Oh no. I thought this was the newest chapter. Turns out I tricked myself with being impatient. Thanks for the chapter Sleyca.
Oooo... that was my bad. I should probably have thought of that, Monus and waited a minute before dropping this one. Sorry for my Patreon newness. Definitely read the other one first! :)
This is epic.
I vote we do two today not one! It's for very good reasons that definitely aren't just me wanting to read this whole goddamn book right now.
Tomorrow's is lengthy. I thought I'd save the doubles for days with shorter chapters, but I'm really very easy to lead astray...
It would be great to have a picture of alien rabbit. Right now i am just thinking of small dragon. Anyway awesome chapter
Very similar to a small dragon. I'm picturing them with more shortened forelimbs than you usually see on European style dragons, though I haven't had the chance to describe them. Sort of like miniature pachycephalosaurs with wings? Dinosaur dragons.
Thanks for the chapter sleyca! And the discord shoutout <3 Also what on Artona does WHOLE mean?!
It's a secret. You'll never pry it out of me!
so Alden is younger than Stu-art’h and the other Students. I wonder by how much.
This is not addressed in-depth in the next few chapters, so I will drop info in case people are interested. They are around 2 Earth years older than him literally, but Artonans mature a little slower than humans. So they're pretty close to 15-16 by our standards.
second!
Thank you! You guys were so fast.
Lets GO!
I love your user name.
Take my money now
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the read!
Hey Sleyca, great to see you here. Please consider adding "general support" as part of the menbership benefits, in order to reduce how much we pay in taxes (a dollar saved here is a dollar we can donate to another content creator). See here for details https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041031072-Adjusting-Benefit-Value-for-Sales-Tax
Thank you for this! I didn't realize it was a feature.
Congrats on the Patreon!
Thank you! I'm really excited.
I highly recommend that you add a $2 tier for one week of chapters or something ($1 is taxed too much by patreon its stupid). It's a Foot In The Door technique to get more people into your higher subscriptions. If people come and see only the $10 tier there's a lot that think ehhh too expensive to even try it and put it out of their minds (or worse pirate it), but if you have a smaller tier they often convince themselves to go to the larger tier after buying it, sometimes on the same day. That's been my experience working on several patreon/kickstarter based projects anyway.
Thank you both so much for the advice! I'm totally new to Patreon so I'm still figuring it out and making changes.
Congratulations on starting the patreon, happy to support the continuation of this wonderful story.
Thank you so much!
Can’t wait for more!
I will write faster.
I'm *almost* disappointed that the tier isn't called "super supporter"
I can fix that.
I wanted to support this great story, but $10 per month is too rich for me. If I hadn't figured out I could do a custom pledge you wouldn't have gotten my support. Maybe it's worth to do a $3-5 tier with no benefits?
This is something I'm looking at! Not a no benefits one. I was thinking of doing one with a few chapters on it.
Suddenly a lot of Joe's behavior when he first met Alden makes a lot more sense, he thought he was some other Wizard's pet and only gradually realized that wasn't the case and has been trying to "figure him out" ever since. The System restrictions and how Artonans view Avowed make so much more sense now, fun lore dump.
He had Joe's coat! Nobody buys Joe's coat. (Even though they totally should!)
Hooooly shit the REVEALS
I need to look back at Chapter 38. Someone commented on how the math worked out to Chapter 39 being important, and I thought..."Actually, yes. There is a LOT going on in 39."
Can someone remind me which chapter has a relatively complete explanation of the process of leveling a skill vs ranking up? I believe that ranking up requires increasing your Chaos Potential, but leveling up requires improving with your skill? I want to reread that chapter.
This is correct. I haven't explained how rank ups happen yet in the story. It's a big mystery to the human Avowed. As for the process of leveling skills, here is a quote from Chapter 16 about what Alden knew about leveling up pre-Joe: "[Leveling] wasn’t a clear-cut or guaranteed process for Avowed. Not in the same way it was in a video game. Alden didn’t know about Chainers specifically, but for most classes, leveling purportedly involved expanding the functions of your starter skill through a harrowing mix of trial, error, and epiphany. Nobody had ever really come up with a sure-fire method for doing it, as far as he knew. And it wasn't like the System told you how to improve your skill. You just had to keep hacking away at it on your own and make it work. Somehow. " Post-Joe, he now understands a bit more about what is actually happening. Someone who works with their skill is slowly building authority, which is their ability to do magic, and while a portion of that improves the skill direction a left over portion is left hanging. The System transforms the leftovers into a reward in the form of a new skill or spell impression or agility points, etc... for the Avowed. Alden hasn't really unpacked it beyond that, so I won't explain more just yet for spoilery reasons.
I'm really enjoying this progression and expansion. It's much better than just concluding the chapter at, "Will you carry this bomb for me?" Especially when the real bomb is knowledge. The chapter length also feels much more fulfilling.
I'm so glad you're liking it! I will say this is the biggest chapter of the current batch. If memory serves they average 4500ish words, but some are quite a bit shorter, and others like this one are extra long.
By the way - if you ever get a chance, can you do a very basic sketch of what Artonans look like? I know you describe them in one chapter (I think the one where Alden is sitting in his Artonan history class), but I still have trouble picturing exactly what they look like (which is becoming a bigger issue as we get more prominent Artonan characters).
I will definitely attempt one. I...don't promise greatness. I have a hard time even with human anatomy, so there is a good chance they will come out looking like monsters. But I could always share that for the laughs, I guess.
Loving these chapters Sleyca! :D
Thank you for reading!
Damn, this I so nice getting chapters all the time, this shit is too good. Alden def forgot about checkoff super bone fragment, wonder what sort of nonsense it's gonna allow him to do
Sometimes, you just stick a piece of someone's foot in some Silly Putty, and then you just stop remembering how weird that is. Happens to the best of us.
So far the patreon has been well worth it for me 👍🏼
Thank you so much for supporting the story!
Amazing story, I dont even know why i gave it a try since it didnt look like something i would enjoy, and oh boy, I'm so glad i gave it a try, this is probably the best serie i found in the last year
I've been finding it very hard to write a "hooky" piece of flap copy for Super Supportive that isn't misleading in one direction or another. I do think I'll change it up soon and try something new.
two chapters today pretty please
Okay!
Typo: Stuart's severed food - foot
I swear on my keyboard this was not an intentional typo.
Well that was emotionally devastating. Thanks for the chapter?
I should make Let Me Cut The Onions an official skill name.
I want more more more
I'll be posting another in a couple of hours!
Sleyca i need you to drop your writing quality or ill never be able to leave the patreon.
Thank you! Also, when I accidentally write a chapter everyone hates, I'm going to tell them I only did it for you.
Going back to two chapters a week of this is going to suck so fucking bad lol.
I'm sad about it, too, to be honest. I have really enjoyed being able to dole them out so frequently. When I pull far enough ahead on the backlog again I'll try do the occasional extra chapter for everyone.
Sleyca, you are an amazing storyteller. I am enthralled by the characters and worlds you are building.
Thank you! I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have found a good readership. I was worried people wouldn't like it as much as I do.
Great Chapter Sleyca! Is this the last of the back log?
Thank you! The Patreon is now officially ten chapters ahead of RR. A new one will be posted tomorrow. I have four additional chapters written and revised, but I'd like to keep at least that many in my pocket to cushion against unforeseen circumstances. I'm planning to continue building a bigger backlog over the coming weeks so I can offer a bit more for this tier and any new ones.
Three chapters week or three chapters a week?
Three chapters this week! Not every one. My backlog isn't big enough to support that at this point, though I'm trying to work toward it.
Sleyca you have written at the beginning of the chapter that you have plans to write 3 times a week. I looked at the amount you have written in three chapters and it was over 20 000 words. Wildbow wrote around 20 000 words a week and burned out out if I remember it right. So as much as I love your writing you yourselve has to come first.
It's just going to be three on the week this particular chapter releases! Because it's a shorter one. Three a week regularly is an *eventual* goal for me, but for now the standard will be two. Thank you so much for worrying about burnout! I will try hard to keep up a good pace while being conscientious about writing myself into corners.
Is this Meal, pt 2 🤔
Yes! I'm so sorry. I just realized how confusing that is. I changed the title.
So does Alden just need to go to a farm to teach those spirits that cows And chickens aren't people?
Octopus is off the menu though.
I know you lampshaded it but I’m not buying that Alden didn’t make more effort to get advice on his current circumstances and that Gorgon didn’t attempt to do so
Thank you for the feedback! I will ponder this and decide if I want to add something. I know Gorgon doesn't have any advice to give, so it's not something he would have brought up on his own. As for Alden... I could definitely see him asking, "Hey, Gorgon. How do I get myself and this kid out of this mess?!" But since Gorgon's answer would be, "I don't know. Good luck," it's not a particularly satisfying convo moment. Gorgon doesn't have a way of aiding Alden from Chicago...at least not one that he would be willing to try. He's not self-sacrificing enough to risk revealing to the Artonans that he's been playing around with his powers and can mind meld with a human kid he kind of likes. Maybe the convo needs to be there anyway though.
I dunno if it's because I'm so stressed with finals, but I sympathize so hard with them right now. That's gotta feel like someone is carving out your organs with a spoon, waiting on that kind of danger.
Good luck with your finals! You are the NoodleGod. You've got this.
Sleyca! The discord has a crucial question. What time zone is Anesidora?
I had the hardest time figuring this out when I first placed Anesidora. I had to google time zone maps and stare at them trying to figure out where Point Nemo was exactly in relation to everything else. I've been going with Pacific time as well, but if someone can find a better definitive answer I'm happy to change it.
this is pretty harrowing, I can practically feel the desperation coming from Alden. Holy shit
Welcome to the Patreon, Aisha! I hope you enjoy the read.
Is there an update schedule? It's getting unhealthy how much I'm refreshing this page
Sundays and Wednesdays!
I’m here because Macronomicon subbed and Patreon emailed me about it. Didn’t even know you had a Patreon xD
Welcome!! I hope you like it here. :)
The line about the Rabbit carrying a lucky wizard's foot was so funny I may almost forgive the brutality of that cliff! I did actually laugh aloud at that bit.
I have been dying to make this joke since the moment he got the foot bone. I was so scared someone else was going to make it in the comments section before I got here that I almost dropped it in several earlier chapters.
If part 2 wasn't coming today I probably would've rioted
Tonight's post is reaaallly short. Sunday's is around 6k I think.
Thanks for the chapter! I can't wait for the next one this evening
Thank you! The one going up this evening is super short though. Like a blip. Just a heads-up. Sunday's is quite large.
What if Sleyca just never posts anything again? :-(
That would be the worst.
Not to seem super helpless but what's the release schedule on this story?
Sundays and Wednesdays!
I both love and hate that hes getting +4 in Whats apparently a useless stat for him. Great chapter
It's his biggest stat (for now) because I'm mean.
Does Strength also impacts physical resistance (defence)? I don't see a dedicated foundational stat.
All the top level stats can technically be broken down and extremely refined if the Avowed requests it. Like Alden does here when he specifies Speed for hands. There's more mention of it in the first affixation chapter waaaayyy back...the boys were surprised he got Proprioception, since it was so niche. So someone who wanted physical resistance specifically could make that happen by request. If they don't specifically select the precise percentages of each point they want to go to certain things, the Systems balance them on their own. So technically something like Agility is making you a little stronger and a little faster and giving you better reflexes instead of just doing one thing.
Oh! And yes, just taking the top level Strength stat would impact physical resistance, since otherwise Avowed would injure themselves too easily with their own super strength.
Quote: “Like they’re arm wrestling each other all the time,” Alden said. “And by doing so they’re forcing a constant state of reassertion?” My comment: This reminds me a lot of isometric exercises. Quote: “Got it. So I’m a level nine now. If that’s measured as excess authority on top of a level…something…skill and my trait and my stats?” “If I’m forced to work with these terms, then I think the current power level of your skill should be called three, but Earth says round up to four. It strokes egos to make humans more manageable it seems.” My comment: I don't understand this part at all. What is it meant to convey, does anyone know?
I have written a long post below about ranks/levels if anyone is interested. Alden gained eight power levels total while on Moon Thegund. His bound authority went to level 3 or 4 (depending on which System you like to agree with) and his free authority increased beyond that for a total of 8 gained.
So many people are asking about how ranks work if there are also levels, and how rank-ups work. I personally don't consider the first question to be much of a spoiler. It's a world building thing that's probably gleanable with info currently available if you're a really, really fine-toothed comb sort of reader, and it's going to be dripped out even more clearly as it comes up. I'm going to try to answer it here, but I'm never a hundred percent positive what other people consider a spoiler, so...if you are very spoiler sensitive do not read on. I mean it. *Stares at you seriously.* This is your last chance to run. SPOILER: : : SPOILER: : :Rank usually has to do with how much power (authority) you have upon first assignment. At that point, most Avowed are accepting the largest single talent affixation they ever will. Normally, a B-rank Avowed who wasn't actively trying to increase their power could live their entire lives after that without ever being given another B-rank talent, partially due to lack of ambition, partially due to the fact that most people affix small rewards as soon as they're available rather than going for years at a time while ignoring the System's offers to increase their useable abilities. That was why Mother mentioned in this chapter that it was impressive Alden could affix an entirely new B-rank skill if he wanted, and he noted that that was usually a mid-career thing. *Skill level reflects the power growth specifically of a single skill. *Overall level (Alden is a Rank B, Level 9 now) gives a better idea of everything the Avowed has going on once they start growing. It's a way of acknowledging all the skills/spells/foundational enhancements/traits/etc...together. Mother doesn't like that calculation method. Earth likes it so much it sometimes uses it to manipulate people apparently. *side-eyes Earth* So, a Rank B - Level 40, or something like that, would have more authority than a brand new baby A-rank. Comparing powers is hard when you mix and match classes, since they work quite differently, so let's say they're both Rabbits. It's a skill-based class so that makes it simple. The B-rank would have more authority. But the new A-rank Rabbit's A-rank starter skill would probably be more powerful than any one of the skills the much older Rabbit had. The older Rabbit has a lot more stuff they can do, since to get to Level 40 they'll have picked up lots of little enhancements, skills, and spells. But if they were some kind of weird fighting Rabbits who were going to battle by each smashing their very best friendly domestic helper skill into each other, the A-rank would win. Interestingly, some classes can choose not to have any max-ranked talents at all. If you'll remember, Alden was given the option of choosing two lower ranked skills instead of Let Me Take Your Luggage. If he had taken that option, he would actually have a more similar profile to an older Avowed of a lower rank, but the System would still have called him a B-rank. Now, I feel like going into more depth than that might be entering real spoiler territory, so I'm going to stop there. But I hope that helps!
I think rank-up answers are pretty spoilery. I do feel like at least one of the rank-up methods is more logical and deducible from the explanation here, but another one doesn't really have enough clues in-story yet for people to guess unless they've taken too many points in Processing...it's only barely been hinted at.
thanks! hope we have one tomorrow hahaha
Yes. It will come in about twelve hours. I'm revising it now.
This is lame joke. We're all paying money to support you, and you spit in our faces like this? Not cool man.
This is really and truly going up on Royal Road as Chapter Sixty One. It's not written specifically to play with peoples' emotions in a mean way; it's written to provide emotional impact to readers who will one day read this chapter immediately in between the previous and the next one. It's meant to make readers have to click next chapter, pause and realize, "Wow, Alden really went through something terrible." Adding it onto the previous chapter or the next wouldn't give the same effect. I don't know if it's an awesome artistic choice, but that's what I'm going for. I couldn't think of a better way to give Patreon the same pause and think about it effect than this one. It had to be released either half a day after the prior one or half a day before the next one. Any shorter time period and people would miss seeing it.
Kyle, it matters because on Patreon it's very easy for people to miss seeing chapters that are posted back-to-back. They click the notification for the most recent one, and start reading it before they realize that there was a previous. Several people have mentioned it. That ruins the experience I'm hoping to give people with this chapter in particular. I'm sorry if this offends anyone. I think, in the long run, it's the best way to read the story. I can't make the experience perfect. I'm just taking my best shot at it, and hoping it lands for more readers than it offends. It's my one and only artsy-fartsy chapter so far. I'm gonna keep it like this because I really did put a lot of thought and care into how I wanted to present the story. Even the choice to write this chapter in this way instead of doing descriptive metaphors for pain was a process, not a throwaway.
Damn, this is so much more effective than some long-winded explanation of how bad the pain was. The contrast between this and the other chapters is so stark
This is literally what I was *hoping* to do. I'm worried it's just making people mad.
if this is the “patreon will be 12 chapters ahead in a few weeks” chapter I will cry
Nope! You'll be getting another additional
This really is Chapter Sixty-One. But you're also getting Chapter 62 tomorrow morning. It's for artistic impact in the finished product. I can't think of how else to release it without patrons missing out on that experience, since many people don't catch back-to-back chapter posts and would end up reading the next chapter before this one. I am sorry to the people who are upset, but I think the story really is conveyed best in this way.
It might have worked better posted twelve hours after the last one rather than twelve hours before the next one, when we're coming off the scene with Mother. I didn't do it then, because I felt like it would be worse as a cliffhanger leading into a multi-day break than as an appetizer for the next one. I really don't think it's going to read comedically in the finished product, when it's sandwiched between two other chapters for a reader who is reading them all together. I think having it as a full chapter break is going to create the impact in that situation in a way that a simple page break can't.
Lies! It clearly didn't hurt too much for 6 words. We demand words, pain or no pain!
I considered doing a total blank chapter, but I wasn't sure it would be allowed on Royal Road.
Babel vibes
Oh, yikes! Is that a thing? I assumed a blank chapter wold be a no-no, but not a micro one. I might message them about it. I really want it to look like this, and I've got it surrounded by chapters of righteous length goshdarnit.
I demand a physical description of Alden so that I can draw him. He's such a realistic depiction of a teenage boy. I really do like this stylistic choice, though - it conveys his feelings perfectly.
I think the last description of him was back in Chapter 5. There's a bit more coming up in upcoming chapters, but until then, he has green eyes, hair that's between true brown and auburn, average height, and he has a few freckles that he thinks are mostly invisible except in summer. Though I'm not sure we can trust him there, since Aimi Velra claimed she didn't "feel good" about kidnapping him because he looked like he had freckles on his nose. Formerly, he looked clean-cut and "wholesome " --also according to Aimi--but that was before he got his hair hacked up by Met-oosa and then spent a really long time on the moon.
It’s Sunday, where’s the chapter Labowski! I want my chapter Labowski, patroon says your good for it!
I'm about ten full chapters ahead of you guys at this point with the writing, but I do a full revision of each one before I post. This one was so long, the revision took a few hours. I'm still working on revising for the next one.
The revisions let me catch a lot of plot consistency problems before they become problems. Not all of them unfortunately! There are at least a couple of smallish plot things in early chapters I really need to fix on a full manuscript pass...I just have to find the time to do a thorough one.
Thank you thank you thank you Sleyca. Edit: Did he really walk the entire way in bare feet? I guess his new and improved body has tougher sole skin than before, to walk through a forest without injuring himself.
It's kind of a weird forest. Nearly a monoculture of the big trees with no undergrowth, so it's basically just soft leaf mulch on the ground. Also, I'm one of those animals that never wears shoes when I can avoid it in the summer months, so I just assume everyone else has feet of steel.
I hoped that he would climb a tree, take a suitably dramatic selfie with the caption “I lived bitch” and send it to everyone
I wonder how many stat points he would need to climb an Artonan sequoia? Must ponder...
If this were a print book, this chapter feels like it would be the end of a volume. also I'm just laughing at the mental image of Stuart just seeing Alden and then slowly closing the door.
It's the end of a major arc and the start of a new one, so it does feel that way to me too. I don't know how necessary it is to declare a volume ended in a web serial, but I do think this would be a good place to do it if I were going to make such a declaration. Also, poor Stuart did not need a dead guy in a Hawaiian shirt to just show up with his dinner like that.
They’re so cute. Thank you for the chapter! Also, here’s Alden. I could not resist making him a little bit scruffy. (https://ibb.co/tXz62nz) I’m sure nothing bad happens to him.
I love your art!! You included Victor. 10/10
I think now is as good a time to ask as any, why did Alden not ask about what happened to his hero mentor at any point with mother?
I don't mind answering, since it's not really a spoiler. Also, there is an upcoming chapter where Alden's pov on this is briefly touched on. (All things in this comment are just examples. I deliberately made up lots of them, so do not read deeply into any of them for clues.) Readers are naturally very focused on where Hannah is because, as readers of many stories, we know a missing body = plot relevance in some kind of way. Either there will be some terrible dramatic moment where we discover what horrible way she died. Or there will be a deep, thought-provoking one when the wretched author mentions her continued unexplained absence six hundred chapters from now during an emotionally devastating scene to drive home the uncaring nature of the universe. Or we'll find out where she is and if she needs help/moved to Bermuda/joined an Artonan hate group/married a griveck/got lost in space/etc... But Alden, as a character, is pretty sure that Hannah has died. He is familiar with irreversible loss from his childhood, he has a fair amount of closure on that, and he's not searching for answers like readers are. When he's getting his affixation and coming away from his own near-death experience, she's not foremost on his mind. Additionally, if you think about it from a world building perspective, the only answers he could get would be just as insurmountable for him as her death. If she's being held prisoner, he can't do anything. If she's off fighting demons in a top secret location or something, he also can't do anything. If she's just plain old lost, like he was, that's also not something he can impact. And in all three of those scenarios, the most likely outcome *would* be her eventual death. So there's not a lot of motivation for him to dig at a mystery that even Hannah's own mother--who is quite a big deal--couldn't solve.
Love the callback to Alden's introduction to Kibby with his explanation to Stuart. “ I was thinking, ‘Oh no! A killer fish. Yikes! A boy with a missing foot! I think I should take the boy with the missing foot to a House of Healing. Why is everyone here trying to stop me from doing that?!’” “I thought, ‘A human! Probably it is a man human. Distinguished Master Ro-den might have sent it. Or Yipalck might have sent it. I wonder if it’s going to do magic. I hope it’s going to help us. I hope it’s not going to hurt us.’”
I'm so glad someone noticed him channeling Kibby energy here.
The mourning names are a cool detail. Really puts them in a new light. So is Stuart's full name Sina Stu-art'h?
Yes! It is!
If you ever have the time, Sleyca, I think a Q&A would be great for some clarifications! Like the talent deal. I’ve seen it referred to as skill + trait, but I don’t think we’ve ever got an explanation for that.
