#alternate settings

[i-ship-therefore-i-am]

So I am one of those mad hypocrites who posts fics piece by piece all the time with the super helpful chapter 3/???????? set ups and yet I generally refuse to read WIPs of any kind. That being said, I am currently madly in love with a handful of fics that I have dubbed “Totally Worth Reading as a WIP” with the knowledge that even if the worst should happen and they are abandoned, there is enough awesomeness in them already to make it worth while. Also, in that they make me made ungodly noises and drop everything when I get an update email. 

Wangxian WIPs totally worth reading:

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind and Jo Lasalle https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244813/chapters/66555598  Currently 32/49 chapters Once, Lan Wangji made a choice to step aside. Ten years after Wei Ying’s death, he finds a way back to choose again.

My comments: OMG, a time travel fic (one with LWJ as the time traveler!!!), so well written, giving us that sweet sweet wangxian and pining with bonus fucking while pining, but also fleshed out Wen Remnants. Like, we get to know a lot of them. There is such an aching, beautiful quality to this story. Not to mention it’s already over 300,000 words. As is, the sweet emotional pay off is already there, though I can tell there will be more too, so this is definitely a fic worth reading. It also seems that this team of authors has been faithfully updating the fic for the last year, most recently just a few days back! 

often through the purple night by cqlorphan ( @jingyismom ) https://archiveofourown.org/works/33614869/chapters/83530858 Currently 7/? chapters Courtesan Lan Wangji was educated as part of the highest of high class entertainers, much sought-after by scholars and princes and leaders of sects. His skills are of the highest caliber, and do not in any way involve sex. But times are changing.

My comments: This is a lovely, achy fic in an AU where the Wen dominated the cultivator world in the past while all our main characters were still young children. Lan Wangji is fascinating and so vulnerable and deeply feeling under his outward strength and stoic competence, and as always, Wei Wuxian is an unexpected vector that spins LWJ’s entire world in new and terrifying directions. The whole idea is fascinating, I can’t wait to see where it goes, but ultimately for me, cqlorphan’s meditations on vulnerability and the joys and terrors of being seen and known are at the core of what draws me into this fic! This fic has been sporadically updating over the last month. 

true gold fears no fire by defractum https://archiveofourown.org/works/23812717/chapters/57213883 Currently 8/? chapters Lan Wangji encounters a mysterious stranger on his rooftop. Alternatively, the Emperor of China has heard rumours of an intruder sneaking into the Forbidden City, a shadow that has eluded the best of his guards. (Alternatively, Wei Ying just really wanted a drink.)

My comments: This is another fic with a fascinating set up, having Wei Ying married off as Empress to Emperor Lan Wangji. There’s so many things to love. Identity reveal, court politics, the play of power dynamics and intimacy, unspoken histories, a Plot Afoot! I love what is already here with some great moments, but I am looking forward to learning more! Looks like it’s been underway for a year and a half at this point, but there was a recent update, so fingers crossed! 

Honorary shout out to the no-longer-a-wip:

The Wild Geese’s Tomb by The Feels Whale ( @thefeelswhale ) https://archiveofourown.org/works/33639346/chapters/83594473 Complete (7/7) Lan Zhan dies two years before canon and promptly wakes up in the library at Cloud Recesses right across from Wei Wuxian, napping facedown in a pile of copywork. He has a lot of questions. Is this the afterlife? If it's not, then is he alone with his memories? And most importantly, what does he need to do to keep his soulmate alive this time?

My comments: Another riveting time travel fic that sucked me in early and made me scream along as I impatiently waited for each and every update. As much as I love getting to read the entire thing, I kinda miss that rush of getting an update email for this fic! 

[greensunprincess]

Exalted: The Broken Moon

A custom setting for Exalted. (Whoever guesses what this is inspired by gets a cookie~)

Realm Year 778. . .

 It seemed a year like any other. The Empress was still missing, The Age of Sorrows was still sorrowful, but the sun and moon still traveled across the sky, and the world still turned.

That was before Luna broke.

One night, an ordinary night, by most accounts, the midnight sky was suddenly lit, as by high noon. People and gods all over creation gazed, aghast, as the moon cracked, groaning and wailing as chunks of it were torn away. And from the cracks and crumbling pieces poured a hundreds upon thousands of creatures. Black as nighttime shades, with glowing masks forged from the bones of the ancient behemoths, the creatures that have tormented Luna’s dreams since her creation.

