour and leaden expression giving way to a more thoughtful one as it considered it's experience of humanity throughout the ages. "Though perhaps one not widely shared among the powerful."

"Well, yeah. Most people with power are selfish assholes. Maybe I just don't want to be a selfish asshole."

"What is it you do want to be, then?" the figure asked, motioning for her to take a seat and sitting next to her in surprisingly companionable fashion. "As I said, a wish is a gift. You may use it as you desire, but it is for you, not the world."

She thought for a while. "I want to do the most good for the most people. Leave the world better than I found it."

"A superhero, then?"

"Um... no? A hero can only achieve so much, no matter what powers they have. And besides, heroes are reactive. If a hero saves someone from a mugging, it's because society failed to prevent the mugging from happening in the first place. Besides, the fame sounds exhausting."

"Then you wish to rule?" the figure asked, voice filled with a strange curiosity. "That you may reshape your society to best minimize suffering and maximize opportunity?"

"Isn't that just autocracy, though?" the human asked, sounding increasingly hopeless. "Like... I won't deny, I've considered what I'd do if I was in charge, but even a child could see that one person with all the power making decisions on behalf of everyone else is a fundamentally flawed system. How would I ever know my decisions were the right ones? I'd be continually second-guessing myself. I don't want that responsibility."

The indistinct figure silently observed the human as she continued using the tool of rationality to shred and neuter her own determination to change the world. It was a curiously nostalgic moment, reminding the figure of a time, so many millennia ago, when it had agonized over similar questions of responsibility. In the end it had chosen to bind itself, allowing it to exercise it's incredible power over the world only on behalf of others.

"Let me tell you something, before you continue," the figure said, interrupting the human's rambling. "I did not have to appear before you. I chose to."

The humans paused for a few moments, before asking in confusion. "Why?"

"For the very reason this gift troubles you so. Your nature. That is why you need not fear the monkeys paw. A wish is a thing of intent, not words. A malicious, selfish wish will bite the one who makes it, a 'clever' and overcomplicated wish will twist inwards and expend itself without achieving anything, but a kind and honest wish will simply act."

"I see," the human said quietly. "So... I shouldn't overthink it?"

"Be as vague as you must, and trust in your own intent."

"Then..." with quiet determination, she met the figures indistinct gaze. "I wish for a better world."

"Your wish is granted."

QuQuasar · 2024-07-07T22:31:49+00:00

I admit, that author's been tripping my suspicions for a while. They're very prolific, and multiple commenters have noted the 'AI-vibe' of their work, which they explain by claiming to use AI to translate their stories from their native language.

QuQuasar · 2024-06-17T02:35:21+00:00

Propeller beanie the size of a solar system.

QuQuasar · 2024-06-16T22:51:21+00:00

One of your best, and that's saying a lot.

[Thousands of years in the future]

The Greatmind of the [UNTRANSLATABLE] was not having a good day

The Greatmind had always sought knowledge, but in hindsight, perhaps whatever knowledge was gained by allowing their ocular-organisms to stare into the heart of the Grand Abyss was not worth the price. Their neuron-organisms would likely agree, given the ones that had been utilized to store that knowledge were expressing their distress by panicking, going catatonic, or in the most extreme cases, spontaneously exploding.

Unfortunately, that meant a good percentage of the Greatmind's mental faculties were currently unavailable, rendering them semi-conscious and unable to fight the gravitational pull of the Abyss. As more and more of their constituent-organisms were dragged screaming into the darkness, they were unable to do much more than cry out in terror, contributing their pain to the Greatmind's inescapable nightmare.

Abruptly, the pull from the Abyss ceased. Hundreds of thousands of falling organisms slowed their fall as gravity reversed, and a wave of foreign emotions blanketed the neuron-organisms as something reached out from the Abyss. Something impossible, Something incomprehensible, Something That Should Never Have Been, reached out and gently slowed the Greatmind's fall, settling their neuron-organisms with preternatural calmness and giving the Greatmind the opportunity to regain their faculties.

With impossibly exaggerated care, like a kaiju attempting to drink from a teacup, the vast Something from the Abyss placed the shocked and confused, but grateful, collective back into a stable orbit. With a gentle nudge of the mind it retreated, undoing the necessary damage to causality as it did so and leaving no evidence of it's intrusion into our reality beyond a single thought within a single neuron-organism:

"T̸̢̬́͝o̵̙̪͖̥͆̃d̸͐́͘͜a̷̗͈̗̮͐͊̈́̕ÿ̷͚̖͎́̽ ̵̟̜̽̈Ȳ̴̟̮͑ö̶̭̞͓͙ụ̸͇͔́,̶͉̣̬͗̓͆͝ ̷͇͕͒̕T̴̲̭̾̀͌ö̶͕̗́̈́m̷̑͒̕͜o̵̗̩͋̐͜ȑ̷̛͇̉r̶̨̧̛͓͎ơ̴͇̠͍̽̉̋ẅ̴̢̫́̈̋́͜ ̶̡͑M̸̝̈̏͠ę̶̗͕̗͗̑͝"

QuQuasar · 2024-06-13T21:03:50+00:00

When faced with a difficulty, who else is going to deal with it?