Yes, talent is the catch-all as Reign says. I would enjoy doing a Q&A of some kind for non-spoiler stuff. Maybe after next chapter?
Once I start liking comments, I just have to like all of them. Because I do like all of them.
Thank you thank you thank you Sleyca. I was so worried something bad had happened to you or something.
No! I'm fine. It's normal (or it used to be) for chapters to come later in the evening when I have more free time to look them over. I've just been doing them earlier lately because I was able to. They will always be out by midnight Pacific Time, unless there's a disaster.
Are the times correct in this? Anesidora is at point Nemo in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, yet is an hour east (ahead) of Chicago, the same time zone as New York City. I don’t think that’s right. I’d expect it to be in the same time zone as Hawaii or near to it.
Sashani, you're totally right. I don't know how I screwed up the time zones this badly in this chapter. Anesidora in this story uses Pacific time, which is my best guess for what the most accurate time zone would be. I don't know what my brain was doing here. Thank you for finding it!
Surely your devoted readers aren't that scary, right? (...right?)
It's a good kind of scary. But you are too smart sometimes, and I am one hundred percent sure some of you were hiding out in the shadows prepared to break my fingers if I killed Kibby.
I have three so take your pick. I don't expect you to answer them all. ok I have my 3 qna questions. 1. character heights. 2. Actual stats for avowed / unregistered. and 3. star wars 1. Can we get heights for all the major characters? 2. Can we get the REAL stats for avowed rates and unregistered avowed. 3. How does star wars fit into this alternative timeline? A film about space wizards with a religion about balance and an advanced tech space empire sounds... wildly unoriginal after the 1963 agreement haha. Edit: 4. Bonus question: Can you tell us what pronouns you prefer? It seems like you use she/her on instagram, but I'd really appreciate confirmation so know which ones to use.
1. What a terrible spoiler, Flopmind. How did you know I put Alden's exact height in the next chapter? (For real. It's there.) He's 176.4 cm tall. Jeremy is 6'. Boe is 5'8". Joe is actually half an inch taller than Alden which makes him quite tall for an Artonan. Stuart is "several inches shorter." I picture him around 5'2"...I feel like it's fine if people adjust heights to their preference mentally though. Sophie's eyes are level with Alden's chin in my mind. But she's massive and quadrupedal, so she's a very substantial lady griveck.
2. My notes currently say 1/4 of human Avowed don't register. I haven't canonized it yet, so that may change. It seems a little high? 3. Oh man. Fantasy and sci-fi would have to get SO out-there to remain fantasy and sci-fi. I'm pretty sure the spaceships in Star Wars wouldn't look nearly as good if you'd gotten a good look at an Artonan one, either. :( 3.5 Can you imagine how great Nat Geo-esque television channels would be though with a whole bunch of extra planets and species? I would love to watch whatever each planet's version is of BBC's Planet Earth series. 3.75 I think I should have brought more media like that into the story earlier. Just through casual mentions for world-building purposes. 4. She is good!
Do you create characters by meshing together two or three themes/archetypes?
I don't consciously do that. I just try to make every character complex and give even the side characters a back story of some kind. I'm a big fan of shades of gray, so I don't want someone who's clearly bad to be ALL bad or someone who's good to be flawless.
So at this point is alden able to do any of the wish making things given by his ‘gremlin’ it was touched before when they were trying to escape but curious if he has any control over that yet
Interesting question. I don't think Alden could do that without Gorgon's assistance at this point in the story, and Gorgon has pretty much said he's not willing to give that assistance again. He doesn't want Alden to try the Rite. He didn't exactly mean for Alden to have that particular power in the first place. And we know it's "costly" for him somehow. Saying any more than that heads into spoiler territory possibly...
Is this your first work or do you have some others to your name because this is seriously well made.
Thank you! I've been writing since I was in high school, back when I was terrible, terrible at it. But Super Supportive is the only story I intend to attach to this name at this time. There's a lot of freedom in anonymity. I feel more comfortable with the possibility of screwing up and looking foolish when I'm faceless. Hopefully I won't do that, but in the case of either success or failure, remaining more private ultimately makes it much easier for me to write and enjoy the process.
On a scale of 1-10 how much M-preg is planned 🤔
Zero for humans. I...haven't had a reason to think that deeply about most alien biology yet.
Is this your first story?
Hi, Memory! I think you and Jamal asked around the same time. The answer is just above.
What did you use for inspiration for this work?
The starting inspiration was just that so many superhero--or any kind of OP magical protagonist really--stories rush through my favorite part. The part where they're actually getting their powers and they're not yet overwhelmingly strong. That part of the story is so interesting to me, but sometimes it's over in just a few chapters or a few minutes. And we spend the rest of the story watching someone very, very powerful do stuff that feels low stakes because they outclass the problems too much. Which is fun, too, but I love the discovery phase. And I love the weird everyday life stuff that happens when you have powers. And I like to feel like the main character can really lose--if not their life, because of course then the story would end, then things that are dear to them.
I have one burning question... Did Alden cut his hair while on Thegund? Did he let Kibby cut it? Did he grow it out? If so, how long is it now?
Weirdly answering this question would feel like a spoiler. I must avoid spoilers at all costs. But it's a good question...
I'm being a little dramatic calling it a spoiler. It's just that I am planning to mention his hair/physical appearance a few times in upcoming chaps.
Does Alden’s dorm have Wevvi, as well as the tea and coffee? Or is that a uniquely Artonian food item, that isn’t imported?
I love this question. Alden's apartment doesn't have it, but wevvi is widely available on Anesidora. Many Avowed develop a taste for it. Unfortunately the non-artificial kind isn't obtainable though.
Coming soon: Super FARMER...because you thought Sleyca wouldn't dare.
Will we see stuart and kibby road tripping it to earth for a visit/running away for a weekend of drunken debauchery?
This is a fun one! There isn't really a recreational travel option between Earth and the Triplanets, so this would be pretty hard for Kibby to manage at least. She hints at this when she tells Alden she'll just have to become an ambassador to go to Earth.
I don't know what to ask. I just love the story. Hm, I guess, what is your approach to creating so much tension in a story that honestly has almost nothing happening in it? I mean this entirely as a compliment. If you compare this to most stories in the genre, you're basically creating all this tension and such using just the environment and relationships (be that he and Gorgon, he and his friends, he and his aunt, he and Kibby). There aren't huge fights, or even "real" action scenes so far. It's just kind of... situational. I hope this doesn't come off disrespectfully. I absolutely mean this complimentary, I just couldn't think of another way to describe what I mean. It's fairly unique. And I'm curious if there's a specific thought process to making that work, in your opinion? Also, I know you can't respond to it, but please don't make Boe a villain. :'(
This is craft question, which I love because I love talking craft. Tension and action are two completely different things. People equate them so often that they blend in our minds and we tend to think that stories without action scenes are "slow"...I myself am guilty of telling people SupSup is slow just so that they'll understand it's not battle-focused, but it's not quite true. Tension is critical for any story, but action actually isn't. Action is something that can happen with zero tension. A character we're not invested in engaging in magnificent battles with another character we're not invested in can be completely devoid of it. While a scene with two people bantering over tea can be absolutely *stressful* to read if we know the characters' minds and understand the stakes for them. A lot of people hear "slice of life" and they assume it's a genre where people peacefully walk through parks and nothing happens, but as long as people are being *people* something is always happening. They're wanting and needing things, and in turn, being denied those wants and needs by the complexity of their interactions with others. In the case of Super Supportive, Alden might not have been in a traditional fight, unless we count the mishnen? or the tree bowl?, but he's been struggling and under threat in multiple ways for most of the story. Moon Thegund in particular is a classic survival arc. Those are always so tense for me as a reader so I was thrilled to include one. But even before that, LeafSong is a sort of mini survival arc that relies on the tension of Alden being so far out of his depth in a new world. I've been having so much fun with it all really.
*By "action" I mean specifically fighting/battle/physical action. Some people use action to mean "moving the character forward or backward in some way" and I do consider that one to be more important to a long-running story.
Also, we'll be getting some of that traditional fight/battle/physical action too! I like that just as much as everything else. I'm fairly omnivorous as far as reading tastes go.
I would like to do a hard copy one day, but I haven't put enough thought into it.
Are there any interesting skills / traits / spells / etc. that you've come up with over the course of planning out the story (that aren't plot relevant) that you can share with us? Just any cool, non-spoiler powers that different avowed and/or wizards can do would be nice to hear about.
I don't know how cool it is, but I recently made up a character who has an oddball Brute sub-class that only works for elongating and strengthening her arms and legs. I specifically mention that one instead of any of the others because I can't fathom it being a spoiler at this point. It's so hard! I want to tell you the powers I know are fun, but then I worry that that will make them less fun to read about later.
I would love to know what the experience of writing and publishing Super Supportive has been like for you. Highlights? Hardships? Surprises?
It's been so much fun to be honest. I was obsessed with it from the moment I started writing, but I was pretty sure nobody else would be. I thought it was a little too off-the-wall, too much of a genre mosaic, and too heavily character-focused for people to enjoy on Royal Road. But then people did enjoy it. And they even liked a lot of the things I was most concerned about them hating. The total political/moral morass that is the relationship between the Artonans and Earth is such a mess of awful things mixed with good things mixed with aliens who are really similar to humans but not quite the same. And the dynamic is meant to be more realistic, so for now the main character lives in an obviously imperfect world without trying to tear it all down or fix it. I like how it shapes the world and the story, but I was sure everyone else would loathe it as a backdrop to a fantasy/sci-fi. And I worried so much that people wouldn't want to read about Alden, because he's a quieter character and even his "big dream" is to help from background rather than the foreground. Overall those things have all been so well received, and that's the best feeling in the world. I'm constantly convinced that people are going to hate the things I love particularly much, and when they like them instead, it makes my whole week. Most recently it was Stu-art'h. He's difficult to write. Because he's got a backstory you guys don't completely know about that informs his character, and his personality is this bizarre mix of sweet, arrogant, alien, vulnerable, and just plain weird. I love him to death, but I was sure he was going to be off-putting for some people, and instead everyone was like, "Hell yeah! Stuart's back!" Made me feel like a million bucks. As for hardships...writing it has eaten every bit of my free time and a lot of my not-free time for the past few months. But I don't mind.
Amber, I'm so sorry! I was trying to like your very kind reply, and I deleted it instead. I read it and appreciated it first. Thank you so much. Off to bed with the braindead self.
We've been having an argument on the discord about which abbreviation for the story is better. I think it's best for you to settle the record now. Do you prefer 'SupSup' or 'SupSupp'. This is, of course, very important business.
This is the most important question. It is bold of you to ask. On my documents on my computer, if I don't call it by its full name, I call it SupSup or Soup's Up. Now you know how bad my humor can get.
How many terror missions will our intrepid MC have to go on before he finally eats a cheeseburger?
Poor boy just wants some meat...actually, I think he's slightly more dairy obsessed. Every time he thinks about what he's been deprived of it seems to involve cheese or milk. He needs to buy a goat or something.
What made you choose Chicago as a hometown for Alden? (I live in Chicago and the L scenes really hyped me up)
I've visited Chicago a couple of times and really liked it. Particularly the L. I don't know why. There's just something satisfyingly down to Earth about it. Also, you guys have great food. I don't know why I deprived Alden of that...
I have two big questions, one is a little weird. Firstly, how was world history affected by the Artonan arrival? At the time the world was entering the biggest point of the Cold War. Second question, and a bit of a non sequitur, does The Terminator exist in the SS-verse? At the time, the threat of nuclear war as well as automation and computers beginning the end of the mass factory workforce made it a somewhat poignant commentary. And of course it's about an all-controlling AI that lords over the future. But would that have even been allowed to be made at a time where Artonan/Human relations were still getting set? We had a brief argument about this in the fan discord and it's been bugging me since.
The history questions are so hard. This is an aspect of the story I've been trying to figure out from the very beginning. The scope of it is difficult to grapple with, and the more time I spend on Wikipedia trying to delve into the year 1963 and the following decades the more convinced I am that it's impossible to get it exactly right. What happened with the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam? In 1963, China had just reached the end of a man-made famine that killed, if my numbers are right off the top of my head, 20-50 million people. One of the worst disasters ever. Does the Cold War just end if aliens with magic and superior tech show up? Does the Cultural Revolution happen? Do women's rights advance globally because Artonans are pretty gender-equal? Does the existence of another intelligent species make racism here on Earth look like the insanity it is? And religion is so bound up in so many things...religions that couldn't make mental room for the existence of another intelligent species wouldn't have lasted long. Some things I have worked out: Major religions survived by trending toward broader and more liberal views to encompass the new information. Alden's dad was a pastor, and he's mentioned outliers having semi-religious relationships to Artonan things like wordchains, and he's seen at least one person in a hijab on the page. The initial influx of tech, magic, and aid that the Artonans effectively "bought" Earth with would have had a big impact. We haven't had much opportunity to see it through Alden since he's a pretty healthy teen, but I imagine part of what they offered was eradication of some particularly problematic diseases. Earth was giving up on global malaria eradication right about then. I think the Artonans could have stepped in and knocked that out. They certainly didn't go around fixing every problem for us; they lean more hands-off than hands-on now that the Contract is in place. But even a single intervention of that magnitude would have changed things in a massive way for the countries where malaria depresses the economy and kills hundreds of thousands every year. Humans aren't globally united, but they're much more globally united than they are in our world. I feel like having to interact with another planet, as a planet, would do that. Also, I set the Earth population in the story at 10.5 billion, but frankly, I think I should have made it higher. Even a slightly higher quality of life and higher levels of education reduce population growth at a certain point, but I still think I undershot it. All of this to say, it's fascinating to think about these things. And I do think about them all the time. But I haven't committed the time I need to make very well-educated guesses about everything that would have happened, so up until now, I've been glossing over it a little.
One thing that has been in the back of my mind with the superhero/rabbit combo is does the system have processes in place to determine if teleporting an avowed at that moment would cause harm? For example if Alden is helping transport an injured individual would the system auto decline for him or would it just say tough luck?
The System does have the ability to manage this kind of thing and prioritize. It wouldn't yank Alden away from providing life-saving care to someone so that he could go wait tables at LeafSong, for example. But it might do it to toss him into a higher priority emergency.
If you were a child of Avowed parents growing up on Anesidora, what class would you be hoping to snag and why?
I'd take Healer in a heartbeat. Closely followed by Rabbit with a known-quantity talent. Wright or certain kinds of non-combat Meisters would probably be my third choice. The more exciting classes are also the "So you want a difficult life, do you?" classes. Which makes them fun for a story, but not so much in reality...
I think it was mentioned earlier that Avowed could increase their rank (deviation?) so a B could become an A. How does that normally occur?
This is leaning spoilery. I did hint at the answer in the comments of a previous chapter, and several people have arrived at one of the right conclusions. There's more than one way for it to happen. Sorry to be so secretive.
Is Alden really hot, or at least more attractive now that he has been optimized by that healer alien?
Physical appearance stuff upcoming in the next couple of chapters.
On the super island, what nonavowed are allowed to live there?
Children, dependents, and spouses of Avowed. Right now people born on the island who don't become Avowed are also allowed to stay as adults, but many of them choose to leave. They usually become citizens of their parents' or grandparents' old home countries.
What’s your writing background and your current process for generating output? Do you have any self expectations for output?
My self-expectations for wordcount per hour always go unmet. :( I usually sit down and outline the chapter to start, and then I do any necessary research, and then I dive in. Some chapters are much easier and others are much harder. The beginnings of new settings/new arcs are the most difficult usually because a lot more planning and brainstorming has to be done before I can move forward.
Hey Sleyca! Do Artonons ever visit Earth?
They do! There are Artonans living on Earth currently, but none are there casually. It's always for a job or special purpose. There are political visits. There are wizards who repair or maintain magical infrastructure. There are some running Houses of Healing.
Does Aldens wish making ability differentiate between bound and unbound authority when taking payment?
I feel like answering anything at all about the Gorgon power is too spoilery, but thank you for asking!
can alden do with gordon's sac ability a similar thing that Rel-art’h did with stu's sister
You mean the Primary's ritual kill method? No, that's a different power.
When Alden was on the moon and presumed dead. Did Joe face any consequences? I believe it was said in an earlier chapter that getting a avowed killed needlessly would strip the summoner of the right to summon.
Mentions of Joe forthcoming soon.
What is your favorite book/webnovel? Also can you describe what grivecks look like in more detail?
Asking me for my favorite book is mean-mean. It's too hard to pick. I will try to think about it and make a list. Grivecks are beautiful creatures. Four legs. Long claws. Dark, hairless skin. Panther-shaped, but larger and with uncanny-looking legs. Their helmets have reflective visors, so that their faces aren't visible. Which is a shame, because they have long serrated tongues and people of every species have been known to make pleasing cries of alarm at the sight of them.
Can our MC advance to the point that he can ‘assign’ his own burdens? Could he then ‘carry’ chaos and dispose of it elsewhere like a magical space janitor?
Answering stuff about future power possibilities for Alden risks too many spoilers, but thank you for asking!
Will romance ever come up as an element in this story?
I think some people might consider a yes/no answer here a spoiler? Anyway I regularly answer this question for people via private message, so feel free to ask there if you're curious.
Will we learn Alden’s priority rank relative to just humans? What rank is Sophie? Why didn’t Alden become a hyperbole?
Hyperbole is specifically for people who achieve Rank 1. So he would have had to blaze through A and S both for that. I know a lot of people were expecting him to rank up because of Moon Thegund, but although his power growth will be faster than that of his peers, I don't want it to be so much that he becomes very powerful, very quickly. He already has much, much more knowledge than most other humans, thanks to Joe, and he has an authority sense he can use thanks to Moon Thegund, Gorgon, and Kibby. Being on Moon Thegund has put him several years ahead of his own best estimates for himself. Even if we ignore all the knowledge and the little bit of wizardry he learned and judge him purely on his skill growth, he's currently where he hoped he would be in around his Sophomore year of college. He's advanced for his age, but not so advanced that we're going to hit the problem of having a main character who can solve all of his problems and everyone else's with ease anytime soon. I think we will one day get to see Alden's priority rank relative to other humans and Artonans too. I have some notes to that effect on my desk. But not very soon!
I was thinking about how levels worked. On one hand the 300 skills allow unlimited growth. On the other hand you can keep gaining additional skills and level those to get stronger. I'm just wondering if leveling is strictly based on the first skill. I know you alluded to the strongest people will expand one skill and I don't see much plot hole here, just askance. Are skills other than the "300 original" skills useless because you're stopped from growing indefinitely or could someone pick one of the 300 later? I know this probably edges on spoilers, but the current explanation on levels leaves me wondering.
You could take a 300 skill at a later point. I'm 90% sure I'm going to make it a rule that you can't have more than one of the 300 at the same time...still pondering the effects of it on the far, far future plot. But someone who had regular skills could run across one and affix it. Having more levels in a single skill allows the user to bring more power to bear through that skill. So even though one Avowed might be more powerful than another judging by Overall Level, their skills/spells/talents could be overwhelmed by a weaker Overall Level Avowed who had a skill with a stronger Skill Level. So that's a big part of the value of binding authority into an uncapped skill rather than the capped ones that the Triplanets uses for Avowed in contemporary times.
I do think, if someone was dealing with human-sized problems instead of demon-sized ones, a case could be made for multiple weaker skills being better than one jumbo one. Variety is a potent tool, too.
Since it sounds like Earth and the Tri-Planets are in different universes/planes of existence. How did the Artonans find Earth and are any of their other resource worlds in the same realm as the Tri-Planets?
The first question is too much of a spoiler to answer since I do have some plans that run adjacent to this info. Thank you for asking! As for the second, I do have a couple of resource worlds located in the same universe as the Artonas.
Hi, Nathan. For the most part, no. It would be possible for worlds that were located sufficiently close to each other, but technological space travel hasn't advanced terribly rapidly in this empire since magical convenience has trumped it. The Artonans and some other species do have spacefaring capabilities, but the distances involved still make that a difficult prospect for them. When magical transport isn't an option, travel takes a long time.
Are rabbits, with their short summon times, allowed to have driver's licenses? Does a rabbit being the sole caretaker of an infant have any effect on their summon rating? Can the system do macros? For example, 'Run summon macro' that notifies various people of a summon and to water plants, feed pets, etc?
I need to think about that macro question. That sounds fun. I've actually been debating the driver's license thing as I write recently. As an Avowed-run place, Anesidora tries to lean toward lenience for class and power quirks, so I think it would allow for them, even though vehicles are more of a luxury than a necessity since they have good public transport. Forty-eight seconds isn't a lot. I've even considered making motorcycles/moped licenses okay for Rabbits but not cars, since smaller vehicles can be abandoned on the roadside without impeding other traffic as much.
Realizing you aren't going to give spoilers, I'm going to do my best to phrase some "I MUST KNOW! TELL ME NOW!" queries as reflections on plot threads and curiosities I have.
I like all of your comments and how you delivered them!
Sleyca, we guessed you were an undergrad philosophy major who then went to law school. Are we close?
So close! Not really, though. I have taken philosophy classes before. Does that count?
What kind of superhero/supervillain organizations or leagues exist in the world? Are all superheros acting under the aegis of the Anesidorian government?
I like this question a lot. Pretty much all superheroes on Earth are from Anesidora and working professionally for a local or national government outside of it. Organizations are something I still need to figure out. I've got some things in mind, but it's too rough to share at this point.
How much of a discovery writer vs outliner are you? I found it really interesting how after the first time Alden was summoned, you seemed to open plot bracket after plot bracket mostly without closing anything. It was an interrupting escalation after escalation. I thought I wouldn’t like it but found myself constantly thinking “here we go again, off to a new location and new struggles when we’re in the middle of something - I’m just having too much fun to care”. Just thought it was interesting. Goes to show you had already earned my trust as a reader that you would come back to those interrupted things. Anyway, just want to say thanks and keep up the amazing work! Great characters, world building and magic system, interesting new takes on existing tropes. This is gold standard Lit RPG goodness.
Thank you! It makes me so happy to hear that you're enjoying the story. I plan things out, but I inevitably end up loving some parts of the plan more than others once I actually start writing and focusing on them. I do consciously try to think of where and when characters and plot threads will reappear as soon as they're introduced to make sure there aren't too many loose ends or teases.
Did binding with Gorgon change Aldens starting level. For example would be have been an A without the bond.