Luna’s nightmares descended on creation, driving humanity away before it. The North, where the biggest of the pieces of the broken moon fell, suffered the worst, and might have been destroyed utterly had the daughters of the Sun and the Dragons not come together, setting aside their differences in the hour of greatest need, and forcing the creatures back, just barely, back into the pieces. Even this might not have been enough, had their patrons not joined in the effort.

The Unconquered Sun and the Dragons, inspired by their chosen, took to the field in a vast chariot, crushing Nightmares beneath their wheels and claws. It was they who lead the final charge against the beasts, and it was they who lifted the broken pieces back into the sky.

Sadly, fixing what the Primordials had built was beyond even the greatest of the gods. They could tether the pieces to the moon, allowing it to resume it’s journey across the sky, but they could not put back what had been released. Each night, more and more nightmares rise, all across Creation.

Fifteen years have passed since then. . .

[crownofcompassion]

New Post has been published on Crown of Compassion

New Post has been published on http://www.crownofcompassion.org/2016/04/15/the-person-you-were-meant-to-be/

The person you were meant to be

“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.”- Heath L. Buckmaster, Box of Hair

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are- no more, no less.  That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”- Matthew 5:5 (The Message)

Matt Bays begins Chapter 12 (“Default Settings- Accepting Who You Are”) of Finding God in the Ruins with the assertion that our genetic makeup- our character traits- can be only slightly modified.  Maybe our hardwiring does not need to be tempered with- that we are what we are for a reason.

Pastor Bays adds that change most definitely is a good thing.  But checking everything on our “alternate settings” list can give us the kind of false hope that can be destructive.  Matt believes the recurring twinge within us of past damage can become manageable.  However, the deeper ache in our spirits won’t ever be completely torn out by the roots- and maybe that is okay.

Acknowledging the truth actually can set you free.  You always will be you.  This sometimes painful truth can be liberating, because you can finally stop chasing after  the person you will never be.  In order to move forward in this life or even  survive, we must accept that “who we are at the core is exactly who we were always meant to be.”  Thomas Merton believed the ordinary would find freedom- the ordinary would inherit the earth.  As The Message paraphrases Matthew 5:5- “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are- no more, no less.”

Today’s question: Are you content with who you are- the person you were meant to be- at this present moment?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Rainbow Days”

Tomorrow’s blog: “Your litmus test”

[drferox]

Alternative D&D technology levels

So lucky little me got a copy of Raising Steam, the latest Discworld novel, for Christmas. While I hastily devour the words of this novel, it's got me thinking about different technology levels in my campaign.

The latest Discworld novels, if you're one of the few dozen people out there that don't read them, tell a story of advancing technology through the books, from a modern city watch, to the first newspapers, the post office, semaphore towers, and now the steam railway.

Classic D&D is usually based an a pseudo-medieval setting. No printing press, no post office, no semaphore, certainly no railway, and if I have my way absolutely no guns. However, my current campaign is planned to have several stages of advancing technology. They have already played through a mesolithic, nomadic age and are now navigating their way through the early iron age.

Low tech ages with restrictions are actually rather dull.

So I find myself in this downtime scheming to myself about some possible interesting technologies to base a few adventures around. The actual state of the world will depend on my players' choices in this age, but some of the technology I'm considering using as plot points are:

A postal system strikes my as an underrated and useful thing that really should exist is any moderately organized and trading civilization. Communication spells are expensive, a keen lad on a horse is relatively cheap.

A printing press allows the rapid dissemination of knowledge to the whole population, whether that's good or bad, accurate or not.

A railway allows the transport of huge amounts of goods and people with just coal and water. This makes the mines even more important, and the creatures that were living in them. Plus, I have to wonder what a red dragon would make of a steam engine.

Dry docks and advanced shipbuilding. I'm nit exactly thinking titanic here, but certainly a lengthy sea voyage.

I'm loathe to allow guns in my campaigns (they ruin rpgs in my opinion), but the development of cannons  is going to greatly upset castle builders.

Photographs. Our modern lives are inundated with them, but imagine the novelty when they were new.

I know there are spells that allow PCs to do most of these things on their own, but magic is expensive and I think technology will still advance so long as it is cheaper than magic in the first place.

Many of the objects considered 'technological revolutions' are weaponry in our history, which I want to stay away from because of my dislike of guns and because my campaign world has dragons. I expect dragons will respond poorly and angrily to guns. (Also the reason nobody uses a hot air balloon).

These are just idle thoughts mostly. I know one of my players, aware that their actions will influence the future game settings, is eagerly looking for a little blue box that's bigger on the inside in every dungeon, but I think time travel is a few steps too far.