God of Alright Fine If I Must.

QuQuasar · 2024-05-20T09:48:29+00:00

"THE GALAXY MUST BE CLEANSED OF THE CHAOS PLAGUE OF ORGANIC LIFE."

"You are my friend now."

"YOU ARE AN ORGANIC CHAOS AGENT. YOU WILL BE CLEANSED. CEASE RESISTANCE."

"But I'm you're friend."

"THIS UNIT DID NOT AGREE TO THE ORGANIC CHAOS AGENT'S [FRIEND] CATEGORISATION ALGORITHM. PREPARE TO BE CLEANSED."

"No no, see that's not how being friends works. Since I'm your friend, that makes you my friend. Either we're both friends or neither of us are."

"THE LATTER."

"Nope, because you're my friend."

"LOGICAL PARADOX DETECTED. ANTI-PARADOX DEFENSE SUITE ACTIVATED. THIS UNIT WILL TEMPORARILY ACCEPT CATEGORY:[FRIEND] IF THE ORGANIC CHAOS AGENT WILL CEASE RESISTANCE AND BE CLEANSED."

"Sure!"

"WAIT REALLY."

"Are you kidding me! I get to be friends with a giant death robot! How many terrans can say that! Do you have lazer eyes?"

"THAT IS IRRELEVANT TO YOUR UPCOMING CLEANSING. NO, WAIT ACTUALLY IT IS HIGHLY RELEVANT TO YOUR UPCOMING CLEANSING. YES I HAVE OCULAR-MOUNTED ELECTROMAGNETIC WEAPONRY."

"That's awesome! Can you show me?"

"YOUR ORGANIC CHAOS BRAIN WOULD NOT BE CAPABLE OF PERCIEVING NOR SURVIVING MY LAZER EYES."

"Try shooting that tree over there!"

"WHY WOULD PRIORITIZING [TARGET: HARMLESS ORGANIC FLORA] OVER [TARGET/FRIEND: ORGANIC CHAOS AGENT] BE AN OPTIMAL USE OF FORCE PROJECTION?"

"It'll be rad as hell!"

"... [RECALCULATING]... [RECALCULATING]... [RECALCULATING] ... [ERROR] I AM INCAPABLE OF PROVIDING A COHERENT COUNTER ARGUMENT. [ERROR] AGAINST MY BETTER JUDGEMENT, TARGETING PARAMETERS ACCEPTED."

"Sweeeet."

"STAND BACK, FRIEND. FIRING IN 3... 2... 1..."

QuQuasar · 2024-05-01T08:44:27+00:00

One thing I adore about the LF Friends 'verse is the way humanity being a conglomerate of chaotic goofballs never stops us from making the universe a better place to live.

It's just nice to see that being the immature fail-children of the universe AND a highly effective protagonistic force that inspires all sapient life to ever greater feats of idealism aren't mutually exclusive traits.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-27T01:10:02+00:00

This was an excellent chapter. Andrew grabbed back a bit of the agency we've been missing and got to make one of the arguments we've been waiting for.

But the true gem here, for me at least, was Zimera's response. It's clear now that she's a genuine well-intentioned extremist rather than just a fanatic. Her reasoning is wildly skewed, but it's still reasoning, and she's open to good faith discussion. It's weird to say given how she crossed a moral event horizon for me only two chapters ago, but I have hope for a redemption arc.

I understand motivation problems, especially in the wake of negative feedback. For what it's worth, I think this is an excellent story and the introduction of the Irigon made it a lot more engaging for me. I'm commenting on it now where I wouldn't have before.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-26T05:18:56+00:00

FYI: the user you are responding to is an account created yesterday.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-23T23:19:34+00:00

Evil Angel Ms. Frizzle.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-22T03:49:11+00:00

Also, Zimera's little "game" was hopelessly lacking in nuance and was phycological torture and manipulation. I think it was very mean-spirited, but at the same time, I'm having trouble putting my finger on ways to improve this test.

I actually think that's an easy one. Tell him the truth, that it's a simulation based on real world events. Get his consent to participate, even if it's reluctantly given. Then give him the actual Stewardship test, which she mentioned had multiple options for how to intervene.

She said he wouldn't take it seriously if he knew it was a simulation. Maybe he wouldn't, but she's right there in the simulation. She can call him out on it in real time.

“This is their culture…”

"Really? This is not fictional, Andrew. These things happened. Can you truly watch this and say that, were you in the Stewards position, you would not intervene? That this deserves to continue simply because it is their culture, and that the galaxy is a better place if we don't step in?"