So this is an important question because I think it's one a lot of people have and the answer isn't going to come up explicitly in the story for ages. Avoiding spoilers means I can't really answer as well as I'd like but...Gorgon trying to kind of half-choose Alden as his successor so he could do some work on him was a different process from the rite that Alden unwittingly initiated with Kibby. Gorgon's people were just all about sacrifice and the symbolism of the blood exchange, so it featured in multiple magical rituals for them.
When rrorro was working on Alden and he let her do what she wanted also the fact that since she was outside the system and was able to "get creative"...are you planning any details on this to come out later
Not too much! There are a couple of little things... but for the most part she just made him a super healthy teenager.
What was Hannah's age when she went missing? I always pictured her young, but Keiko said they went to school together, and you described her as 40ish.
I still love that you named yourself that so much. Kate's right. Hannah would have be in in her mid-thirties now at least. I've been picturing her about 35. I haven't given her an official DOB in the text though.
are the "unlimited" avowed powers scattered through all the "classes" or just rabbit; does every letter graded rank have an unlimited power in it somewhere, or is their distribution more arbitrarily scattered?
Multiple classes have access to those skills on Earth, but not every one is even available on Earth. They just all have to be available somewhere in the universe to satisfy the faction that believes they're important. I really don't consider this too much of spoiler even though I've seen a lot of theorizing about it... and the System grivecks use for affixation is really quite different. Talents have to be personalized to every species. In the case of spell impressions for example, some species wouldn't even have the necessary body parts to cast the same ones that humans can. Poor Sophie has no fingers, so she couldn't do the spells Alden knows. Also, every letter grade does not have access. The 300 skills were designed without the smaller small-fry in mind. :(
What are some interesting tidbits about Alden?
He actually really liked being on the baseball team when he was a kid and wishes he'd kept up with some kind of team sport as he got older. He washed cars and windows last summer to make a little money. He's always been curious about what he would look like in a tuxedo.
How much planning has gone into the story? Are you writing this based on planned story beats, or is the plot more organically evolving as you finish each chapter?
It's a mix of both. I have extensive plans, but the farther out they are the more subject to change they are. Because sometimes I realize I completely love a character who was supposed to be on the sidelines and I decide to bring them closer to the main storyline, or I understand something new and need to change it. For example, my overall plans called for Kibby and her little sister to both be rescued from the car. And then the sister would die at a later point in the story. It would have really changed the Moon Thegund arc a lot. I'm glad I didn't go that route.
Is it feasible to raise a pet Ryeh-b’t on earth? I won't ask if he WILL get one, just like, is it technically possible? Should we be expecting him to, at some point, get a team and be posted somewhere on Earth like the other heroes?
The second one is a spoiler, but as for the ryeh-b't, it would be feasible but it would depend on the country. Most places wouldn't allow an alien pet. Anesidora, however, does. There are a lot of hoops to jump through though.
Considering all the powers out there, are there any powers related to psychotherapy? Because clearly Alden will be needing such Avowed in the future
Healer of Mind.
What do the letter grades actually mean for the underlying reality of an avowed's power? Do they have to do with authority? Are grades assigned based on power, or is power assigned based on grade?
Ranks are assigned based on the amount of authority an Avowed possesses at the time of affixation.
Can gordon ‘give’ the chains to alden for a bit?
Not any time soon for sure! Alden's not nearly strong enough for that level of burden.
What does your writing process typically look like (aka how the hell did you pump out a 12k chapter in a week)?
I have a lot of time to devote to it right now which is why I'm trying to build backlog still...so that I'll have buffer when I have more commitments. The 12k chapter that got split actually took me around three full days to write and another half day to revise. Days when I had no other work/home obligations, so I'm not actually that swift.
Is Alden ambidextrous now because his hand dexterity got upgraded so much? Or is he still right or left handed?
This question has blown my mind because I just didn't think about it. Now I have to ponder. It would make sense for him to be closer to ambidextrous at least wouldn't it?
How much do the different species intermix outside of summons? Specifically, are there inter-species couples a thing people know of, incredibly rare, or never (known) to happen? Have some weirdos decide to live permanently on a different planet then one colonist by the rest of their kind, or is that never allowed by either the Artion or the native species?
There are interspecies couples, but it's rare. The Artonans don't make laws about that kind of thing; they leave it up to the planets themselves. But I imagine every species would be different degrees of welcoming to alien guests. Also, large teleportation-fueled tourism industries between worlds would strain the Systems too much, so travel is much harder to come by if you're not an Avowed being summoned or a wizard. The Artona I, II, and III Systems are more powerful and they're set up to allow for easier travel between each other and other Artonan-inhabited locations. But beyond that, even most Artonans can't just casually planet hop. It makes cross-species friendship harder, even if you ignore the discomfort/danger of visiting alien worlds. So mostly it would be Avowed who met other Avowed or Artonans they clicked with on assignment I think.
What thing about returning to earth is alden more excited about: food. Clothing. Language. 24 hour day?
Alden's most excited about the food and the 24-hour day. Being constantly out of synch with Kibby's sleep cycle was so frustrating for him. I didn't bring it up, but he was constantly doing mental math trying to remember what part of her day she was on compared to him.
Why is Anesidora near the South Pole? Wouldn't it make more sense to locate it in a warmer climate?
It's still quite far from the South Pole itself. Antarctica is the nearest thing to the south, but it's a long way to the south. As far as I can tell, since it's actually been difficult to research, the weather should be cool most of the time but not freezing cold.
I'm glad you guys are talking about wind, because wind is one of my big mysteries. Early on, I was all with the Ox on it being crazy windy all the time and I was writing scenes with that in mind, and then I read this article and I thought...well, maybe not? But then I started to wonder what effect if any a large artificial island would have on wind because beaches make their own wind by heating and cooling at a different rate than the sea, I think? So we're going with some wind at least. Not a lot of fish though. Point Nemo is a sea life dead zone.
Is alden going to get a rhybet in the future as a pet.
These are good things to want. For now, though, he's just getting used to taking care of himself again.
Which country's allow avowed to maintain their autonomy? It seems odd that all of the liberal western country's would require their avowed to register when they get powers. Also it seems odd that some more authoritarian country's wouldn't try to keep avowed for their own use.
It's quite a different world situation. Globally countries are more united in how they handle Avowed/Artonan matters, with a more robust UN, and they've mostly agreed that high-ranking Avowed should be citizens of Anesidora, which has a unique political status of its own. There are a number of other places where low-ranks, usually D's and F's, are allowed to stay. For example there's an Avowed Zone in South Dakota that B74 grew up in. At this point, the Anesidoran government itself actually has a lot of say in what happens to Avowed, and they're part of what maintains the current state of affairs. There's a lot to talk about on this front. Some of it is coming up in upcoming chapters.
So I have a question more around you than the story. Are you still working full time while writing this? How many patrons do we need to shove in here to get super supportive going full time? I may just want more chapters.
Thank you both for the votes of confidence! I do have a career. It's fairly flexible, but spending 100% of my time on Super Supportive would be a big commitment. (Because what if I write an awful, universally hated chapter and ruin it all!? My nerves are real.) I'm piling up chapters as well as I can right now to make sure the story stays stable for a long time to come. I would like to do a hardback at some point. The idea of seeing it in print is !!! I do have to research how to actually do that in a quality way though, and then I would want to make sure the beginning of the story is completely refined before committing to have it printed. So it's definitely on the list of things that will hopefully happen in the not-too-distant future, but not immediately. Still thinking it all through.
1. Does Artonan vision encompass the same range of frequencies of light as human vision? If no, what extra colors do they see, and what colors do they not see? 2. Asking this because I'm curious about how much value Artonan society and especially Artonan wizard society puts on personal space: Do wizards like to keep their distance from other people, if only to avoid accidentally smushing them with their authority, or do most wizards feel as free as other people to be touchy-feely? 3. How many digits in Alden's true and also false priority ranks? 4. These are probably spoilers but I want to put forth the questions anyway: Do Artonans who are not affixed get to learn their priority rank? Do they compare and brag about or insult each other based on their priority rank? Do Anesidorans do any or all of those? It seems to me an obvious custom, albeit an unpleasant one, to judge oneself and other people based on their Contract-verified priority rank, if that info is commonly available.
Oh, you've asked some amazing ones here. I haven't thought about the color vision one at all. I've been brainstorming all kinds of things about how Artonan bodies and culture work, and that one has just completely escaped me. Artonans all differ of course, but they can be very touchy-feely physically with friends and other people they're close to. I would call them a high-contact culture probably. It doesn't usually extend to Avowed, but Alden did note that people were starting to get clingy during the big LeafSong party after they all got drunk. This is in contrast to how careful the wizard class is about the various etiquette rules of authority-bumping each other. Even the kindergarten pat-pat game starts with promises to be nice and take good care of each other. Wizards usually have excellent authority control, as long as they're in a normal state. So casual interactions don't actually come with that risk. Alis has fine control--she did hold her authority over Alden for a week without smashing him. She's got a lot of anxieties about being a parent, though. I have not done the math on Alden's true and false rank because I haven't finished developing all the species/planets I want to have in the story yet, and that would weigh into it.
are there any mollusc type - specifically cephalopod - alien sapiens?
I think there must be. I haven't designed them yet, but we know Gorgon thinks octopuses might be intelligent enough to trigger his Rite and that's just one of our own local cephalopods.
How expensive is it to teleport someone over to do a job? Like why is it cost effective to have somebody with a D or F tier power do that?
The teleportation isn't that expensive for them. The wizards run the government and they fund themselves through it to an extent. Paying the Avowed comes with set minimum rates though, and they're pricey. Especially for the higher ranked Avowed. In general, Avowed are a luxury good/convenience when you aren't using them for something actually important. That's why LeafSong having them working as bellhops and decorators and waiters for the incoming students is a show of prestige.
Exactly how illegal was the mailbox? Is Kibby some sort of genius child, or are Artonan kids normally demolition experts?
Leo is very illegal. Because people are dumb. If they listened to toilets flushing all day maybe they would chill out a little. Kibby is a genius, as Alden guessed. Artonans trend smart, but not that smart. And she's not very good at magic, despite having the necessary amount of authority to become a wizard, bless her. It's why Joe advised her father to steer her toward science instead of magic. She's way ahead of the pack in one field and behind it in the other.
Don't know if this counts as spoiler territory or not, so I'll ask. Generally, are people who are impacted by the veltras gloss also considered indirect beneficiaries / contributors? For example, whoever lost their box of pastries probably didn't have a great day. So would they get some mild good luck when things balance out?
Not a spoiler! And I'm glad you asked because I think a lot of people wonder about the gloss. The gloss is focused on the Velras only. Specifically on the members of the family who are linked together to disperse and share the effects of the chain. So whoever lost their cupcakes will not be karmically repaid. And Alden's bad/good luck once the gloss had ended was not a result of the wordchain anymore, except in the sense of any event in your life having ripple effects.
I have a question about the Avowed/Non-Avowed extreme apartheid that exists in Super Supportive Earth. Will that be explained in the story in some historical context, or can you explain it now? Because it is quite odd. Why put Anesidora on Point Nemo? It is LITERALLY the most inconvenient place to ship food, clothing, construction materials etc. on the planet, and there is almost no chance they grow their own food there. What is the reason that the Earth's govts decided to segregate the Avowed from all other humans so completely? If you can't explain it now, will it get explained at some point?
I'll avoid bringing up much new information here, because I do think that would probably head into spoilerish areas. Earth-to-Earth teleportation isn't that expensive for Avowed. But the cost of bringing in visitors is artificially inflated on Anesidora because they don't have the infrastructure to support all the people who want to come and all the Avowed who want to invite friends/family. You actually have to book your guest passes months in advance for major holidays, when other Anesidorans are also trying to have their families over, too. It was an additional problem for Hannah because Alden was a non-relative, and she was currently out of work. The Artonans periodically deliver demons to Anesidora for destruction. I won't say any more about that right now, but it's been mentioned in the past. If you were trying to isolate Avowed for safety reasons, they would need to be very, very isolated. If you had, say, an irresponsible version of the Gloom in a bad mood you'd definitely want her to keep her weather-altering self all the way away from your cities and farms. Just like most of us would be uncomfortable to know a fifteen-year-old had just been granted nearly undetectable mind control powers, the humans in Super Supportive are nervous about Avowed in addition to being interested in them and excited about them. There are additional reasons that will be mentioned in future chapters.
Heyo, real quick, thank you for writing the story :'). For me, one of the most compelling aspects of the story has been the dialogue. I was hoping if you could give us a peak behind the curtain on how you go about writing it. Are you just naturally witty and writing compelling dialogue comes easy to you? Or do you have an organized method that you implement to make sure what you pump out is quality? Somewhere in between? tysm! Also, that lucky wizard's foot joke... was that joke conceived before or after you planned on blowing up Stuart's foot?
Thank you so much for the compliment. I don't have much of a technique. I stay focused on the thought process of the character speaking in an attempt to make sure they have a distinct voice. Some characters are easier than others. Joe, Boe, and Kibby are all easy, dialogue wise. Joe's a little too easy to be honest; the more I write him the more trouble I have leaving his tone behind when I switch to another character. Alis-art'h was unexpectedly easy. Jeremy and Connie are harder. Stuart is really hard...I actually have to plan out his conversation rather carefully. He's worth it though. The lucky wizard's foot joke was conceived the moment Alden took that piece of foot bone like a weirdo. I was a thousand percent sure someone was going to make the joke before I found exactly the right place to put it. I was also sure none of you were going to think it was as funny as I did. But some of you do! I love you people.
on a scale of 1 - 10, how much is Mother a liar (not in the evil sort of way just in the do what is necessary to get the best outcomes) and how aware is the Artonan population of this fact
These are good, spoilery questions.
How rare/expensive/hard to acquire are natural wevvi fruits for Artonans? Would especially appreciate a direct comparison to the rarity of an Earth food for humans.
I never answered you. I'm sorry. Maybe vanilla beans, but if every human on Earth was obsessed with drinking multiple cups of straight pureed vanilla daily?
The only question I want to ask I know won't be answered which is where is Hannah.
I see you, Neal. Just imagine if, in my exhaustion, I had accidentally answered with the truth. ;)
If Anesidora is at point Nemo, Where do we crash our satellites and spacecraft? :D
They probably just drop them right on top of the poor Avowed. Like...catch guys. You've got super powers, don't you?
Does that requirement to "breed high-value sentients" have anything to do with all the avowed being exiled to the same island?
You've located one of my errors here! I know what I was thinking when I wrote this; when I was planning the earliest chapters I had some different notions of how everything worked and what Earth and the Artonans wanted from each other. It's only changed very slightly and gained some nuance (sorry to be cryptic, trying to avoid spoilers), but those differences make this requirement an unlikely one for the Triplanets to include in their half of the 1963 agreement... Please be so kind as to forget this one. I'm off to Royal Road to delete it now. (The line, not the entire book.)
Possibly non-plot related fun question. There are 300 abilities that are named in a way to make them undesirable. Have you named any other of them?
Very fun question! I have several different names in mind for one particular ability out of the 300, but I haven't chosen the best yet. None seem quite right.
Why is mc completely avoiding attention? Be it regular human, avowed or artonan? And why did he pick the enchantment add on for his power, compared to the wordchain one that arguably has immediate mass value?
Alden has grown up a lot on Moon Thegund and suffered a lot. He's not as naive about how difficult it would be to be truly heroic and self-sacrificing. He's tired and hurt, and from the very beginning, he hasn't wanted fame at all. Even at his most superhero-obsessed, he wanted to be the background guy, not the famous person out front. On top of that, I think the last thing he wants to do is run out and volunteer to suffer through peoples' wordchain debt on their behalf...interestingly, I think that one in particular he wouldn't have wanted even before. Wordchains are the fairest magic in the entire story, because the people using them know what they're giving up and what they're getting in return. Paying the price for them would be nice, but it would almost be too nice. And the Velras would be, as he says, on him like vultures.
This is probably a minor spoiler, but is Alden’s dorm apartment coed? And as a corollary, have you read Drew Hayes’s Super Powered books?
The dorm is co-ed but not the individual apartments. I think I read some of Super Powereds ages ago, before it was finished. It's been a very long time. I should check it out again.
A small plot hole is bothering me. Why did Gorgon not tell anyone that Alden was alive? I know it could just be the restrictions, or maybe they stopped visiting him, but it’s a small thing that seems off. Also Gorgon refusing to become an avowed has new meaning with what you revealed about those with authority sense.
I don't think Gorgon would have told Alden's friends because at the time, it was very likely that Alden wouldn't remain alive. It would be a very hard thing to learn he was alive only to lose him again right away. And though Gorgon could have informed the Artonans, which would likely have helped, he didn't. Because that would have revealed a lot about himself and his own actions to them, and as Marcus says, Gorgon likes Alden but he's not willing to go that far for him.
How many Grivecks are there? They don't seem like they'd have a very high population density on their homeworld. Anything significantly different in Earth geo-politics other than the Avowed? E.g. does the USSR still exist on Alden's earth?
I haven't got a specific number in mind for their pop, but I did picture them being a relatively (compared to somewhere like Earth) small total population with an unusually high percentage of Avowed. They've had their System for a really long time, too.
I really hope I get to write about them in more depth one day. I have some fun idea about how Sophie lives her life.
The contract was formed quite some time ago. What is the weirdest divergence from our timeline that occured because of this that you intend on having in the background? Stuff like Freddy Mercury lived longer or the British Monarchy ended after a supervillain attack.
Beatlemania was cut off just as it was getting rolling. They still made songs, but they didn't become massively popular. The Gloom is a fan. Alden has only heard some of their music because Hannah mentioned their rendition of "Twist and Shout" once. I hadn't thought about Freddy, but now that you've brought him up, he definitely lived to at least eighty. About twenty years ago, an unknown Avowed--presumably a powerful unregistered Shaper of Ground--did some volunteer work on Mount Rushmore. It looks like a mountain again instead of a bunch of presidential heads. The individual responsible is officially classified as a supervillain in the U.S.
You illustrated the cover of SupSup, and your previous work under this alias was a webcomic. Is there any chance you would publish or commission character designs for the rest of your cast?
Oof...my pitiful attempt at a webcomic. I was so excited about the story there, but I couldn't make the art happen. In my defense, I am a very amateur drawer. I can get to decent, but it takes me a heck of a long time. There's a good chance I'll draw or commission some character art. Not in the next couple of months, due to time constraints, but maybe beyond that point. I do have a sketch of Bti-qwol, of all the random people it could be, lying around here somewhere. I should find it and see if it's too ugly to see the light of day.
My question: did you have any other ideas or characters for the protagonist/leading role? Nothing against Alden, he's great, but I'm always curious about what leads an author to choosing one character/concept over another for the protag.
The story idea and Alden were so closely connected from the beginning. It started with him wanting to be a battlefield support and his backstory, so it all built up together and grew together.
Do you have any advice you’d like to give people who are thinking about writing a story on RR?
Make sure you love the idea first and foremost. It's really hard to write something you're not excited about, and peoples' harsh comments can completely sap your energy. I don't think people realize that writing is way more difficult when you're "out of the mood"...it's not impossible, but the pace slows to a crawl and you feel terrible about it instead of proud. So put all your favorite stuff in your book and try out the crazy-sounding things that excite you; it's what keeps me motivated and helps me stay true to the story when I start to get cold feet about plot points I worry people won't like.
I may or may not have a thing for Jeremy. What major does he have in mind? Law?
Jeremy is a good guy. Right now he's thinking law, but that's mostly because of his parents. I think he'd be excellent at a lot of different things.
Hi Sleyca! I love your work, it's always a joy to read between the lines for the subtle implications, and I love how strong you can make a tense scene. As with Doug earlier I love how you manage to keep the scenes tense when there's no "action", thus creating scenes that are crazy compelling. Two things: 1: I made a gdoc for the Q&A up to this point, feel free to copy-paste for your own doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G4L2xH_G2yM8GuxsCLDbxTfCSCDlEgthJizk6ia6fR0/edit?usp=sharing If you think it's a bad idea to have a link to this patreon post that's not gated behind the patreon I'll gladly take it down (fair warning, I might be asleep soon) 2: With such a great cast, who's your favorite to write? (Hopefully this isn't too spoilery)
I love to write Alden. I'm lucky with that. I think side characters can often steal the spotlight, even for authors, because they tend to have more funny or over the top dramatic qualities that make them exciting to put on the page. Other than Alden, my favorite is probably Kibby right now. Boe is also right up at the top.
Will the reason why higher chaos levels originate in certain people (specifically Alden) be explained? or is it just luck?
Great question! Things will be explained, but one part of the explanation is luck. :)
Thanks for the great story! It really makes my day. I disagree with the poster who said that Satan taught you to write cliffhangers. It was his assistant at most, lol. I like that they are cliffhanger-y without being too stressful. I'd love to see more of the goblin, and matching tattoos with Kirby, lol.
Thank you!
My super-groundbreaking question is - what's the deal with Alden's first name? :D I've noticed that Alden has a first name (Samuel Alden Thorn) that he never uses, except to state his full name - and, to my knowledge it's never mentioned why he goes by his second. Obviously, some folks do this, but it's not amazingly common - and with chapter 3 listing Alden's parents names as Richard and Leah, I'm still unsure whether this is a passed down male-family-lineage thing (perhaps his dad was also Samuel Richard Thorn), or if it's another reason. Also, with the new information we have from Stu-Art'h about mourning names (and your confirmation in the comments from that chapter that his is Sina) I just thought it interesting that you've got a bit of a special first name thing going on :P *Puts on Tinfoil hat* (This next part obviously deals in spoiler territory, so feel free to ignore it, I'm just doing the usual connecting-the-dots-with-string meme) For a setting that includes both demons and contract magic, along with little ambiguous snippets like: “All Artonans of the highest ranks have interactions with what some might call true demons. My supervisor just picked a worse one than she should have.” (Chapter 16) "Interactions", eh? The presence of full/long "true" names has my spidey foreshadowing senses tingling.
Good question! Alden was originally going to be Alden Samuel, but as I typed it for the first time, I just decided it sounded better flipped. Oddly, a couple of my close friends growing up went by their middle names... I do realize it's uncommon.
what do the matching tattoos look like?? im SO excited for them to actually get their matching tattoos together
I'm excited for it too! One day it has to happen. I have a few different designs in mind, haven't settled on my favorite.
A lot of the ways you describe authority sense, and some of the technical details of how it works and how it relates to the system, are very relatable and seem to have real life analogues. But sometimes I wonder if I’m reading too much into it, and some things don’t yet make sense - so my question is: How closely is the authority magic system based on real life?
With the way magic works in this story, I started from the idea that some people are consciously aware of and able to control their own position/presence in reality and thereby exert influence over it. Thus performing magic. I don't know if I would call it based on real life, but I try to keep some internal logic to it so that we don't fly too far off into randomness.
Do you have other stories/novel floating around on the web?
Answered in more depth somewhere above, but Super Supportive is the only one I'm sharing right now. Thank you so much for caring about the story enough to ask!
For Grivecks, could you clarify how their legs/joints look? "They looked like giant hairless panthers with their joints bent the wrong way"- do you have any creatures (real or fictional) you can point to to illustrate how this looks? What colour is Stu'Art'h's wizard garb? What colour are knights uniforms?
This is confusing me so much because I just know I described wizard clothing colors when I described Bti-qwol's outfit on Alden's first summoning, but now it isn't there. I guess I must have deleted it before posting for some reason? They can wear any colors they like, but current tastes run toward colorful jewel tones for wizards. The LeafSong student uniforms--which Stuart is usually wearing now--are in dark grays, black, and muted blues in contrast. I picture the knights wearing more subtle colors as well to distinguish themselves, but it's not a rule or requirement of some kind so they could go rainbow if they wanted.
How does Alden's skill work with taking word chain debt and emotions does it help him bear it or just make it so that he could bear it at all. ie the more powerful his skill gets the easier it is?
I'll be making his skill work slightly differently for every new burden he acquires. More power will definitely help him out in most instances.
Are there any earth-avowed classes we haven't heard about other than uniques?
Yes. No major ones, but I plan to introduce some rares and rare subclasses that haven't been mentioned.
When are we getting merch? I would 100% buy a t-shirt with the Alden / Joe contract tattoo, or the Alden / Kibby prototype tattoo they worked on before he left Thegund.
I haven't thought much about this! Merch does sound like fun if people are interested.
Hi Sleyca! Thank you for writing the story - it is captivating in the extreme. I want to know how many specialisations there are for Wizardry! Joe did mention transmogrification… but there must be many more! Oh, also, is the plural of ‘Velra’ the same as the singular, or is it ‘Velras’?
Velras is the plural. I haven't actually counted the wizarding specializations, but there are a lot! They've been doing magic a long time and it's at the heart of their society, so it's broken up into tons of fields. Certainly there are more specializations than there are types of Avowed on Earth.
Any holidays planned this year?
One brief one with my family. I'm looking forward to it.
The worst part of asking a question is it keeping you from writing :'( Is there anything we can do as readers to help?
Thank you, Derrick. I love all the comments and the encouragement. People being enthusiastic about the story keeps me enthusiastic about it. I'm so grateful I get to write it.
We've seen basic class descriptions for each of the classes, except for Tailor. Could you give us a brief class description for Tailor and also explain how it is it would differ from a wright who might specialize in making armor?
This...might qualify as a mistake. I haven't decided yet. I was going to do something with Tailor and the embroidery that wizards use. Almost like an enchanter class that worked in fabric. I haven't decided if I want to move forward with something along those lines which is why I've been avoiding bringing it back up in the text again for such a long time!
I already got my first question answered, so feel free to skip this one for double-dipping, but in an earlier chapter Gorgon comments that Alden isn't attracted to either the girls waving at him or the blue-haired boy, and Alden tells him not to talk about his 'private preferences.' Is Alden asexual, or was he just not interested in those three specifically? Or is even that much spoilers? :P Oh right and also thank you so much for the story! It definitely deserves how much attention it's gotten, both on RoyalRoad and over here.
Cly's photoshoot is taking place in front of the SuperSupportive-world version of Toronto City Hall. Almost all of the pictures I saw of it online featured the Toronto sign lit up with rainbow colors, so I gave her the rainbow pin as a nod to that.
Hi, TraceAmountsofOlive! (I love how mysterious your name is) If the latest chapter doesn't satisfy your curiosity on this one and you want more in-depth answers feel free to message me. :)
How big is the Velras? Like, how many members big? And is granny Velras the founder or the clan is older than that?
They're big. We know Aimi and Keiko have six siblings. I haven't family-treed them all out, but their numbers are unnaturally inflated beyond biological likelihood because they invite people with Chainer to join the group and just call them family from then on. It sound crazy. But outsiders come to Anesidora at 15-17, having been split off from their real families, so finding a powerful, welcoming clique who all have an extremely rare class type in common with you is probably more appealing than it would be under normal circumstances. Adopting everyone into the fam is Aulia's plan. She's the oldest Velra.
One thing I noticed is that Alden hardly ever uses profanity, especially not major profanity. Is that part of his characterization or just authorial preference?
Alden's not a big swearer, but he does occasionally swear. More often around peers. He just hasn't been around peers for a long time, and swearing at the Artonans or Kibby would probably have felt really unnatural for him. Plus he's been speaking Artonan a lot and doesn't know that many Artonan swear words because Kibby didn't start dropping all the interesting ones she knows until she was cussing out Yipalck Corporation there at the end of their stay on Moon Thegund.
Even though noone knows what time will bring, what age would you estimate Alden when this story ends?
Oh, this is a hard one. I'm not sure because I have multiple endpoints in mind, depending on how the story is running and if readers are still with me for the journey. The earliest would be early twenties, and the latest would be...very much farther along that. I look forward to writing a lot more words in either case.
What's the most innocent-sounding Rabbit skill favored by the Grivecks?
This is the best question...I haven't thought of a worthy answer. I want it to be hilarious, but I'm too tired to be funny right now. Ask me this again on the next chapter so I can come up with something really good.
Do you have plans for Stuart’s bone, or is that really Alden just being weird after everything he has gone through?
I have multiple ideas, but I haven't settled on one. So for now it would be a spoiler to say.
Will Alden get a face tattoo?
How could he not? He has made vows to Kibby. It must be done.
This specific detail is fucking me up, I know you described them as "uncanny looking" in another comment, what exactly does "bent the wrong way" mean for Griveck legs? Opposite of a panther so they bend forwards instead of backwards like normal? Sideways? I won't be able to sleep without knowing.
I swear I saw a horror movie cat-alien thing once with its front knees, specifically, the wrong way. I have a very creepy mental image of it, like the demodogs from Stranger Things with two sets of the hind legs? But I can't recall what it was from. Maybe it was a dream. But it's important to remember that grivecks are lovely just the way they are.
How would you rank the heroes of Earth we currently know of in the story in terms of power? Like would Hannah's mom be the strongest we've met so far or would it be the super cool mental sniper shot lady? Just curious :)
Hannah's mom is the most powerful we've met for sure. She works on the largest scale.
Hello sleyca, there is this one part of the novel that had me stumped in trying to visualize it, in the part: `...his peripheral vision—which he was pleased to note seemed a bit wider than it had been prior to his affixation...` How does this work on a physical level? Like. Is it like in games where you turn up the fov and suddenly you can see more to your right and left magically? Wha. And thanks!
This comment made me flashback to elementary school lessons about prey animals having eyes on the sides of their head. Actually though I was thinking about an article I'd once read about certain athletes having better peripheral vision than others. I don't know that it was a physical thing, though I guess it could be since I think the number/type of eye cells you have has an effect? I think it was more of a mental ability to rapidly interpret and process information coming at you from the periphery.
I have an interesting question because of Alden's healing he is now genetically a peak level human how much stronger is he comparatively I know he obviously isn't the peak of humanity yet because he still has a few more years of growing up to do I'm just interested in how much he has improved
More on this coming up in a future chapter. Rrorro wasn't focused on making him super buff, though. She was thinking functional total body health rather than Olympic-lifter strong or Olympic-sprinter fast.
Considering that the Artonans arrived in the middle of the century, are the Soviets still around? My intuition is that the Artonans would have really preferred their resource worlds to not engage in a nuclear cold war, but I understand if that's somewhat outside of the scope of your novel.
I have a long response upthread to kaalveiten about historical stuff. It's fascinating to think about alternate timelines and how interacting with an alien culture like the Artonans would affect society. I get very lost in a history vortex trying to figure it all out.
How much faster do Knights typically grow their Authority/Existential Muscle compared to standard Wizards? I think Alden thought 3 levels a year was ambitious. But he managed about 3 times that in half the time. So would about 6x faster be a good rule of thumb? Or will he possibly improve faster now that he knows what he's doing, or slower since he's no longer in a stressed environment, or about the same because he knows what he's doing but is no longer in a stressed environment?
Hi, Temp One! Alden's specific progress level might be too much of a spoiler to share here, but the growth of knights is a range. Of course older ones are more powerful in general, but in the same way that ordinary wizards and Avowed grow at different rates, they do too.
Hello,I was confused while reading chapter 64 because of how calm everything was, until I read your comment on it and realized how effected I got from reading consent action, I think Alden with feel the same confusion after going through such high tension situations and having to always be anxious of his space, I wondered if we’re going to see him feel the same unease about how peaceful everything is at Anesidora in the later chapters??
Alden will definitely have some troubles settling back into normal life. And notice some changes in himself.
How accessible is Artonan/other alien media and culture (books, shows, art, etc.) on Earth? It's been indicated that information is comparatively cheap to teleport and not really affected by volume (as least compared to the costs of opening paths between dimensions to begin with), and Stuart seemed to be able to access Earth internet without too much trouble, but on the other hand it's implied the System tends to funnel stuff towards Artona and there's not really any effort/incentive to move things like that the other way, or between the resource worlds. Or to put it another, more comedic, way, if Alden wanted to watch more episodes of soap operas for children, are we talking "Avowed get free subscription to System-flix", "weirdly dedicated Wright maintains a public media server on Anesidora", or "Dragon Rabbit charges 150 argold per 3 episode VHS tape (dubbed only)"? Thanks again for writing this story, it's been an absolute blast to read!
I love your access level descriptions so much. I think a lot of Artonan media would be easily available but not all of it. Alden could get his hands on more Klee-pak without too much trouble I'm thinking. I've also been developing some ideas about the culture surrounding television shows and differences media access and the wizard vs. non-wizard classes on the Triplanets. I don't know if I'll get to use them.
Hey Sleyca. I thought of a better question. Humans have been from practically the very beginning of history pretty warlike. Are their any Anti-Artonan weapons, contingencies or plans. It doesn't seem to me that humans generally would be very happy about having a 'superior' group of aliens able to lord it over them despite whether or not they're benevolent.
There are anti-Artonan plans. I think the most serious ones would have been developed in the immediate aftermath of the Contract negotiations. But these days, the majority of Earth doesn't have a problem with the aliens. Lots of hate groups, because there are always hate groups, but not much organized political opposition. It's not quite clear in story yet, though it's coming up in later chapters, but the Artonans basically don't interfere with regular humans unless something really crazy is going on here on our planet, and they occasionally help them/give them magic gifts. It's the Avowed and Anesidora who have to deal with them, and they're such a tiny percentage of the population. I think the average human is probably like, "Sucks that you guys sometimes have to fight chaos and clean alien toilets, but it's not *that* big a deal is it? And I love watching superheroes on television. And I'm really enjoying the three wordchains I know and my cell phone (alas...they got credit for those) and the fact that they came in cleaned up that epidemic in my country a few years back, so...have fun in space!"
Ok Kibby made Alden promise to get matching face tattoos is that something you are going to do?
We can't break a promise to Kibby.
Didn’t Alden originally have some spell impression about a screaming ball? When he initially affixed on earth? Should that be mentioned as being on a character sheet here?
Yes! And he hasn't even used it so far.
Are we going to see Alden’s experiences impact him properly as he tries to fit in? Seems like he’ll now be a square peg in a round hole as a typical teenager on earth. I trust you as the author to handle this regardless of how, though! Just excited.
From a character perspective, this is a really interesting part of the story for me to write. Because Alden's been in survival mode for so long, even he hasn't had a chance to reflect on who he is and what he wants now that it's done. A couple of weeks ago, his one and only focus was keeping Kibby and himself alive. Today he's on Earth. Safe. With life going on all around him. It's about as big a shift as he could possibly get.
So I was just re-reading all the chapters again. The end of chapter 39, Joe says, "When you see endless misery on the horizon, that's the moment. Tell him then." I was imaging that as some huge chaos event, Alden telling the primary that Alden was prepped with his uber skill to stop it based Joe's advice on how to level. Going back through it again, I am wondering if it is Alden's personal misery it is referencing and that would be like a knight with bound authority asking for release like in the vision? That only seems to fit if leveling the skill super high also causing that feeling even if someone doesn't have an authority sense. It sort of fits really well where Alden is now, but not really so much from when Joe tells it to him unless there are other factors that haven't been confirmed yet. Am I reading too much into it?
Toby, these are great questions! I'm sorry that answering them would be spoilerish.
How many foundation points does Alden have? Not the free authority capacity to affix an enhancement, but rather the mission/level granted reward that lets people use that authority? Did he get some from leveling or Alis-arth? Did he have zero until Mother awarded him the current batch? Or is that just not going to be tracked since we know it isn't the real limit on what can be affixed?
Thank you for asking, racnor! Foundation points are one way to affix authority. Alden got eight in his last affixation from Mother, which was a very small amount because she recommended focusing on his skill instead. As Amit and Joseph say, the System tends to present the rewards to humans as "gifts" when in fact they're more like re-modeling something you've already got. In one sense, it is beneficial, since the vast majority of humans can't use their own authority and probably wouldn't be able to even with training...and having an authority sense with an affixation is kind of awful. In another sense, it's a big scam. (I think Alden actually says something to this effect verbatim in an upcoming chapter when talking about the foundation points.)
I have noticed some references to "natural advantages and talents", like that Velras girl who can sense wordchain debt, do these act as natural affixations, thus reducing their free authority at initialisation, and the reason why she was considered only B rank when all her family was expecting A or S rank?
This is a great question. Hazel has a little something extra going on, but it's not exactly this. The Velras were assuming her rank based on parentage and apparent talent, but they were just wrong. Hazel is just not as strong as they all wanted her to be. I actually wrote an interlude from her POV ages ago. If it doesn't get added to a future chapter, I'll post it as extra content maybe.
Do you speak any language other than English? I’m fluent in Japanese and was very impressed with some of the ways you dealt with translation and the language learning process for Alden.
Hi, Tayvin! I have some second language skills...not enough to be considered fluent. I try to make it realistic using that experience. He's now more bilingual than I am, so I hope I can keep it up.
How do you feel about POV chapters outside of our MC? I really enjoyed the recent Alis chapter for one, although they have been pretty rare in the story thus far.
Thank you, Imp! I loved writing Alis's POV. I enjoy adding in POVs from other characters. I have a few planned, so there will definitely be more. It's harder with Artonans because they have so much more info than Alden does that their chapters risk becoming spoiler-filled.
It's been more than 24hours, when's the next chapter 😢
Thank you for reading, Boredwayfarer. I like your Totoro.
Probably to late to the party, but: how does the world look outside of the Avowed? Is climate change solved? How about world hunger? Is cancer cured? What is the geopolitical situation?Are there still wars between countries? Are there still "unstable" countries (maybe in a civil war?) and are there avowed warlords?
Hi, Flyte! Avowed warlords would qualify as international-level supervillains/terrorists, and Anesidora does maintain "battle teams" of S's and A's (mentioned by Andrezj in early chapters) to deal with threats of that level. We might see some things like that. There's more about political backdrops and what I'm working on in that area in the response way upthread to kaalveiten.
Passed 24 hours, but came up with different things to be curious about: Did Alden's weight and visible muscles change when his strength was increased? Avowed economics and finance - how do the ones who never get summoned or hired by other humans survive on Anesidora; do they get food, shelter, utilities or are there starving homeless Avowed on Anesidora? Also how the heck did Stuart access Earth's internet from Artona III?
A lot of this will be answered in upcoming chaps!
It seems like another Ryeh-b’t with the “Let me Take Your Luggage” skill would be able to preserve Alden and allow him to safely teleport away from Thegund. Is there a particular reason why this was not considered as an option? It seems like the main challenge would be getting another Ryeh-b't with the skill to Thegund given the situation. However it seems rather doable given the resources available to Alis-art’h. I think it’s a bit of a pity that it didn’t end up this way, since it would have been a natural reason for Alden to meet someone else with the same skill.
Once the System went down there was no easy teleportation to Moon Thegund. The ritual room on Alis-art'h's ship is like crazy, old school master wizard teleportation, which is why she said it wouldn't be appropriate for him even under normal circumstances. It was their emergency lifeboat she used, basically, to get him to Artona I. That's why they didn't do some teleportation ritual to send the wizards to Moon Thegund instead of using a ship that took months to arrive. Too costly and dangerous to send that many people (Alis is traveling with a large group who will rebuild the Thegund System). Also, Alden was probably dead by the System's estimation. Just like on Earth, where we don't throw rescue workers into catastrophes until after the immediate danger has passed, it wouldn't be appropriate to keep throwing Avowed after other Avowed and risking multiple lives. And, finally, no other human beings have The Bearer of All Burdens/Let Me Take Your Luggage. We don't know about whether or not it might have been offered to other species in the story yet. I haven't explained in the book, so explaining here would be a spoiler.
A second question, if you don't mind and it's not spoilers. How does Let Me Take Your Luggage progress for an avowed if they don't play a dangerous game of authority-chicken with the system? I sort of assume it just gets a little better at its basic function while the system offers you other skills a little too eagerly.
Normally the Avowed would just grow the skill in slow mode, and it would get better at its basic function. They wouldn't be offered the "facets" or "seeds" as Mother calls them. Also, the System wouldn't pour free authority back into the skill for them; that's totally a Mother/you already know what you've got thing. They're free authority would all go to buying new talents while their bound within the skill would continue to slowly develop as they trained with it. So, given a normal progression path it would probably take an Avowed who hadn't met Joe a couple of decades at least before they started to realize their skill didn't have a cap. 4-10 are common places for skills to top out, but Avowed are aware of skills that top out higher. They're considered very desirable. So they'd think they had one of those as the skill leveled, and then, assuming they were even someone who put in the effort to get it high enough, they would start to kind of scratch their head and have questions when they approached the highest-known level tops.
Can Alden own a ryeh-b't on earth? If so, when will he get one?
Alden could own a ryeh-b't on Anesidora if he was willing to do a lot of paperwork!
Can you comment on the themes of Neurodiveregence in Supper Supportive?
Hi Riley! This is such a close reading of the characters; I love seeing your thoughts on them. On my end , I just try to make sure every character is distinct, with their own unique views and points of trouble and/or ease when it comes to interacting with others and the world around them. I don't have an intentional overarching metaphor going on story-wide for themes of neurodivergence, but I'm hopeful that a complex and realistic story world will produce characters of every sort.
Just a random request, but let Yipalck Corporation's place be engraved into alden's book of grudges :3 Some way. Some how. Unless Joe gets there first, in which case, I hope we readers get a great scene out of it.
I feel you.
I'm curious about how you write your story - do you have an endgame/villain or something of the sort in mind for Alden to progress to or do you just write about Alden's story as entertaining as you can as you go? (Im curious because so far there aren't really any endgame villains (intentional?) so far except the demons, but Im guessing he wont try to clear the universe of them... unless?) (also i hope we get to see manon dealt with) also thanks for the story its amazing and i love it
Thank you chars! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. That means so much to me. I have a couple of endgame scenarios in mind with villains and/or chaos, but I'm planning to follow Alden's life for a long while before we get there. I'm so interested in his next few years and seeing him grow. So, there are plans for ending things with big drama arcs because I don't want a story with zero closure; but I'm hoping reader interest allows me to keep telling an entertaining story for many more chapters before we get there.
I just saw the Q&A bit on the latest chapter, and i had totally given up on asking a question after a hectic day caused me to miss the deadline so i'll be shameless and ask before i read the rest of the latest chapter: I'm assuming that you're working (or maybe doing school?) in addition to SupSup so i just wanna know how do you balance everything? Do you have a schedule where you write a certain amount everyday or do you have a slot like 4-5 hours before publishing the chapter where you crank it out and publish? Also related to that is has the relative success of your book so far affected anything (say maybe it's given you more time to focus on writing, or maybe you've bought a fancy coffee machine to pump out coffee so you can write more lol) Love the story so far btw!!!
Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the read. I'm lucky that I've had a bunch of free time lately that allows for working on the story and building plenty of back-up chapters. I write the chapters in advance and try to revise them well before they're posted here on Patreon. I've been shocked, thrilled, and touched by the support! It definitely gives me leeway to spend much more time on Super Supportive than would otherwise be smart. It's so amazing to make money with a story I love this much. As for purchases, nothing special yet. But my laptop is ten years old and really showing it, and prior to writing Super Supportive I was thinking I should just hold off for another year or two before buying a brand new one. Now I'm probably going to go ahead and treat myself to that, since I do spend so much time typing. It'll be nice to have fewer interesting quirks from my equipment. :)
one more quesiton, authority is basically a sensor as well then, right? im guessing all authorities exist on the same "plane" (bc aldens can touch kbby's), and if someone's overlaps with your's then you will definitly feel it because you have control over your own little authority sphere. also, size doesn't really equate to quality/density/strength all the time, so i guess there should be a power tier for authorities as well? (alden is rank b but he definitly has a higher than normal quality for authority, and same with kibby maybe because we already know she has power but cant exert it well). this means the way one authoirty interacts with another's depends mainly on the quality of it, and determines who would be able to "crush" (using the word alden used to describe what The Primary could do to his) or dominate another's, right? does this mean that one of alden's maybe strengths in combat is his authority? especially since no one else on earth has the ability to even sense their own authority, nevermind control it into a defense (other than the instinctual one by the affixated skill)
This is a great comment. I'm trying to think of how to answer without spoiling, and I can't really. But yes, having an authority sense can, eventually, give Alden additional options and insights into things.
Is lab grown meat considered a banned food for our mc?
I like how you're both thinking outside the box. I think the gremlin might take issue with lab grown meat? I haven't actually considered that one. It couldn't do anything about someone force-feeding him. It would just whine and complain and maybe it would learn. The best thing he could probably do is start living with a dairy goat that wanted to be milked. He could at least have cheese then. (Just imagine what his eventual roommates would think of him.)
Are the rejuvenation treatments infinitely repeatable (or one time stops aging forever, etc.) or is there a limit to your true age like an Artion can only live 1,000 years? I mention this because Joe mentions the philosophy descents of the 300 skills creators from 3,00 years ago and I am wondering why the not mention the creators themselves. Edit: Also, if the elites do live until killed or at least 500+ years, what stops infinite population as more S grade healers are assigned?