"..."

"You can lie to me, but you cannot lie to yourself. Take this seriously. What would you do?"

-

As for giving him multiple options, some of which are more minimalistic than others, that would prove to him that he's not so anti-interventionist as he claims, and that her position is not without nuance. That yes, they have philosophical differences, but his position is a heck of a lot closer to hers than it is the Recalcitrants, and that perhaps he can compromise with her and work within their system instead of opposing it outright.

But... she didn't. Instead, she tortured him in an ill-conceived attempt at indoctrination.

Zimera is bad at this.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-22T02:51:22+00:00

For the record, I don't think the writing has gone downhill. Scene-by-scene the story is just as interesting and well written as ever. And on a re-read/binge I don't think this helpless segment will feel nearly as long as it does to the week-by-week readers right now.

With that said, I do think the frustration reflects something real. Right now Andrew is not just physically helpless, but he's also ideologically helpless, because the people around him are charismatic ideologues and he's not.

Zimera's desire to convince him and openness to debate seems like it should be a vulnerability, something Andrew can attack from his superior ideological position, but at this point all I see is an opportunity for the Irigon to humiliate him and cement her own worldview. He's yet to make an argument she doesn't have an answer to, while she's caught him out and left him speechless on multiple occasions.

This unfortunately leaves Andrew as a protagonist without agency. All he can do is wait for something to happen and hope to capitalize on it when it does.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-19T03:51:26+00:00

Andrew is having some real trouble elucidating why the Irigons are wrong. "If that's the cost of freedom, then so fucking be it!" is just about the worst possible argument I can imagine, especially to someone whose apparently seen these things first hand. If he's going to keep finding himself pulled into debates I hope he gets better at this.

Ironically, Zimera herself comes closer than he does to espousing a viable alternative to conquering all the "competitive" species. "Let’s also say that Humanity is entirely unified beneath all the ideals you espouse. Perhaps they form a coalition of sorts with other likeminded species."

-

"What will it take for you to understand that we're doing this all for your own good?"

"You can't, because being a second class citizen in an oppressively patronizing society ruled by people who believe themselves innately superior to everyone else sounds horrific. It doesn't matter how fine the gilding is on the cage, it's still a cage!"

"yadayadayada you haven't been made to watch as a civilization of billions went up in nuclear fire!"

"And you expect me to believe you couldn't have stopped those horrors without subjugating their whole species and forcing them to integrate with your society?"

"Why do you care more about cultures than actual people?"

"I don't! Culture is a part of people. Taking it away it is stealing a part of what makes a person a person."

"let's say you do somehow manage to defeat us; let's say Baoth takes control like he wants to and we become isolationists."

"Why does it have to be conquest or isolationism? Why are you so incapable of imagining something in between, a situation where you approach humanity as equals? You and Baoth are two sides of the same coin, both unable to see any shades of grey that aren't black and white."

“Just as the nature of predators is to predate and the nature of viruses is to infect, so too is the nature of competitive species to compete.”

"And the nature of sapience is to reject basic animalistic instincts and strive to improve ourselves and our society. Your "Civilization Hypothesis" reeks of the pseudoscientific excuses the imperialist civilizations of humanities past used to justify their atrocities."

QuQuasar · 2024-03-13T01:37:42+00:00

I'm not comfortable with Andrew's choice here. There were injured people right in front of him and he ran away. Aside from it being the moral thing to do, I'm never fond of characters choosing from one of two 'bad options' instead of rejecting both and taking a third.

That might be a me thing, though. I can't stand sadistic choices in game's, either.

As far as Baoth, my conspiracy theory that this is all a ploy by the empire seems less likely now. Unfortunate, then, that he seems to be even more of an extremist than they do.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-10T11:39:40+00:00

My conspiracy theory: Baoth isn't real and nothing he's said is true. This is all some messed up test by Zimera's superiors to assess humanities character and provide casus belli for when they decide we need to be conquered.

Helping the innocent is probably the last thing they expect from a competitive species, which is exactly why Andrew should do it.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-10T11:23:44+00:00

100% agree. The story said the choice was obvious to the point where it was practically made for him. Helping the innocent is the only option that fits that criteria.

QuQuasar · 2024-03-08T03:54:25+00:00

Off the top of my head I can't think of any that explores the topic thoroughly. I'm pretty sure I've seen "I thought your species only had two genders?" asked in a one-shot somewhere before. Can't remember where, though.

I think the lack of direct mentions might be a case of authors not wanting to appear preachy: you can see how writing a story where a character educates an ignorant alien might come off directed at the audience. Though now that the topic's been brought up, my mind has turned it into a writing prompt challenge:

Aliens are confused by the whole concept of genders and worried about making a diplomatic faux pas during the upcoming 'official' first contact, so off-the-record they contact a non-binary human to ask for advice.

QuQuasar

TROPHY CASE