Right now I'm refining the details on the rejuve. It has to be limited in some significant way, since we pretty much know the Artonans aren't doing it on a massive scale to keep their entire population forever young. The limits on (magical) rejuvenation I've already decided on are 1. it requiring a lot of power to pull off and therefore being something very few wizards and/or Avowed are actually capable of and 2. it taking the healer a very long time. One of the things I do like about how healers work in Super Supportive is that they're not capable of video game-speed healing. Rrorro is *almost* the fastest one we'll ever see. I'm still toying with a couple of other ideas/consequences for rejuvenation to keep it in check.
You know I wonder what's the point of Appeal if Artonians are another species? What's appealing to one race won't be to another as we all evolved differently.
Appeal can be intensively tweaked by the Avowed, just like the other top-level stats. The default for humans is to make them more Appealing to their own species. In addition to there being some crossover in what appeals visually to both species (symmetry, grace, etc...) there's also the fact that it gives Rabbits increased empathy.
Is it official that the 300 abilities are only for rabbits? It would make sense then that they are requested very often but there isn't enough of them, if the artonans don't want to give the ability to too many people
I jussst answered this one a minute ago on the Q&A. I'm sorry I can't remember the asker's name off the top of my head. But it's there.
Thank you Temp One!
Is Alden ace?
Alden isn't presently attracted to anyone in that way, and he never has been. He's a little confused and embarrassed about it (see: the scene where Gorgon mentions the two other teens interested in him very early in the book and later his annoyance with Boe and Jeremy for letting people at school think he contracted mono from making out with someone on the track team). And he has been "avoiding overthinking it or defining it" for himself, so canonically that's where he's at. We haven't heard his thoughts on romance more specifically yet. Right now he's mostly focused on the fact that he's not about to die and he gets to eat guacamole again. I think being along with him on the journey and discovering those things farther down the line is part of living with the character, but for people who really want more spoilerish information and get contract tattoos to keep secrets, I have been known to answer romance questions in *slightly* more depth through private messages. Thank you all for caring so much about the characters and the story!
Nice chappy. What I forgot to ask and what’s been bothering me: he has/got? 12 mil dollars in Argold right? but I remember his coat already cost about 2 mil so it seems weird that he only got the equivalent of 12 when Argold seems so abundant for the real paying jobs. A bit like chump change for what he was involved in and what he did.
Argold should be approximately 1 = $3 US everywhere I've written it in. If you find spots where I've converted wrong (definitely possible) I'll change them. If I remember my napkin math from when I wrote that chapter, he ended up "earning" somewhere between 60 and 70k dollars per day for being stuck on Moon Thegund.
I happened to notice that the latter half of this chapter doesn't mention a certain extremely important character at all.... Where's WUMMY? Sleyca you can't do this to me, Connie brought Wummy back to Alden right? RIGHT?!
Wummy...is still on Connie's dresser. But I'm sure that will change soon! She just didn't have her priorities in order today.
I imagine a lot of women will be reacting to Alden the way he reacted to Natalie. He did get optimized by the healer when he was still on the moon, plus he has a point in appeal, and a couple more in strength.
Obran, he only has the 1 in Appeal total. You're not the first person who's said this specific thing though so I think I need to go back and read that gigantic chapter to find where I wrote a confusing line. It can be kind of hard to make the stat windows clear on Patreon since the formatting options are so minimal.
I'm glad we're not tiptoeing around the whole longevity just for the rich and powerful issue. That must be a huge source of tension in Anesidora. I bet there are loads of people willing to do just about anything to get the cash or clout for those treatments (thinking about Manon here).
I think a select few people being immortal really would create a ton of resentment. And at the same time, I think those people would put up with it because it's life, and life's just about the best thing there is.
In fairness, people generally don't openly carry knives or bear spray. Or boulders, I suppose, so perhaps what people generally carry openly isn't a good baseline.
I'm now imagining how we'd really feel if we encountered a guy just casually walking down the street with a multi-ton boulder.
I hope Leo doesn't turn out to be the big bad, becoming so annoyed with Alden ignoring the toilet flushing sound that he instigates the Singularity or AI revolution so that his collective can play the toilet flushing sound at Alden no matter where he runs or hides.
Stop telling people how the story ends, John. Spoilers!
What's up with that toilet flush sound?
I was worried some people wouldn't remember the mailbox's love for toilet flushes and would just think I was strange for fixating on a restroom!
A week ago, Alden had been living in a vault on a silent moon with a single other person. I think this should be 2 weeks ago, since he spent an entire week getting healed.
Nice point! It was 9-10 days ago (time's a little fuzzy because we don't actually know how long Alden ran for or how long he was with Mother/having his affixation). I can easily change it to a week and a half, so that's what I'll do.
Edit Suggestions: and siblings like they where characters in a show he’d never seen. ->and siblings like they were characters in a show he’d never seen.
Thank you for catching these Obbu and Reign!
I like this story so much that I am bothered that I have caught up with it. I just wish I had more to read. Awesome stuff!
I'm so glad you're enjoying it, Hunter!
Man I'm glad I picked a good time to catch up on this. Would've been distraught if I'd hit the patreon and caught up with Alden and Kibby still in danger. Love the story!
Welcome aboard! Thank you for supporting, and I hope you continue to enjoy the next chapters. :)
Sleyca in the RR chapter FORTY-FOUR: Request for Insight the 4th wall break is still there that tells the reader that a new chapter is soon out. I think it would be good for the reading flow if it is deleted.
Thank you! Will do.
Sleyca this is totally off topic but I asked this on rr on chapter 40 and you didn’t respond and I feel compelled to ask again. Is Boe’s last name a romanian refference? If so I thank you for the representation :)
Sorry I didn't see the earlier comment! Yes, Boe has Romanian heritage.
Another long chapter. The generosity never ceases!
Thank you! You guys are going to be so disappointed in me when we eventually have a run of short ones. I think the next few are all average length.
So Jel-nor was hitting on him. But why was Joe not sure if she wanted to kill or make peace with him?
Joe was mostly joking about that. He doesn't really think Jel-nor would do something that stupid. But Neha also didn't know that Alden had just witnessed the person who gave him the gum committing a crime (summoning the mishnen was illegal), so poison wouldn't occur to her as readily as it did Joe.
Also, has anyone gone back and read how many sensory-sharing gums he got at that party? My memory has it at 21, but that seems very high...
He got fourteen. It was a very wild party with a lot of guests, and he was the center of attention because of his rebel wizard/ryeh-b't outfit. Rrorro confiscated all the other pieces though.
I am confused. Would meister of staves not be a Brute-type class? Unless they mean non-combat staves, like planks? Bcuz wasn't Alden's first class Meister of Cudgels, and it was a Brute class? So if the two kids in the lobby are Brutes and they've been there for 2 months, why are the commenting on the statuary? Unless C-rank and down Brutes are put into separate dorms.
Meister and Brute are two different classes. Meisters are a broad class where each subtype masters and gains talents related to the use of specific tools, weapons, or even things like musical instruments. Brutes are also a broad class with subtypes based around bodily alteration and enhancement. So a Meister has a specific tool, or category of tools, they work with.
As for a comment on the actual chapter I really liked this one! I'm excited to see "Superhero School" and I'm really excited to get to watch Alden bounce around more with actual humans. I hope he's able to open up to at least a few people reasonably soon, because while it's cool to see people's reactions to the super dumbed down version, it will be REALLY fun to see how people react to him when they actually see more of what he can do. This is definitely slower and less nail biting than the last arc so far but it's doing a really good job of giving everything you've built so far a chance to breathe and settle. Alden as a character obviously really really needs this. That said, I'm SO excited to get to the part where he actually starts innovating on his power and superheroing at people. Especially with a bit of magic mixed in.
Thank you so much, Zaeron! I'm glad people are enjoying the new arc so far. It will be a while before we have Moon Thegund levels of crisis in the story again. I think (hope!) the coming chapters will appeal to those who've been eager to explore the island, find out about Avowed life, meet some superheroes, see what school is like (finally), and watch Alden grow his powers. It's a particularly slice-of-lifey section, similar to some of the story's earlier chapters I think, and I've had a blast writing it. And we will, of course, build to the terrible nail biters again. :)
are we into volume 2?
If I ever officially separate it into volumes, yes! The current arc would like be considered the first arc of Volume 2.
I'm so sorry about the extra email notification you guys. I was trying to read through and edit the second half in Patreon and my fingers just went nuts and clicked stuff they shouldn't have. It will be posted for real, for real as soon as I'm through reading it all.
Terrible Sleyca. I did not mean to goof that goof. Hopefully the people who are reading it early are getting nice quality still.
I shouldn't be allowed to try complicated things. Like posting chapters in halves.
did anyone else get an email with 69.2 already? I can read the full chapter from there, Im gonna hold out though, since author is probably editing, it might've been a mistake
It was a mistake! It's not going to change much I don't think, but I haven't re-read the whole thing yet. I was going to do Royal Road first and then this second half but since I'm a tech klutz, I'll go ahead and do this one first.
"Oh my God Hazel you can't just go around asking people if they're uneven!"
I would wear this on a t-shirt.
“If you want it that badly, little brother, you can have it,” she said sweetly, handing him the tablet. Why is Sleyca taking puffs from my childhood trauma rn
The bond between siblings remains the same across species!
To be honest I thought you were just gas lighting me. I was actually kind of impressed. On chapter related notes, I do wish that we got an actual therapy session. That way we can maybe see all those perspectives on his trial and tribulations. Preferably from the therapists point of view. Though I understand how that hasn't been in line with the story so far. It's just something I'd really enjoy. Call me greedy.
I considered this. I've been shying away from it a little because I'm not sure how to accurately write a good therapist's perspective, and I don't want to write an unrealistic one since it would be a pretty important thing.
So I noticed something when on RR, you say in the description the story will follow Alden through his early to late teens for the majority of the story. We started the story off with Alden as a kid so does that mean the story will end within the next 2 years of Alden’s life?
It depends on which far-future arc I decide to end it on. There's some flexibility with the plot outline when you start thinking that far in advance. But I would love to keep writing it into Alden's adulthood, as long as you guys are still here to read it!
Aww, you put the repeat character bios at the end of the chapter instead of the start. I was really hoping you’d put them at the start to remind us who these people are before we read about them. I’m glad you have them at least.
So many people requested the bottom, so I decided to go with that! With minor characters the top makes more sense to me, too, but in this case, I would have stuck Hazel at the bottom anyway since her reappearance in the story has been long-anticipated by some and it would have qualified as a spoiler. If Patreon was more awesome, linkable footnotes that could pop up with a mouseover on the character name would be the ideal thing.
“And there, across the street, drinking a boba tea. was a girl he recognized.” Think there’s an extra period where there shouldn’t be.
Thank you for spotting that rogue dot!
The list of all the things Alden thought that Evul might be angry with him about was hilarious. I am glad that Stuart is reaching out! This looks like it could turn into a delightfully unorthodox friendship.
Alden: I have not done anything to make the Artonans upset..anything except...a lot of things.
Why hasn't Alden checked the chains he got from the rabbit deal? It is useful and doesn't require authority. Seems very dumb to ignore it, especially in his position.
I'm glad you asked this since I see people mention them occasionally. Alden knows what the four wordchains he received are, since he glanced over them all when he first received them. They have names, so he's got an idea of what they do and he doesn't need to check them. I didn't describe their effects during the funeral scene, when he first saw them, because it felt like an interruption there. Maybe I should have brought them up here when he was on the exercise bike...that would have been a good time for it. Though it's also nice from a writing standpoint to keep at least a couple of them unnamed, for flexibility. Anyway, there's not a surprise hidden there. For him. He just hasn't gotten around to memorizing or performing them yet. Quite a few low-tier wordchains, of the same power level as Peace of Mind, are publicly available info so Alden (or anyone dedicated) can pick up chains when they want. He knows several already from his consulate classes, but he hasn't refined them. He's probably much better at them now in general since he actually speaks Artonan and has the enhanced Dexterity. As for why he hasn't practiced them, he just has a lot going on. He's only been on Earth two weeks. He's got a lot to learn and practice right now, all of it equally useful and more interesting to him, so chains are on the back burner for him at the moment.
If there's a bridge to Apex city, is Anesidora actually 2 islands?
It technically is, but they almost always talk about it like it's only one. I think the bridge between Apex (the northern island) and F-city (southern) first made an appearance when Aimi Velra was driving way too fast across it, trusting that the gloss would keep her safe from traffic accidents.
Off-screen: Paolo is now hyperventilating in his room because that boy who got lost in space is telling some Artonan his name and talking about his skills, and what if the same thing happens to Paolo?!
Well, i'll be honest, i wish we got to the meat of the story, but then...I don't really know what the author envisions the story to be. Is it a zero to hero story, a coming of age, is it this or that? Where's the story's envisioned end point? In any case this is starting to strike me as one of those novels you'll want to read by the volume, not by the chap, since not much happens between chaps. It's all well written and interesting, but very slow.
I try to give people an idea of my hopes for the story in the Royal Road description. It reads: "I wrote this because I wanted to read a character-oriented superhero origin story every step of the way from the very beginning. And I wanted to write as thoughtfully as I could about a System and aliens. What you will get: darkness and comedy and slice of life and action and tons of world building on multiple worlds. And plenty of all of it. I plan for Super Supportive to be very, very long. The burn will be slow, and, I hope, better for it." To that, I would now add that I define superhero broadly. And I consider the action on Earth and the Triplanets to be equally important. Also that the arcs will be many, and they will be varied in terms of subgenre. My main goal is to stick with Alden, and show everyone his life. Sometimes his life is Moon Thegund. Sometimes it's inter-Avowed drama. Sometimes it's trying to get into superhero school. I personally am a huge fan of slice of life--for its own sake as a form of entertainment and for its potential in the massively long format offered by web serials as a means of developing world and character so deeply that the action/adventure arcs hit harder. As for envisioned end points, I have three different extra high-impact story arcs planned at this point that could potentially end the story. Each is set at different times in Alden's future, with different central conflicts. Which one will ultimately be "The End" depends on the readership and if you guys are willing to hang out with me and Alden for a LOT more words.
SlaveToMyWhims, it occurs to me now that writing such a wall of text in response to your comment when I don't usually respond at such length on chapters might come across as me taking offense at what you said. I hope it didn't. I'm sorry if it did! I actually decided to reply in depth because you specifically talked about story vision and asked if it was zero-to-hero, coming of age, etc...with what struck me as mild frustration tempered by a genuine curiosity about story direction rather than a demand for it to be something different. I appreciated that you were expressing your thoughts without being ragey, and I was eager to talk on this subject anyway post-Moon Thegund since we just shifted from high stakes to much lower ones. And I updated the Royal Road description a couple of months ago and wanted a chance to highlight it a bit. Anyway, please accept this second wall of text on your comment! Thanks for giving me a chance to gab about something I wanted to gab about.
Have we met sex-ed-Gustavo before?
You haven't met him on-screen, but his name has been mentioned before. I should have put him in the character notes. Gustavo is the night counselor for Rabbits. He's got the same job as Neha, just a different set of working hours.
My god I love Maricela already. Of COURSE she thinks "pickle hero" and then immediately has terrifying ideas of how he'd use it.
Honestly...if pickling was somehow a serious offensive power, there's no way it wouldn't be super creepy and terrifying.
I Hereby call to order the Secret Society of Plaid Haters....
So you do exist!
Lmao pickling power
I fear that until I name the 301st skill, every skill in the story is going to be suspect.
Sleyca's penchant for foreshadowing with 'throwaway' comments makes me suspicious of dialogue like this: “I want to survive if I’m ever attacked by demons. Or if some wizard summons me and forces me to fight alien sea monsters. Or if a bomb explodes in my face.”
Yep, he's totally thinking of the mishnen with that sea monsters comment. Most of the other kids are at hero school for the more obvious reasons. And there's Alden over there like...when you get summoned to do Rabbit housework, sometimes people try to feed you to alien squids, so I need to prepare for that.
It's all fun and games until people start calling him 'the Pickler'
Have you heard of the Pickler? He's kind of a big dill.
Calling his skill a stasis effect would probably be more accurate but people thinking hes gonna be a pickle hero is hilarious
Cue Alden being very self-conscious about how he describes it from now on.
For some reason i could have sworn i once commented something about Alden using a preserved umbrella as part of his skillset because it makes a very convenient and portable shield once he opens it and also a blunt weapon but guess i didn't after all...either way called it! I'm guessing in his skills testing he's going to demonstrate preserving a human being and then afterwards using the umbrella as a shield to test how durable the shielding effect is (the funny thing is that since he's hiding his actual skill level the durability will seem especially impressive and more on par with an actual shielding class/skill)
Don't we all secretly want to fight people with umbrellas? They're such a satisfying shape, and they transform into another equally satisfying shape, and they have a history of concealing swords and/or poison.
You know what I just thought of, what if Alden will be able to take the pain from the knights - the pain they get from having their authority bound. Better yet, it said bearer of ALL burdens, he's already taking the affects of time away from someone under preservation, pretty soon he'll be stopping planets from cracking in half
I can't figure out how to comment on these comments or give my thoughts without spoiling anything. But I see them all!
Alden's new favorite ice breaker: "you know, ground is pretty interesting..."
He found some common ground...
Were you planning on releasing a chapter on royalroad today?
I am. I've been staring at it all day, trying to decide the perfect way to handle the *special* mini chapter to maximize effect while minimizing unhappiness and also following the slightly arbitrary character minimum rules the site has.
I think I've come up with a way I like so it'll be uploaded shortly.
Bit of a math problem: in an earlier chapter, B-rank acceptance rate is said to be 5%, but there’s apparently over a hundred here today and Alden seems to be only expecting one or two to be accepted?
There are approximately 250 students accepted into the program annually, and there are six of these testing days. (The frequency is due to the need to accommodate the fact that teens are constantly becoming Avowed year-round and needing to be folding into the schools.) So they accept around 40 students each time, and usually 1-3 B's.
Is the guy with the flashlight the torch meister?
It's a different person! The Torch Meister is a C-rank, and he wants to just chill out and take some easy classes at a regular high school. I'm actually very disappointed in him for that because after I made him up, I thought of cool things to do with magical welding torches and he's just letting himself go to waste.
I wonder why Alden doesn't use his ability with something like a long thin rope or string/thread. That seems like one of the more useful ways to potentially use it offensively, since it could basically clothesline people while being difficult to see. I guess it depends how the nature of the preserved object might influence the authority it costs Alden to continue preserving it - maybe less "solid" objects cost more authority to maintain when affected by force? Otherwise it seems like you could exploit this by making lots of thin objects unnaturally "hard"/static, which would make them very dangerous. Or if you want to get really weird, what if Alden were to take a large burning object and preserve it? What happens if someone hits that frozen flame? It obviously wouldn't burn them, but how "sharp" would it be? It's sort of like freezing a gas (which is another thing that should be possible but would have weird potential effects).
:)
The fated encounter: Alden was taking free samples at a store and sees a stand with pb&j sandwich cubes, "This tastes amazing, especially the jelly." An elder with a white mustache and monocle who was dishing it out smiles, "I'm glad you like it." He extends his glove covered hand, "Wilbert Smith. S-rank. Rabbit. My skill makes the best preserves, I guarantee it." Wilbert's eyes turn and refocus, "It seems my advertising comes to a close too soon again. Summons are so unforgiving for us rabbits..." Alden's head jerked as Wilbert grabbed jars of Jelly from a shelf and they disappeared. System storage. "At least this one won't involve fermenting artificial wevvi... And no it doesn't get any better." Wilbert disappeared.
Fermented wevvi! Knowing the Artonans they would have Wilbert fermenting it to make it inebriating...
Is the bus driver's name Ron Wilson, Bus Driver? For those who don't recognize this name, Ron Wilson, Bus Driver is a character in the movie Sky High, which is about a superhero high school.
I feel like this is a memory you pulled from my head that I didn't know I was in possession of!
I know I previously thought that all of the 300 skills would be rabbit skills. But does ground manipulation should similar to the 4th’s skill? All she was doing was picking up the ground and slamming it back down.
Banarok is correct. The 300 aren't all available on Earth. Shapers are fun. Mostly, they're telekinetic over their element, especially when they're just starting out, but as they get really powerful (like Hannah's mom) things start to get more interesting/unusual.
Are the chapters changed at all for when they are posted on royal road? ?
Usually it's just superficial changes. Typos I spotted or a word here or there.I've been doing revisions prior to posting here on Patreon, so there hasn't been any serious need to change things again. If I ever change actual plot or significant world building, I'll post updates here to let everyone know about it.
Edit Suggestions: Anymore questions?” ->Any more questions?”
Thanks for spotting this one!
I know Alden has changed since he went to the moon, but he just feels strangely warped in this chapter. Most of the chapter was great but Aldens interactions with this new girl felt weird. I know you justified Alden liking this girl by saying he connected to her because her words felt “real” to him, or heartfelt, but it came off as forced. It seems like this girl is gonna be a recurring character and you were looking for a way to justify Alden wanting to approach her in the future and this is what you went with. I'm guessing she will be a future teammate or something. Idk maybe I’m looking too much into this but the character just feels really suddenly introduced. I thought Alden had become more introverted after his trip, but he seems to really be active in forcing a relationship with this girl, the whole flower thing felt really out of character for him. Idk he just felt way too animated there, it kinda reminded me of how you would talk to a kid, or like how he dialed it up to an 11 for Kibby to keep her cheered up and her mind off their likely death. He was also extremely open with her, which feels weird to do when you are meeting a new person. He tells her how he doesn't necessarily know if he wants to be a hero, which feels impulsive and odd to admit to a prospective hero student, even if she admits she is only doing this to get back home. These are worries he admitted to Jermey, his councilor, and Stewart, all of which he knew would keep his secret, or who telling would have no negative bearing on him. Also the whole, I know your dreams will come true and you will be accepted into school speech felt really cringe. The “I know you will succeed because you really want it” kinda pep talk felt like something a cheesy anime character would say. I know this moment was supposed to be powerful but it came off as corny and disingenuous. Anyway, the conversations felt cleaner and more natural once you had them go into the school but the bus and walk scene felt forced. Can't wait for the next chapter, excited to see Alden and the other avowed in action.
For me Alden's visceral connection to Maricel comes from the fact that she 1. Stands up for him even though he's a total stranger 2. Wants to be a hero for a real reason but not necessarily a "pretty" reason, which is a characteristic he's actually very worried about/hung up on within himself. He's afraid that his doubts about throwing himself into a life of danger make him a bad person, but at the same time, he can't recapture that naive enthusiasm he had for being a superhero once upon a time. Her coming right out and saying, effectively, "I don't want the right thing. I just want to get really strong here so that I'm not unhappy anymore. I just want to go back home," is like hearing someone say exactly what you yourself were thinking, but were ashamed to share because you suspect feeling that way might make you a less than perfect person. So that's Maricel from my PoV. And then Alden's a little extra nice to her because she seems down and the people on the bus were calling her crazy, and despite him worrying so much that he might not truly be a good guy, he still totally is. I'm glad you're looking forward to the next chapter! The school stuff has been fun to write, and there are a lot of interesting (in my very biased opinion) characters coming up.
Plot twist: Boe has actually been Bedlam Beldam this whole time 😳
It makes me very happy that your name is Jeremy and you are joking about Boe and Bedlam.
I think maybe the Shaper girl from the Warren building became an Adjuster when she got on the bus? Alden was nervous, so he can be forgiven for forgetting 😉
Thank you! I changed her to Shaper of Life at the last minute and didn't catch the other instance.
One more: the sign when they enter says School for Superhuman Studies and Talent Advancement but in the Director's speech she refers to it as the School for Superhuman Studies and Talent *Development* - small thing, but different acronym (yes, I am one of those sad people who insta-acronyms everything)
This was totally intentional (it was not). I was just proving that even the principal can't remember the real name because she thinks of it as superhero school in her head (I'm lying. Thank you for finding this!).
Are the umbrella and this inspired by Kingsman? "We are the handsomest, the richest, the cleanest, and the most thoroughly prepared for every eventuality. Forty-eight seconds? It’s no trouble. A Rabbit man carries all he needs to survive the ravages of interplanetary travel upon his person."
Not consciously, but I do think the Kingsman vibe is a very fun one and should pop up more often so just the fact that I like that kind of thing probably influences me.
Thank you for the extra chapter. I may be alone with this, but could you release one for the free people on RR as well? I have friends that are not patrons and the further they get behind the harder it is to have relevant discussions with them. Also I much prefer the concept of my money is helping more of the story get created, not I am paying to skip ahead.
They're actually going to get one, too, this time. :) I hadn't quite decided to do it when I posted their chapter earlier, so it's not in my note to them. They'll get a fun surprise!
Getting shot incessantly by arrows sounds like a great time!
I would not sign up for this, I have to admit. I'd be there with the arts kids, being a Piano Meister or sourcing rare cheeses with Natalie, occasionally wandering over to the gym to stare at the hero track students pummeling each other and wonder why they couldn't just be normal for a change. But I sure do like writing about the weirdos...
Tftc. For some reason I was expecting for Alden to get beaten by everyone. Sometimes I forget that's he's only and kid and that these people are kids too. Alden has been punching above his weight for a while now. These people have never experienced life and depth situations. Alden has actually got a lot more experience than them.
It's interesting to think about how it would actually be at the start for kids who mostly have never hit anyone in their lives. You'd have the ones who actually knew martial arts to some extent, but even they're fifteen and sixteen year olds. And whatever they learned before getting powers has been altered by the fact that they now have powers and their bodies move differently. I spent a lot of time pondering if I should make the gym floor count as "ground," or have a dirt section, since that actually would have given Alden a larger advantage. He actually practiced with the movement trait quite a lot at the lab because Kibby liked watching him parkour around with it, and he's been practicing refining it with Bobby. So his fight vs poor Tatiana would have been very swift, and he would have likely done much better vs the archer, too. On the other hand, he wouldn't have been able to just "tough out" a bunch of arrows sticking out of his legs as well as he does the pain here, so if they were fighting for real and he got shot he'd have some serious problems.
It's cool that Alden might be able to figure out where specifically on his body is being targeted. I wonder if he could throw the fishing line around someone and preserve it once it's wrapped around them to detain them.
I've been wondering about this too. I think, right now, it would work if the person was fighting detainment. But if they wised up and just calmly stood there "helping" him hold his line he'd be out of luck.
U type?
They didn't get a description because they're all so different from each other and very rare. Though they do make for very popular heroes in general. Everyone likes novelty!
great chapter can reader sways read minds at a distance?
Yes. Some of them. It depends on how powerful they are and if they've taken talents specifically to enhance range.
Dipped out of meetings to read this one. Alden must look so OP being able to detect when skills target him.
Good luck in your meetings!
“Multiple, long-considered personal reasons,” he said finally. He couldn’t believe he’d just quoted Stu-art’h. OMG. thank you so much for such a great master class in story telling, Sleyca. I am in love with you.
It makes me really happy that Royal Road gets the chapter today where Stuart actually says this. Nice coincidence.
TYPO: "Don’t jog when when say sprint." -> Don't jog when WE say sprint.
Thanks for catching it.
Small criticism, it's nocking an arrow, not knocking an arrow
Thank you! I will fix it.
He is way underestimating just how scary the immovable fishing line is. Even without super human strength if you swung that at someone you are going to be cutting skin. It also would have acted as a shield extension against the arrows. Just spin the umbrella in front of your fast enough and the arrows are going to be deflected. I wish he tried to target his suit somehow when it was given to him. That would have been almost full body immunity as long as he could handle the strain. So many creative applications for his power, I can't wait to see what he does with it in the future :)
The more things I plan for his power, the more afraid I become that readers are going to catch me in a major, unforgivable physics mistake. But it is a lot of fun!
Kind of underwhelming. With how many ideas Alden was workshopping, I expected a lot more out of his combat trials. Maybe in the upcoming battles?
I try to keep Alden's power and competence progression super realistic. He's never actually fought before, nor have most of the other people here, and on top of that, his skill has only been functional again for about a week. There's also a scalability problem with making the MC too competent or creative too soon, unless you're writing an OP for the whole story main character, which is fun but not what we have here. As soon as your protagonist learns to do a super amazing thing, they have that in their arsenal forever, and you can never neglect it in fight scenes or you're just arbitrarily manipulating the outcome. Which readers can sense. So, for example, if he learns to hold his hand up and stop bullets like Neo from the Matrix...bullets are never an interesting threat in the story again. The only thing you can do from that point on with projectiles is say some version of, "It was a stronger bullet than ever before. And so he stopped it more strongly than ever before." All of that to say that, for the fights here, I try to hold myself back and let Alden be as creative as he would probably really be without inflating his coolness as much as I sometimes want to...
Why not just preserve the suit when they issued it to him lol. Basically he’d be invincible
Alden can preserve clothing, but he can't alter the shape of objects while the preservation is active. So in the case of a full bodysuit like the ones they wear for gym, he'd only be protected while he was also immobilized by his own frozen outfit. There's also the fact that the gym suit is literally making him unkillable right now, so even if he could offline something that magical with his power, he'd be tinkering with a better form of safety than he himself offers. I do plan to have him play with preserved clothes in other ways in the future.
Meridun typed it up before I saw it! Sorry for explaining it again.
Can you go over chainer. The class has been mentioned a few times in the past but I’m unsure what it actually does. I think it borrows physical and metaphysical concepts from your dimensional counterparts (or something)? But does it do more? It seemed like a very popular class before but I’m unclear what its normally used for. To fight, to make people lucky, relaxed?
The thing about Chainer is almost everyone on Anesidora is very unclear on what it's usually used for. It's extremely rare, and the Velras have managed to rope in nearly every single one. Wordchains are an old form of magic that borrow a quality (of various types) from another person somewhere in the universe who owed a debt of that particular quality from a previous chain. In exchange, you take on the debt and pay it to another chain user in the future. Alden has heard in passing and from the Velras themselves that some Artonans are sort of religious about Chainers, but since he's never met one who was, he doesn't have that info. The general understanding most people in the world have of the Chainer class is that they 1. Get to learn wordchains the Artonans don't usually share widely for some reason, 2. Don't have to pay as much debt back as normal people. 3. It's rumored that Chainers don't get spell impressions for some reason. They have almost zero knowledge of Chainer skills. And zero understanding of how high ranking Chainers might differ from lows. They know the high ranks rub shoulders with Artonans a lot. This combo of secrecy and an iron grip on an apparently lucrative class is why the Velras are disliked by a lot of people and respected by others. More details than that would be spoilers.
I've realized I don't actually understand the entrustment requirement of BOAB. It makes it hard for me to understand how he can rescue the wounded. I guess he would have to target someone who could entrust the injured to him retroactively?
It's been a while since this has been a big story point. It was talked about a lot in the LeafSong arc with regard to rescuing Joe's assistants. Conscious people must entrust themselves, unconscious people can be entrusted by others, Alden can carry two people at once if one entrusts themselves to another and then the other entrusts them both to him (how it worked with the assistants and Kibby and her sister briefly, though we might experiment with other entrustment combos in the future). We have only one example of an unconscious person being entrusted, and that was Stuart. He finally let himself pass out after Jel-nor blew his foot and ankle up, and Alden was successfully preserving him at the hospital.
I’m a bit confused can he open and close an umbrella after his skill is activated? Or was he walking around with an open umbrella?
Alden can un-preserve and re-preserve things whenever he wants. So he just un-preserves the umbrella, opens it, and then re-preserves it. But he loses the ability to preserve it at all if he entirely drops it. In that case, he has to have it entrusted to him again.
Thanks for the chapter. I guessed wrong about it being "A Busy Morning, pt. 4"
It was originally called that. I changed it at the last minute.
Hello Sleyca, the 'Meister' with the pain stick on Alden's heroic rescue team should be a Wright, no? The only Meister in the chapter should be Lexi, who is on the villain team. Also great chapter, I loved it so much, and Alden had so much to do in it, which gratified me a lot. Edit: I think they put Alden in as the only B in a team of A's and S's because they expect to accept him into Celena North, and they wanted to see how he would do in a team with his fellow future students, where he would indeed usually be the only B in a team.
Thanks for catching that!
could Alden not preserve the whip since he did receive it even as an attack
Whether something like this is possible/impossible hasn't been answered in the story so far. Alden hasn't tried something like targeting an enemy and stealing a weapon before, so he didn't think to try it here. The closest he's come would be catching things Joe and Kibby threw at him, and in those instances they weren't really attacks. Even Joe's surprise burning balls were prefaced by him saying "Catch".
Patreon is now deleting the double spaces I usually put in to make things look cleaner. That's very rude of it.
You're a good person Amber.
I am curious if this is intentional. When the brute ran into Alden's umbrella, wouldn't he still have been pushed back? He has a large "shield" but it is still his muscles holding the shield?
Attacks against Alden's preserved object are entirely absorbed by his magic. Note: I am always answering several minutes behind everyone else! Sorry about that.
"One of the students who’d been assigned to the victim roll was dramatically groaning, so at least somebody was having fun." Should replace "roll" with "role"? Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you, Diana!
So this was my favourite chapter of this arc so far, and probably the hardest to write. So many moving parts but still as smooth to read as a simple phone call. We are truly not worthy
Whew. I'm glad it read smoothly! I haven't written something quite this chaotic so far and I was worried about giving everyone enough but not too much detail.
Is there any reason that Alden hasn't bought himself a bunch of Wright gear with all his money to provide supreme utility, do damage, or give a better defense? It seems odd that with one of the top-tier Rabbits in the world as an advisor, this didn't come up...ever? That I could remember. Or invest it in companies that would give him freebies for the same? With the way advertisers are always hungry, I'm sure they could work him in somehow. I haven't even heard a whisper about something like fiscal soundness for a place that is supposed to support and make better heroes. No talk of how to help his massive windfall support his future career. Do they, Heroes, make so much that it isn't an issue anyone thinks about?
Alden isn't thinking about gearing up for future work of any kind right now. He's not getting summoned any time soon, and even if he wanted superhero work right this second he couldn't have it. So...it's a little premature for him to be loading up on Wright-made goodies.
Double fisted groin punch. So many wonderful middle school memories.
My deepest sympathies. (To you. Or your victim.)
Can someone reexplain the ground thing, Alden really hasn't been able to use the trait much and I’m confused by what exactly about the field he is fighting on is stopping that. Is it because of the magic floor which senses the suit. Or do things besides dirt not count as ground? Like can he use it on asphalt? Can Alden use his trait on a treadmill or do all machines nullify it?
The floor in the gym is made of a material from the Triplanets. So it can never be ground on Earth. "Ground" is a magical element that is defined as sort of "your current planet's native soil". A granite block from Earth is ground. Pavement made from Earth materials is usually ground. The closer a material comes to approaching another wizard-defined element the less likely it is to be considered ground...which is troublesome because wizards are weirdos who define "highly crafted objects" as their own element. On the more convenient side...Alden's trait will let him kick off of super thin or fragile layers of ground as if they're completely solid. As seen on Moon Thegund.
Terrestrial_Biped you have got ground down PERFECTLY. And you have super great memory for things I have only mentioned once or twice.
I think Alden should get a transparent umbrella, so that he can see through it while shielding (and also make it that tiny bit harder for the enemy to see the borders of the shield). It would allow him to be far more responsive if he didn't need to drop protection of his face to be able to see everything that's happening
People were saying this on the last chapter too. This is my fault, not Alden's. I completely forgot transparent umbrellas existed. I am hanging my head in shame about this one.
Added a bit more info about ranks/authority to the end. I think this is a question that bugs a lot of people , and I decided it's not one that should be bugging folks. And maybe it will help to clarify for anyone still confused about the total power level vs. individual skill power level question? Such is my hope anyway!
Alden was able to accept entrustment of an umbrella he was already holding. That's new! He couldn't make it work back when he did his initial talent tests with Boe and Jeremy. I wonder if he'll notice that he just pulled a new trick?
This is a good catch. The umbrella saw a LOT of action in an earlier version of this chapter (it got kicked around, poor thing) and he had to pick it back up. On revision I moved it back to his hand for this scene and changed Kon's line to "preserve it" instead of "pick it up"...so this wasn't intentional skill advancement. I debated pretending this was not an error, since I do want Alden to start realizing some new facets of his power soon; but instead I'll confess that this was just a mix-up. I want power discoveries like this to feel slightly less random than this one would. So, I've modified the scene a bit to work with his currently known skill limits.
Small request Sleyca—could these bits of Q&A go into their own posts? They’re not bad, but I enjoy not knowing all the detail while I follow the story from Alden’s perspective. I think anybody who wants the behind the scenes scoops won’t be too inconvenienced if Q&A was consolidated to their own Patreon updates. Great work as always, loving the story. ❤️
Dee, I think that's a very fair request for the extra info like the Rank/Level bits. In the future, I'll be sure to put those types of Q& A notes in a separate post! I do plan to leave the Character Notes at the bottom since they've been very popular and never contain even the faintest of plot spoilers. They're almost always just refreshers so people can recall characters from week to week. If you want to skip those, too, and only get the chapter contents, the epub file included with each chapter (link at the bottom) doesn't have those. It's only the chapter itself.
Thanks for the chapter. I spent a lot of time thinking about what the reaction chapter would look like and you still surpassed all my expectations.
Francis, I am just weird and I try to pass it off as imagination. (Don't tell anyone.)
Blinkmouse, thank you!
Why does the superhero grading skip E?
The people mentioning the American school system, genre tropes, and video games are all correct. The S, A, B, C, D, E, F ranking trope is common enough in System fiction/webtoons, and a lot of people skip E. I chose the very generic letter ranking because I knew Super Supportive was going to have elaborate world building and I thought really creative and unique rank names would give readers too much to memorize in the early chapters on top of everything else. I was very worried at first that people were not going to be along for the ride if the ride was too far outside the expected, so I was trying to give at least a little dose of familiarity for a broad set of readers with the rank names. Now, if I had it to do over again, I might very well go with something different. I'm not sure what...something that meshed with the way Rank and Level work in the story together, maybe. Artonan words with subtle meanings for Alden to discover would have been fun. The ranking systems do have different names and structures on other planets, so I can play with alternatives there.
Also, I know I'm already subscribed to Sleyca's patreon, but every chapter makes me wish there was a second super-secret patreon I could be on to read more. Currybro, if you're reading this you're my only hope.
I support this comment because I want more curry.
Colibrí actual argument: “he can wear Prada and Gucci though”
Think of how amazing he'd look on commercials!
I was really glad to get such a good look at the admissions process. It was also great to see Arjun again, and I agree with the other posters that Skiff seems much cooler now. Sleyca, if we start guessing what the secret question is, and one of us gets it right, will you be unhappy or feel the need to change it to something else?
You can guess at the secret question if you want. It's not a major plot point, more a world building moment I think. I won't change it if it's guessed because it's baked in already. Thank you for asking, Jeremy!
your descriptions didn't cover Colibrí nor Torsten. Were they covered before, or is it not necessary yet?
I'm trying to focus mostly on recurring characters in the descriptions, so people can glance back and refresh their memories if they want. Since Colibri and Torsten Klein are both completely new, everything we know about them is already contained in the chapter! If they make a reappearance a few chapters from now, they'll have notes, too.
funny how none even consider that some applicants might not even want to do hero work and just apply to get the best education on power usage possible, or that the training might be useful in others avenue, this angle wasn't even considered by any of them and I got the impression that none of them tought it was a possibilty for someone like Alden to get a bounch of challenging summons and wanting to be ready for that
I will say that canonically some upper level human Avowed do get summoned to help out with chaos incidents. It's been mentioned a few times. But it's a problem more for the best of the best, and they tend to be quite tight-lipped about it when they get back to Earth. That said, the committee knows there *is* bad stuff happening out there, but they don't even remotely consider the possibility that it might be something Alden Thorn - slightly above average Rabbit kid, will have to deal with ever again.
Wha? Wait... Do new chapters release at certain times on Sunday or just when ready? Because last time I think I had to wait till monday morning, my time, for the chapter, and today I get it sunday evening
Kaalveiten is right, I do a final read-through on posting day, so they go up whenever I've completed that.
Im so angry at how good your writing is. I started reading yesterday and now I have nothing left. I want more good books :(
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the read.
Love it, but what was supposed to be the question??????? The hard one you mentioned last chapter that they made nda about?
It's actually not an interview question. It's coming up in the next chapter.
Sleyca you tease 😂 my last question......
It's next chapter. I'm actually very silly because it didn't occur to me until last chapter that everyone would ( naturally) assume the final question would be the final interview question. It's actually a question that is asked of everyone at the conclusion of the whole day's events, not in individual interviews. Author blinders sometimes make me trickier than I actually mean to be.
It probably just became really obvious that the kid with the shit eating grin knows something they don't
Alden: politely and professionally reciting his shiny pre-prepared interview answers Torsten Klein: You suck at superhuman combat. You will always suck at superhuman combat. You're gonna fail and die. Go be a dentist or something, idiot. Alden: weird smiling, warm thoughts of alien children, switches languages in his brain, giggles under his breath Torsten Klein: Everyone else sees this, right? RIGHT? What are you all doing putting him in school with NORMAL kids?? *not canon, just for fun*
I thought the hopefuls had to wait until they got their results to leave. I hope Alden's misunderstanding of what was happening in that interview don't cause too too many shenanigans.
They just have to stay on campus! He's still hanging out.
The Scottish needs a bit of work. Not enough shortenings and slang. (I am Scottish)
I'd love to be able to do this well, but I would have to do it for almost every character! We have so many international accents here. Which greatly decreases the likelihood that I would be able to hit the right note. I'm afraid my attempts to completely transliterate some I'm not as familiar with would come off as comical or, if I got them wrong, rude. I try to look up a few unique word uses (or make them up in the case of the Anesidorans) or just very lightly brush each accent occasionally.
Hey Sleyca, big fan, love your work! I have to say though, and I'm not sure how others feel about this, but I think narratively, it would be better to switch chapters 78 and 77 around. I feel like 78 doesn't hit as well because we had 77 before it. I can see the dramatic irony in it though, so if you were going for that, it worked very well. But personally I can believe Alden might get rejected and his story continues without him getting in, even if other readers think that's impossible because of what Neha and Dave told him.
You're right! They are very flippable. If I swap them, there's a benefit to readers maybe wondering about Alden's actual chances, but to be honest I don't think anyone has really been very seriously concerned about Alden being rejected after hearing from Neha and Dave. I decided to present them in this order to highlight Alden's misunderstanding. Main characters are rarely straight-up wrong about what's happening in a way that's very clear to readers. We tend to be on their side and in their head so we have trouble seeing their mistakes. I thought it would be interesting for the audience to be much better informed than him about the interviewers' actual motives, so that they could contrast what's really happening with Alden's assessment of it. (And his assessment of his own worth in their eyes.) I think either chapter order would work quite well. They both have positives and downsides, and they both get at the key takeaway, which I hope is Alden's (and our) disappointment that he's actually trying very hard today, despite how much uncertainty he has, and the adults' own agendas and misconceptions have slightly robbed his efforts of meaning. So he has to find the meaning in it himself.
You should always feel free to provide feedback! I do always take it into consideration, and sometimes make changes before posting on Royal Road because of things Patreon readers have trouble with. So it's good to know!
I'm surprised, since Alden was sure he wasn't getting in, that he didn't blurt out something to change their minds. Like "I can do magic" or "I have a wizard contract that may prevent me from saying things" or even, since he can't say his skill doesn't have a top, he could say that he has a way to find another useful skill when the time comes (a lie but justifiable since he'll never need to)
Alden is very committed to not letting most people know he can do wizardry. He's pretty sure (and more or less has confirmation from Mother) that the news going public would alter the course of his whole life. He doesn't know in exactly what way, but he knows it will be a BIG deal...maybe one so big that he doesn't get to spend much time on his home planet anymore.
"The morning had been so intense that time was behaving differently. It felt like it had been a week since he met Maricel on the bus. " is such a funny description, because for us readers it HAS been a week
These chapters were literally all called "A Busy Morning, pt. x" on my computer. It looked pretty strange.
Hopefully one of the faculty members eventually asks him the One Big Question, because they cannot leave me here dying of curiosity. I really loved the Konversation, it shows that Kon is a lot more perceptive than what he shows.
I love that you're calling it the "Konversation". I feel like Kon would approve.
if his bearer of all burdens transforms all the weight and force of an impact into a magic strain on his spell, doesnt this mean that the person performing the impact also wouldnt feel rebound from hitting a solid (magical) wall? it goes both ways; alden doesnt feel impact because it transform into magic strain, which means there is no rebound force to be distributed to the aggressor. So maybe the strength brute from the villain vs hero excersize who rushed his umbrella shield shouldn't have bounced off, but instead just had momentum sucked out and been left standing in front of his shield.... maybe im wrong though physics was never my strong suit
To be completely honest, there's no way I'm going to get physics exactly right with the magical effects. For one thing, I don't have the educational background I'd need...which would have to be extremely extensive to cover every variety of skill that's going to be presented in the story. The best I can do is try to research new skills and spell effects before I create them, and even then, knowing what to research requires me to have a starting sense of what it is I don't know. And then sometimes I do the research for something and discover that the way it would *really* work is either so counterintuitive that ninety percent of readers would think I'd made a mistake by writing it that way, or it's so overpowered that it would completely break the story. So I go with what most writers would, I think--does it feel natural to me with my very average person's knowledge of how the world works? And is the magical effect internally consistent within the story? Basically, I try. But I worry more about breaking Super Supportive's established magic rules than I do about breaking the real rules of physics. As for things hitting Alden's skill--for them it's like hitting a solid barrier. For him, it's like someone hitting him in the authority instead of on the body.
It's alright, Klein is just a tsundere. Our Rabbit will endear himself eventually.
Klein is totally losing sleep tonight over Alden's reaction to his very serious concerns about the boy's future.
I dont get the interview tbh. They did not go easy on him with the combat tests. Sure, they already know he will be accepted, but that's even more reason to get to know him better. They must be burning with curiosity about the commendation, his skill choice, etc.
From my PoV, those are questions they are definitely burning with curiosity about, but those are also questions it's inappropriate for someone in a relative position of authority to ask a young person only to satisfy their curiosity. Alden's sitting there thinking, "Why aren't they asking me the obvious hard stuff?" But they're sitting there thinking about how five minutes ago the principal told them that the university had to hire a sketch psychologist who was willing to rubber stamp Alden's application so that he could even try out for the program. And of course Colibri's whole job is to make sure Alden is happy and doesn't get scared off.
Honestly a bit surprised Max got in, his behavior don't strike me as something they'd want in the school.
Philosophies on superheroing, from superheroes in this world, range from righteous and rule abiding (like Vandy here) to almost purely commercial (Colibri) to those who think that power and competence are the most important (Torsten Klein leans this way). So there are definitely people in charge and among Alden's new classmates who would say that a smart Avowed who gets a job done in an underhanded way is better than a noble one who can't figure out a win condition.
Who is sarah? I’m assuming Jeremy’s sister but I don’t remember ever hearing about her before
Oh! I should have included her. I'll add her at the bottom with the other recurring characters. She's only been mentioned twice I think, and not by name. She is Jeremy's older sister (by a year) and she's a band geek.
I didn't edit yet. But she's not in the character notes. I'm about to add that.
Principal Lesedi said her reason for including Klein was so that it wouldn’t be as obvious that Alden was getting in no matter what. Then she broke the combat assessment rules to tell everyone Alden’s class. Which had the effect of letting a bunch of Supers and Alden know he was getting in even though he didn’t “deserve” to be there. A result completely contrary to her stated reason for having Klein involved. That’s, well, I’m not sure what to make of it, but it sure some memorable decision making.
She specifically doesn't want the other students to have lots of ammunition to hurl at Alden, as far as special treatment accusations go. She wanted them all to see him participating in combat with them and attending interviews...as opposed to just getting in without having to do anything, which is what Colibri and the university were going to offer him if the high school program tried to reject him. Klein is there because his personality and reputation give Alden an additional layer of legitimacy. She's basically trying to head off bullying. Telling the older Avowed his class after they'd given their official yes/no votes for Alden was no big deal because his class information is going to get out anyway. And making sure they gave Alden harsher evaluations was to assuage Klein's feelings, as she said.
Yes. It's double duty. She lets Klein try to get rid of Alden, and she also ensures Alden gets interviewed by one of the stricter teachers so he looks more legit.
Fantastic chapter, really felt the tension and emotions of the Anesidora kids when the results came in. On the bright side, the introverts Alfred and Maricel were adopted by the extrovert Kon.
Alfred -- Alden's alter-ego who has been hiding in the shadows all this time.
Was there previously an explanation on the significance of starting in Q1 vs Q2?
Yes, but it was way back when Neha first sent him off for his academic entrance exams. The high schools on Anesidora accept students year-round and operate on their own version of a Quarter system. Like some colleges, but with slightly longer quarters. Q2 just means Alden has tested out of some of the required academic classes. He'll also have the opportunity to take final exams for the ones he's about to start and get credit even though he'll only be attending the last half of the current class quarter to start. High school is also only three years long, if you attend from Q1.
Question was an anti-climax. Too much build up for what it actually turned out to be. Good chapter otherwise.
I honestly didn't expect theories about the question to captivate people in the comments quite as much as they did. I thought of it as a world-building thing that would highlight the differences in knowledge between the locals and the newcomers like Alden and Maricel and point out that a big part of choosing to go to the school is getting a handle on the mental aspects of it. I thought of it as around the fifth most interesting thing going on in the chapter where it was first mentioned. But it was what people really focused on and wondered about for a whole week. So I may need to tone it down before posting on Royal Road.
Are any of Alden's emotions based off speculation about how students who receive diversity equity and inclusion consideration feel after being accepted? I know there are many reports of kids questioning whether they've earned thier spot compared to the other students. I'm not suggesting that the programs are wrong - just that the effect exists and wondering if there's any correlation in story.
No, not really. I think many of us naturally wonder in situations like this if we got accepted/rejected for some completely unfair reason. And I think anyone who has ever had the unfortunate experience of seeing behind the scenes of a similar process where lots of different people have a say in someone else's success--from children's pageants to job interviews--people always do get unfairly treated in both directions. Even if nine out ten people involved are trying to be reasonable, there's always that tenth person shoving some strange bias or agenda into the mix. It's hard not to take that personally when you're sixteen though.
"The question" has brought up another "question" for me. It says that in school they may be exposed to "mental manipulation" when engaging in combat with sways. So how the heck to the sways get into the school in the first place if they can't use their actual power in the exam? It seems like a huge handicap if they are only allowed to fight physically and everyone else can use their skill. An S class Sway vs an S class Strength Brute is going to lose in a punching contest. How did Clytem Zhao get into CNH? Do they have a separate exam just for the sways?
They have the "private assessment" option mentioned on Alden's schedule for people whose powers are completely ill-suited to the general combat assessment. Kon mentions the fact that he was only brought into the gym for the group battle with Alden; in his opinion it was to check that he wasn't a total coward and to prod at his brother. He didn't participate in any individual duels today and spent most of his time with Instructor Plim, since he effectively doesn't have magic he can fight with at this point. As for Cly, she would have been a special case all through school, since she focused on sniping. She would have had physical training with the others, too, but it would be with the understanding that if she was fighting a supervillain with her fists, something had gone very wrong.
This is related to the previous chapter more, but the more I think about how Alden's Skill would interact with things given weight not affecting it, the more difficult it is to imagine how it would behave in various scenarios. The confusing part to me is that, on a physical level (rather than the level of Alden's authority sense), Alden's Skill would either hold up against things or it wouldn't (causing Alden to pass out or drop the object), with no middle ground. This means that, if Alden swung a preserved object at someone (whether it's his fishing line or anything else), it would either shove them aside at the exact same speed he's moving it (since their weight/mass isn't felt), or it would cause Alden's Skill to immediately fail. And more likely the former than the latter, since most people won't be in positions to leverage their strength against a fishing line being swung at them, even if they're a Brute. If Alden pushed a preserved object against a standing Brute, their strength doesn't really help them, since they only have the friction between them and the ground to push back. This also seems to imply that if Alden mistakenly brushes a preserved object against something like a steel wall, it would either carve through the wall, push aside the wall, or it would instantly break Alden's hold on his Skill (or knock him out). The very concept of "pushing against the wall" wouldn't make sense, since that would require that he be able to sense the wall's mass through his Skill. The physical ramifications of the "no weight felt from things touching preserved objects" stuff are pretty complex!
Right now, when Alden deliberately smacks something with a preserved object as opposed to receiving an impact or bearing a weight, the skill does give him feedback differently. We've only seen him do it with Tatiana Evans--the B-rank Sky Shaper he whacked and shoved a little with his umbrella--and he mentions that it's iffy. He has to do some perception juggling to even make it happen without the skill cutting out (he runs the risk of if being registered as him 'laying his burden down'), and it doesn't do the infinite-push-until-the-skill-shorts-out effect. It's more like he's just smacking her with an umbrella that won't break, and the physical effects are transferred to him. This is because the skill is old-school magic and part of its power comes from adherence to its core concept. Mother says it has "roots in symbolism and sacrifice" if I remember my own quote right off the top of my head. So the Bearer of All Burdens is much better at bearing burdens and protecting burdens than he is at weaponizing his authority in a burden-risking way. Narratively, it's also just way too strong to have it work the other way this early in the story. I actually thought it might be more appropriate to make it so that he *couldn't* deliberately smack things with his object just like he can't deliberately set them down or let them roll around in wagons. But I decided to let him hit things in this very limited and risky way instead.
I actually just went back in after writing this response to make that scene with Tatiana a little better at conveying this limitation. It was there but it wasn't detailed, and it needed some clarity.
One minor issue. There is very little wind at Point Nemo. There are no trade winds, and because of this very little sea life. Though I suppose a wind or weather shaper could change this.
The wind at Point Nemo has been a constant source of confusion for me. Some articles directly say that there's very little wind, and other people, say, "Yes, obviously there's wind in that part of the world." And then there's the fact that landmasses create a weird wind effect with the water because of temperature differences, and I can't find out to what extent that would apply to a man-made island pair. Ultimately, I've been staring at Windy.com a lot after finding a recommendation for that site from someone asking the same questions. They almost always show a stiff breeze in the area. (It's forty degrees Fahrenheit and the wind's blowing at about 36 knots right now according to them...I'm sorry for making you live there, Alden.) I don't know how accurate that info ultimately is, but it is interesting to see the model: https://www.windy.com/multimodel/-48.876/-123.392?-50.886,-123.392,6
Yes! Now to shut out the world while I compulsively read and reread it!
I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
Wow, to consistently churn out these awesome chapters is incredible. You're "Sley-ying" it! (sorry)
Never ever be sorry for a pun. Puns are the best! And thank you so much!
Woooo! Thank you for the chapter! Edit: super happy Alden isn’t rooming with Max. Edit 2: That’s quite a cast of distinct characters! I’m really looking forward to seeing them bounce off each other.
I had three different roommate combos in mind for Alden. Each with its own pros/cons. One included both Max and Jeffy, but I couldn't figure out how to make Alden actually live with them. I was sure he'd choose to sleep outside under some hedges first.
"I was living there with an Artonan kid for the past half a year. She’s my favorite person." It seems like Alden tells people about his unwavering commitment to Kibby every chance he gets, and it warms my heart.
Alden has had so very little in the way of family in his life. But now he has a Kibby. I think now that he's not scared he's about to mess up and get them both killed, he's able to marvel at their relationship in a more joyful way?
Alden gonna know everyone’s names and nobody is going to care about his
Alfred will show them all one day!
Was Alden's appearance described before? I can't remember how he's supposed to look like and it bothers me that I can visualise others but not him 😐
He's described in a very early chapter. I should probably find a way to slip it into text again. Alden has green eyes, a few freckles that he claims are invisible except in summer (though Aimi Velra notices them when she's about to kidnap him), and brown hair that is (very faintly) reddish. After returning from Moon Thegund, he's quite fit for his age, he no longer has acne (the dream of any sixteen year old), and his hair has been strategically cut by one of the Rabbit girls in intake in style he thinks looks a little messy even though she assures him it is maximally flattering to his features. He is 176.4 cm tall, just a little under 5'10". His wardrobe was mostly chosen for him by Dragon Rabbit, so it's eclectic. He's not picky, but he seems to be particularly fond of this green plaid shirt he just loaned Jeffy and a black skull t-shirt. He's also recently developed a heightened fascination with comfy things like warm socks and soft sweaters...he's not sure whether he should blame Rrorro overhealing him for this or if it's some byproduct of him being slightly metaphysically uncomfortable all the time.
Jeffy, may you flunk out quickly. Everyone else is fine.
Jeffy got in. Fair and square. Somehow. And he did offer Alden his shirt back promptly! And he fought a drone that could have been evil, even though it wasn't.
Sleyca. I've been wondering when we get to see the darker side of Alden's Alt-Earth society? As great as the story is, and I love this story, one thing about almost all the human characters we've met is how accepting they are of the status quo, and Earth's place as a conquered resource world. I was especially struck by how joyously oblivious most of the Anesidoran kids are to the fact that they and almost everyone they know is actually a slave? I realize that public society has accepted Artonan Supremacy and the System, but there has to be a signifigant resistance movement, as futile as that might be in practice. There have been slight mentions of "disidents" and ThwartHog called Anesidora the "prison island". There was also the girl whose brothers tried to burn her to death for becoming an Avowed. Just the fact that the US must have amended the Constitution and ripped up the Fourteenth to allow for the ejection of minor natural born citizens. When do we get to see some of the dark side straight up? It can't be all happiness and light under the yoke of the alien overlords?
Without spoiling too much, for quite a lengthy while still the fundamental darkness of the Avoweds' situation is going to be a lurking ugliness that occasionally rears its head enough for us to identify it before it sinks below the surface again. As for the kids' attitudes, they have grown up in a world where the Artonans very rarely exercise the worst option that the Contract with Earth allows them to use--yanking people to a battlefield and asking them to die. And when it happens, it tends to happen to a very narrow percentage of the Avowed population. High ranks with high-level combat abilities...so, primarily trained superheroes. There is a feeling on the island that bad summons happen almost exclusively to people who have chosen that lifestyle for themselves. As far as sympathy from the general population goes, there's a bit of a "If you don't want to die fighting some alien horror none of us really understand, you should probably not have picked a class that is good for fighting stuff and then spent years training it up." The other subclasses and specific skills that get frequent summonses are well-known, too, particularly to the Anesidoran-born teens. So to *most* of them it does feel like they have some control and choice over their future as far as dealing with the Artonans. The ones least able to control their class selection and therefore their futures are actually the S-ranks, since it's more difficult for them to trade...and as always, sympathy for the 1% runs a little low with everyone else. Now, if the wizards start using Avowed as heavily as the Contract *allows* them to, sentiments about being a superhuman will obviously change in a major way. ***SLIGHT SPOILER** At present, superhumans actually have a more contentious relationship with each other and the rest of humanity than they do with the Triplanets. Being locked on an island---even a very nice and well-funded one-- is the big, everyday impossible-to-ignore feature of their lives that causes the most widespread anger. ***SLIGHT SPOILER** The other dark moments you mentioned are examples of things that do just happen in the background of the world. People who hate Avowed, people who hate aliens, aliens who regard humans as bugs, the fact that almost everyone on Earth is benefiting from "donating" several million of their fellow Earthlings to fight chaos with the Artonans whether they want to or not -- it's all stuff Alden will have to deal with but it's not going to be foregrounded for a while still.
One more addendum -- it's definitely not all happiness and light under the yoke of the alien overlords. But the alien overlords in this case are only rarely into lording over the *whole* of humanity. Their attentions are focused mostly on the Avowed. I guess it would be a spoiler to talk about motivations or unmentioned details of the Contract at all, but I can point to the parts of the agreement/takeover that have been explicitly mentioned in past chapters. Most prominently: Artonans have maintained an extremely light presence on Earth for the past several decades. Basically, these days, there are only ambassadors, healers, teachers, and fixers of magical things around. Maybe some VIPs who have enough pull to visit for their own interests or amusement, but still, not a lot of aliens on the streets to create friction. Second: they do have the right to step in, or send the Avowed in, to halt large military conflicts...so that would give them an opportunity to periodically be visibly the saviors of the day and/or throw their weight around in a dramatic way if they felt the need to. And also: The Artonans are still actively giving Earth things in exchange for the services of the Avowed. Which means the 99.9% of humanity who are *not* Avowed are benefiting from something that costs them nothing but their morality. This was mentioned in Alden's first phone call with Stu-art'h...when he was trying to address Stuart's comment about his teachers telling him that the humans had built Anesidora to breed more Avowed. Alden uncomfortably admitted that Earth did want more Avowed because it would make them a more important resource world and earn them more attention and aid from the Triplanets.
All this stuff with Alden is nice, but I want to know where the mailbox is going to school.
If Leo eats and scans enough mail, he can learn anything! Someone needs to feed him a textbook or forty.
Payforthat, that's actually something I thought of doing with Leo earlier! I haven't actually got it plotted into the story at this point, but Leo's ability to rapidly digitize whatever you feed it and send it through the System just screams instant e-book maker to me too. And Leo would enjoy it so much.
I sure wish I was as smart and mature as Alden and Maricel when I was their age. I'm really proud of them. Please do not make Victor live in a single bedroom. Even if he's given up on the street life that's not cool. It would be fun if he became a dorm-roaming cat and formed an unbreakable bond with Jeffy, who will protect Victor at all costs. Felt kind of bad for friendless Max at dorm picking time, even if he did choose the life. Finally, it has been *forever* since Boe went missing. I'm going to light a candle for him in the comments of every chapter until he returns 🕯️
All these candles look like the beginnings of an old-fashioned summoning ritual. If you're not careful you'll get demons.
Who is this one piece character??? Jeffy is the best.
I need to watch or read One Piece, don't I? I sometimes feel like I am the only person on the internet who isn't familiar with it. Thanks for enjoying Jeffy! Tidbit: his name was Joey at first, then I realized I couldn't because of Joe. Then it was Jason, and I realized at the last possible second that everyone was going to think I was referencing Jason Momoa's Aquaman.
This is Alden he’s so average. Right? This whole conversation definitely could summarize this plot arc.
I was thinking the other day about the traditional Hero's Journey plot points. It's interesting to consider them in the context of a very long serial because the cycle can repeat or extend and you can see elements of it in individual arcs and then in the whole thing when you draw back and look at it from a distance. I don't write to deliberately match pre-set narrative beats because my favorite thing about this format is that I can tell absolutely every part of the story I want to tell (which obviously includes minutiae and/or quieter moments ) but when I *do* try to think of how it fits and zoom allllll the way out, the whole story does kind of match up with the format so far. 1. Alden's normal life at the start 2. His time at LeafSong and Moon Thegund being a massive Call to Adventure/Heroism in the wider universe 3. This current arc being his Refusal of the Call (aka - Alden wants to be so much more average than he really is) The serial length made it possible for the Call to Adventure in this case to be a literal adventure/survival story. Which I'm digging in hindsight because it's neat for the protagonist to be able to say, "I did the adventure and bravery. I have serious reasons to think I can't do it again. I wish I was that guy, but I'm afraid I might not be." All of this to say, it's nice of Kon and company to verbally highlight it like that.
He was sure could do the graduation spell now. Free authority doesn’t get consumed for performing spells, right? Wouldn’t make much sense to me, but I want to be sure.
Not consumed. It's more like it gets fatigued and temporarily loses its authoritativeness. Free authority and bound are both subject to exhaustion. Actually I've written a much better description of it than that in a recent chapter but I'm not sure if it's a recent one you guys have read or a recent one that's coming up very soon.
Thank you. Is the MC gay or is Boe or both? Nothing against it just trying to pick thru the social queues. I understand they are happy their childhood best friends are back but of MC don’t seem all that attracted to women and the fiend seems too have a really deep connection to our MC where he even uses his cat as a retreat from the world.
Boe is canonically attracted to girls. (Hinted at by Gorgon in an early chapter.) No mentions beyond that. Alden is canonically confused and somewhat embarrassed about the fact that he's never been very attracted to anyone, and he's trying not to overthink it. (Hinted at by Gorgon in the same chapter and in the subtext of several more interactions, and explicitly stated in Chapter 65 when he's observing that even though Natalie Choir is startlingly gorgeous, she still strikes him as 'an extra amazing painting.') This particular "love you" is very much a familial love you between two people who have hardly any other family.
I scrolled down to like the post and was accidentally hit by the blinding light of revelation..
Oh no! I'm sorry! I hope it was still good.
I've been very excited to post this one.
My birthdays tmr (I’m turning 18) so I’ll probably save this for tmr as a treat. Thanks for the chapter!
Happy birthday!!
Thank you for the chapter! Edit: Everyone who thought he was the cat was in the right ballpark at least :) Edit 2: Maybe Unique types are kind of like a skill beta test for the System. Like, this talent may be good or not, let’s find out by giving it to some random guy. Edit 3: I wonder if Uniques are people who refuse to accept their Avowal. Maybe Boe didn’t want to accept his Avowal because it meant he’d have to leave Alden 😢 Edit 4: Does Boe have Earth the same way Alden has Mother?
I can't believe people guessed about the cat. Even if they were just joking! People do refuse to accept the Contract sometimes, but that's not connected to U-types specifically. Anyone can do it. If they refuse to accept, they're de-prioritized for summonings (meaning they are unlikely to ever be called to the Triplanets, though they still technically can be) and the System picks what talents they affix.
This might....this might be the best thing I've ever read. It's easily the best webnovel anyway
I'm really happy to be writing it and to have you all here to read it. Thank you!
Sleyca's face reading all the "Victor is Boe!" theories over the last 30 chapters: 😼😈
I am still amazed that that theory was circulating. The only real hint I left was that Boe dropped Victor off at Jeremy's immediately before his first disappearance. I did not expect people to think he had something magical going on with the cat even as a joke!
Was it Boe who asked if [Can I Take Your Luggage] could lift emotional burdens?
It was indeed.
Will there be another Q&A in the future?
There will, but not for a while. I do occasionally answer questions that I'm sure won't be spoilers here in the comments though! The Science and Arts programs are quite a bit larger than the hero course at CNH, and their students hope to pursue a much broader variety of future careers. The fact that the Anesidoran middle schools emphasize sciences and math more heavily than most school systems around the world do mean that kids born there are disproportionately represented in that track. And the legacy/high rank factor means that the native-born kids are also overrepresented among the hero students.
not a fan of this chappie but that just be me not liking Boe
Poor Boe! Perhaps he will grow on you...
Found out that my dad is probably gonna pass from cancer today, will be relying on your story to get me through the rough bits over the next few weeks along with my fam and friends. Just want to let you know that your work was a reprieve today, thank you. (Don’t mind my patreon name, that was 15 year old me who was anxsty cause girls lmfao) ❤️
I'm so sorry about your dad. I know there's nothing I can say from across the internet to make it better. That is an awful, hard thing to go through. Be gentle and kind to yourself. <3
Amber, the lighting of candles worked!!!
I was delighted to see the candle-lighting ceremony starting when I knew Boe's reappearance was nigh.
is there no epub for this one? or do they get added later?
Whoops! Thank you for the reminder. I completely forgot to attach the file.
Can't wait for Alden to run into the Kawasaki Penis-festival in its Anesidorian version.
The...the what now? I'm scared to Google.
Thanks for the chapter! I would LOVE a Boe PoV! Or to visit in on Kibby! I know a lot of readers don't like alternate PoV, but I always love occasional chapters outside of our main viewpoint.
We have a brief alternate PoV for a character coming up actually! It's not a full chapter, only a half, but it does exist. And there's one character in particular I'd really like to do in the near future...I just have to find the right timing in the story for it. I think they can be really valuable when they have something completely different to offer the story than Alden can from his perspective.
Man the phrase "they mostly come at night" has really been ruined.
I had to look it up to see what you were referring to! I haven't seen anything from the Alien franchise since I was a kid. The time is ripe for a binge.
Hello Sleyca! I just had a question, are you planning to publish Super Supportive on kindle/kindle unlimited any time soon? Also, we need a Natalie reference picture now. Boe called her a masterpiece 💀😭
Hunter8k, thanks for asking! It's a goal, but I'm not quite ready to take the plunge yet. I'm focused on writing forward and stabilizing backlog for now, and I haven't had time to do a more professional edit of Book 1, which will be a large undertaking given the size. When I do get ready it will probably be with the non-exclusive Kindle option, rather than unlimited.
Let's sneak to Sreeeakk to say hello to Sophie the griveck !! Mmmhm btw did Boe have his barrier up during their morning together ? Because if not, he would have an answer for all who wonder about AldenxNat
sebsebs, Boe did have his barrier up!
Aww, I respect your decision as the author, of course, but I really wanted Alden to cast a spell to show Boe instead of answering with words. Who else is he going to be able to show off his extremely, painfully earned wizard skills to?
I think you will be happy with an upcoming chapter.
Thank you for the chapter! I think the slow pacing is starting to wear me down a little. I love slow burn stories and slice of life but to me it feels like there's too many chapters without there being some sort of goal, conflict or antagonist/antagonistic force for Alden.
I do understand this sentiment. When I planned what I was doing for the post Moon Thegund chapters a while back, I knew what I wanted to happen-- intake/meet Anesidora + school trials + Boe. I LOVE a slow pace, but in this case, I misjudged how many chapters it would actually take me to cover all the details and character intros I want to have in these sections. If I had realized in time, I might have pushed Boe's return back to the end of an upcoming arc and used it differently in the narrative. Having it separate the combat assessment from the start of school is slightly odd. It gives me some amazing opportunities for Alden's character development here when he's coming to terms with who he is now, which is what I wanted from it. But I think it's less than perfect positioning in a total-story sense. Changing up the plan would have required a HUGE rewrite of the backlog chapters though, one too big for me to manage it without going on hiatus for at least two or three weeks. (Do people with story Patreons go on hiatus? Do they just pause billing and then come back? Do readers hate it? Before anyone worries, I'm asking for my far-future self not my near-future self, since the backlog is healthy enough now that it's not likely.)
Thank you all so much for the examples! That's helpful insight to have. One month off would make it possible for me to do an edit and really shine up all the words that have been written thus far. Or bolster backlog if I need to. So it's good to think about for the future. Now...I would also like to know Pirateaba's caffeine brand because I am in an extreme state of awe.
Just tought about something What if the coffe machine was created by the informant or one of his children and is actually recording Alden conversations
I feel like a coffee pot being evil would be the ultimate betrayal. We rely on them for so much. They see us at our most vulnerable and desperate. A true horror to imagine.
Thanks for the chapter! Smelling my shoes before I put them on is going to be my new thing..... Kind of the opposite of "incautious caring"..... LOL
You never know what might have happened to them while your feet were away!
Thanks for the chapter from Austria! Not sure I would want to live in Vienna, though.
It's always so cool to hear where people are reading from!
Lute is great. I hope Boe doesn't stick around for long.
I'm glad you like Lute. He's actually one of the characters who might get a couple of PoV chapters at some point.
Did Patreon delete the first dozen or so comments or is my computer possessed? I was about to like a bunch of them, and now they're all gone.
I don't know what's up with it. I can see them on my notifications page, but they're gone from here. LaurenK's first comment reappeared suddenly though, so maybe there's hope for the rest of them?
Boe overthinking “Cool! :)” is my new favorite Boement
Boement is now one of my favorite words.
Is the new chapter soon? I'm waiting on tender hooks.
Hi, everybody! It's up! Sorry for the longer than usual wait. I am extremely brain fried this evening.
Usually Wednesday and Sunday, sometimes very late at night.
Sorry for the late update guys. Exhausting afternoon. I haven't even taken a peek at Royal Road's chapter yet, so that one's probably going to be another couple of hours at least.
Yay, chapter! Telstar is a cool song. It is on one of my sci-fi mood playlists.
I love that you have a sci-fi mood playlist!
Thank you for the chapter! I CANNOT WAIT for Boe & Alden's contract so we can get the deets on Boe! I'm very hype. Your chapters always make my day!
Thank you Elisebeth!
I hope Sundays chapter is earlier since if it's late my patron sub will run out before it lands, not the whole world since I'll need to wait weeks for public to catch up anyway, but would be nice.
Banarok, what time would it need to post by for you? I can't promise, but I can try.
Edit suggestions: "According to her, " This feels like there is a missing paragraph/sentence. It is not preceded by any reference to Mother, so probably should be "According to Mother" for clarity?
I have been using italics on her when it comes up in an awkward way! Thank you for pointing it out Obbu!
I was so engrossed in visualising this chapter that I feel kind of weird now that it's finished. I love these kids so much. Can't wait for them to become tattoo brothers.
I'm glad you are both enjoying it!
Thank you for the chapter! The first time I read the opening, I thought Alden was on the subway specifically to confront Manon about the boaters, and the text from Boe gave him an excuse to put it off. I was so confused.
Hi Jeremy! I saw exactly what you meant by this when I re-read, so I did a few quick tweaks to fix it. Thank you for letting me know!
OK I need to know if the artornans know about the US's underground cheese vaults where we store about 1/2 a billion pounds of cheese probably more
**A totally fake conversation that did not take place** Wizard 1: I have discovered a new species. They are trying to hop off of their planet a little. Let's go there. Wizard 2: What's interesting about them? Wizard 1: They pay people to breed quadrupeds so that they can be milked. Only they don't actually need the milk. But they don't want to waste it either. So they turn it into another food item they don't need that lasts longer and just keep it. Wizard 2: Weird, but not really-- Wizard 1: You don't understand. They keep SO MUCH of it. Wizard 2: How much? Wizard 1: *Shows image of absolutely massive underground cheese bunker.* Wizard 2: Yeah, okay. We should go there. These people need study. And help.
It's been a while since I thought about government cheese vaults. Now I wonder if we're still doing it or if we've let it go.
Thank you for the chapter. hasn't told Boe about his real level. Is that really something he'd keep secret at this point, given how much he trusts him and what he's willing to tell him? I'm actually a little confused about how much Boe knows or not about Alden's special connection to Mother. Alden references learning new spells multiple times in this chapter, and since Boe didn't ask him where he's learning from I assume Alden told him about the book. But that would also naturally have lead to Boe asking where he got the book from.
Alden hasn't told Boe about Mother. He just calls her the Artona 1 Contract here. He's made up his mind not to bring up the knights much, since they seem to prefer not to have their secrets out in the open. And Mother is very interwoven with them. There are a number of things Alden knows and can share that are interesting pieces of information, but not urgent ones. Boe would be fascinated to hear about Mother and the Knights, but he doesn't really benefit from knowing it since it's not a world he has access to and Alden doesn't feel a strong urge to share it. Blurting out the 'I'm a wizard' thing to Boe was driven by a need on his part to share something profound and new about himself that he's been keeping bottled up because there aren't many people who he trusts to have the information. Mother and the Knights are somewhat more distant. And on top of that, Boe the Rightly Paranoid asked him to stop sharing potentially dangerous intel unless it was need-to-know.
Went and looked up Telstar. You’re right. It is perfection!!
I couldn't believe a song named after a satellite was right there waiting for me!
So I just made the jump here from RR a few hours ago (just before the latest chapter dropped) and now that I'm caught up, I have a thought and a question. These might not be unique, but I haven't seen them, so forgive me if they've been mentioned before. The Question: How do you pronounce Andzej, the Club guy. I'm not very familiar with Polish, so I have no idea how to say that name and my brain keeps tripping over the word repeatedly every time his name is mentioned. The Thought: Is there anything other than it not occuring to Alden that prevents him from targeting a ranged weapon super (i.e. the archer he dueled against) and viewing the ammo shot towards him as "being entrusted to him" and therefore being able to preserve it in mid flight, assuming he could make contact with it? It seems like this would be an obvious direction for him to grow his powers. It might take A LOT of levels and stats in hand dexterity, perception, and speed to be able to safely do it with bullets, but larger ammo like arrows or thrown objects seem totally doable to me. Anyone else have thoughts?
Welcome aboard! Here are some native speakers pronouncing Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher author): https://forvo.com/word/andrzej_sapkowski/ It's quite a common Polish name. To me, it sounds like it's halfway between how I would pronounce Andre and Anjay (with the j being the soft one that sounds like the j in 'du jour' or the s in 'measure'). Polish people reading, you should absolutely correct me if I'm wrong! Many people have mentioned projectiles. I have not given them a definitive answer yet. :)
that’s right, get your rice up Tan-Wyk!!!
If I stop a volcano from erupting, people better leave me alone and let me learn about rice farming for as long as I want. 1 Volcano = Infinity Vacations.
Hi there! Can I give you more money so I get even more chapters? Please? Im begging you here
Thank you Ironhead! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. If I can ever get far enough ahead again, I'd love to put out some extras on RR and here. Right now, my backlog is on the lower end (I'm only five-ish chapters ahead of you guys instead of the ten I prefer to be) because I wrote a really big one.
Sleyca, your worldbuilding is seriously so impressive. Drip feeding us all kinds of interesting tidbits like the Dominant Human Society.. and making your characters watch a documentary instead of limiting the info exchange to what they would say in a direct dialogue with each other.. it is just so good. I wish you would become a full time author so we can more of your greatness.
Thank you Francis! I really enjoy trying to get it right. I'm glad I've found my people here who will enable me overbuilding at times. :)
I’m new to this story - and loving it! - so I’m not sure if this question has already been answered or not. What happens if someone tries to break a tattooed magic contract? Can they literally not break it? Or is it possible to break but there are consequences to doing it?
Hi, Catherine! Welcome to Super Supportive! I'm so glad you're here! This hasn't been answered in the story yet. I have a specific moment in mind in a future chapter where it will be addressed.
Loved this chapter and so so happy Boe is back! And that Alden is getting to have fun with magic, poor kid deserves it so much.
He's had a lot of sucky stuff happen, so it's always really fun for me to get to write him having fun.
One other interesting thing I note is the incorrect assumptions by the characters as to what life would be like without the Artonans. We could have wiped out Malaria, we would have had nuclear war, way back I think they assumed there would be no internet without them. Not sure what all the implications are but it is interesting and noted.
Thank you for noting it! I tried to think of the assumptions people would have about all kinds of things. The human optimists would think we'd have colonized the clouds of Venus on our own by now, the pessimists would assume we were all mutants living in a nuclear wasteland, etc... I love looking at old sci-fi and postcards of what the Victorians thought the future would look like. It's such a mixed bag of right/wrong/how could they have missed something so obvious to us today?
I hate to say this, but I feel like the plot has slowed down to a crawl. The whole vie thing takes so much words.
I'm sorry not everyone is a Boe enjoyer. He does seem to have quite a few more fans than detractors, to my great relief. I really love him and what he does for the story even though I don't think I've placed these chapters as well as I could have in the overall narrative. Nothing would make me happier than if I could get it just right technically and hit it just right for every reader every time, but I don't think that's possible for any author. I'm not going to try to convince anyone that they should like a character they don't click with; I myself have hated all manner of perfectly fine fictional characters that other people adored without ever understanding why or wanting to be persuaded otherwise. But I will tell anyone who is curious what the highlights of the past few chapters have been for me, in case you do want to be persuaded. Or in case you've been skimming because you're not feeling it, and want to know what I have been hoping close readers would take away from this section of the story. This is an essay because once I started rolling I just kept going. Do not feel obligated to read it unless you just want to, friends! The Boe arc has been a highly emotional one for Alden. Fitting for chapters where Boe's status as an unwilling empath is revealed, maybe. I think I've only cried two or maybe three times writing Super Supportive--once, briefly, when I was describing Kibby holding her dead sister's hand in the car. And then for most of an afternoon while I was trying to get Alden's mindset and feelings exactly right at the end of Chapter Eighty-Three. That's when he comes back to the apartment from the gym, still raw from the Peace of Mind blowback, and has the breakdown by the pinball machine. It's hard for me to write a crying protagonist. It tends to feel awkward or artificial no matter how carefully I craft it. But this time, I think I put it on the page exactly how I wanted it to be. It's the most important character writing for Alden since he's come back to Earth, and Eighty-Three is one of the chapters I'm most proud of in the story. And it's possible because of Boe's unique relationship to Alden. He's a completely different kind of friend than Jeremy. Not better, but different. And their relationship is allowing Alden to finally, at long last, break along all the fractures that he's been holding together with the glue of his own forward motion as he flings himself into life on Anesidora. Alden is closer to Boe than he is to Connie. And compared to Jeremy, Boe is a darker person who came to know Alden at a darker point in his life. Remember the party at LeafSong (yes, that was a long while ago), when the Primary asked Alden what he was afraid of and he talked about being a ten year old who stared at Body Drainer's mangled corpse every night before bed because it made the world feel fairer and helped him sleep, and realizing that about himself was the most afraid he'd ever been? The fifteen-year-old Alden we meet in Chapter 5 of the story and think of as "pre-Thegund Alden" was actually a much brighter and happier person than eleven-year-old Alden from Chapter 3, who had playlists to drown out Connie's parties, an obsession with researching his parents' deaths in the middle of the night, and counselor-mandated breathing exercises to deal with panic and anger. Boe is someone who made friends with that younger Alden. Which means Alden doesn't feel as much personally-imposed pressure to be strong, sane, and good around him as he does with other people. He offers to tell Jeremy about what happened to him out of a sense of obligation, and when Jeremy says it isn't necessary, he chooses to say nothing. Because Jeremy is the friend who thinks of Alden as "the nice one," and Alden values that in ways he hasn't ever analyzed. The nice one is who he always wanted to be. Alden starts involving himself in life on Anesidora the day after he gets back from Artona I. He chats with people like everything is normal. He struggles in private, but he doesn't put all that much of it into words for himself or for the readers. He's different now, and he knows he's different, and he *hates* that he's different but he keeps moving toward goals and trying to make friends and going through every motion he can find to go through. I wanted it to feel like that. Like he was shoving stuff down and making progress. Moving toward a bright new school life, which he can't really want or have because it's just this thing he's using to bury himself and avoid dealing with it. He almost tells Stu-art'h as much in their last phone call, and that's as honest as he's been with anyone all this time. And then Boe reappears. And Alden finally snaps. And he says a number of important things out loud. And we even see Boe's reaction to them, which lets us know that a character who knows Alden very well doesn't completely agree with all of Alden's concerns and self-judgments. We get the moment that made me cry--when Alden admits he's grieving for the life he's lost and confesses that he hoped he'd come back home to the person he used to be. And now we're getting to see Alden actually get to share some of the good things that have happened to him with another person. He can do magic again! Sofa-punch is a go! We get to see him talk about magic with another person, which can't really happen with anyone else. Kibby's still on a moon without a System. And that's just Alden. Boe himself has some unique knowledge and issues to bring to the story. His existence as an unregistered superhuman complicates things for Alden moving forward in ways both obvious and less so. As a character in his own right, he's only just begun to get the development he needs, but I'm pleased with the mysteries I've introduced about his past. And it was exciting for me to reveal his powers, since I actually foreshadowed his empathy all the way back in the early chapters, and I've been waiting for the chance to bring him back. I'm also really pleased to have someone in the story close to Alden who has his own bizarre but completely different magical circumstances, special situations, and relationship with the System. He also loves Alden, but he's got his own life and goals that prevent him from being completely helpful and convenient for Alden. He's a best friend who has the potential to solve problems nobody else can and create problems nobody else can. And he's still got a couple of things left to give here before he takes another turn in the backseat. (This last line is not a spoiler. I think everyone realizes by now that I keep my characters/planets/plot lines on long rotations, and they are subject to disappearing and reappearing.) Edited: (I mean Chapter 83. I've got the numbers wrong on one of my docs.)
How obvious to people watching him cast a spell is it that he is casting the spell.
It's very obvious that he's casting something when he uses the auriad, unless he sticks his hands under a table I guess. If you're asking about how obvious it is if it's a real spell vs. an Avowed spell impression, then that's more complicated. Auriads aren't one of the casting tools made available to humans, so it would be pretty hard for him to pass it off as something normal. His purely hand cast spells would easily be ignored by anyone who wasn't familiar with the Rabbit spell lists or who didn't know which ones he was supposed to have. As long as he didn't mess up. Avowed don't really mess up their spells unless they get actively stopped by something (a heart attack, a baseball hitting them in the face, magical fatigue, another caster interrupting them), whereas wizards can make actual mistakes. So Alden is allowed to use his promise stick lighting spell in front of other people because it's listed on his fake profile as a spell impression called Light Candle. But he needs to be careful not to get it wrong or people will wonder if he's broken!
It's 3 am, cmon you can't just do me like this
What are you doing up at 3 AM, David? Go to sleeeep. :)
I’m SCREAMING I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH
THANK YOU, ALLORA. This was a big one for me, so I'm especially glad that people are enjoying it (and enjoying arguing about Boe's arguments!).
I don't know how to feel about this. I'm conflicted. I both like and hate how Boe is going about this.
I love Boe's idea for a lot of reasons. His delivery and presentation of it is quite callous though. He's got a harsh side to him that Alden keeps mentioning, but this is the first time we've actually seen Alden take a significant hit from it.
I was SO excited about the early chapter and breathless as I read this interaction. Oh Alden, I know just what this lecture feels like. Maybe not to the same degree, but I know what it feels like to get told off for taking on more than you can reasonably handle because you don't want to feel guilty about not doing it. Boe is right. Right a million times. No good deed ever went unpunished, to some degree, and part of growing up is learning that you need to be equally kind to yourself, and value your own health and peace of mind. Boe's idea is kind of crazy, but I understand where it comes from, and it just might work. Bit worried about Alden's panic attack, but at least he's feeling something, and talking to someone. I hope he'll be ok when he's alone again.
Uiytt, I answered your question about warning the authorities at length down below. In short, they have been warned (Cly Zhao) and there's no place for them in this situation because there's no evidence of a crime being committed. Also, nobody is saying Alden should let people suffer in silence. Boe wouldn't object at all if Alden just wanted to call someone. He's not even objecting to Alden helping people. He's objecting to Alden making risky decisions driven by his own shame at not being an idealized version of a hero. (Interfering with a cult of any kind is undeniably risky.) He's saying, "Go ahead and help people. But do it in a way that shows you value your own safety and sanity."
I like the direction of Boe becoming a vigilante superhero.
I'm so glad, glow!
What a great conversation! There is nothing to be argued against the adequate response HOWEVER Boe's other argument about not helping now in order to help someone in the future is wrong. We live now. The future as past does not belong to us. This longtermist thinking can be always used as a reason why nobody should ever help because what if in another moment some much worse crisis arises. God's laughs when people make plans.
Moral philosophy stresses me out and fascinates me in equal measure. I feel like the harder you think about certain questions the less sure of your answers you become. (Or I do, anyway.)
No. Fuck no It is indeed normal to not do everything to help everyone and make it a personal affair, it's not his job to solve this. But being aware that some people are somewhat mind controlled and refusing to even alerts the authority?! That's really bad. There is no idea how they ended up in their situation, how it affects their lives and what permanent effects it will have on them. Refusing to even signal the problem is really fucked up
I just want to point out that an authority figure has been alerted. A high-ranking, Sway superhero who is known for being uber lawful has been informed, and she has advised him that there is no legal recourse. Because he has absolutely no proof. Just like we (ideally) wouldn't send police to investigate a crime someone *felt* like their neighbor had committed, Anesidora isn't going to swoop down on Manon because a teenager claims he observed peoples' behavior changing around her. It would be a violation of Manon's rights for them to start investigating her when there's no evidence against her. On top of that, Alden's encounter with the boater happened on another planet when all of the Avowed in question were living under Triplanetary law. Even if he had hard evidence, Anesidora couldn't prosecute her for something that happened there. Avowed do all kinds of things that are illegal on Earth legally on the Triplanets. Boe is also not objecting to Alden taking action. He's objecting to Alden taking ill-considered action in the midst of a guiltfest and lying to himself about why he's doing it. Alden was talking about confronting a problem he doesn't actually want to deal with in a "serious way" as opposed to just telling the boater members that Manon is bad news.
Monus, Boe's frustrated "you don't even like them!" is a reflection of his belief that Alden's personal feelings should matter more than Alden allows them to. Alden is beating himself up over not racing to help a group of people. Boe pointing out that he doesn't even like that group isn't a major part of the argument so much as it's just a natural thing for him to say. I know it's what would probably pop out of my mouth if I was talking to a friend who was tying themselves in knots over not racing to the aid of a random cultist they met once. And, again, Boe isn't even saying, "Don't help people! Come over to the dark side and be selfish with me!" He's saying, "Stop torturing yourself for not helping people Super Fast with Reckless Abandon and Pure Enthusiasm! Be kind to yourself, too, idiot." We'll see if that advice can stick...
Aaaahhhhh, yes, I love this! Plenty of people are bound to praise this from a character perspective, cause that's the drive of the plot point, but I'm gonna go for the writing one. This is absolutely fantastic setup! It gives Boe a place in the story, one where he will both be motivated to improve, develop, and stay relevant. It gives Alden reason to think twice before taking risks like he did with Joe, it doesn't mean he can't, but that he reeeeeally needs to think about it, cause if he doesn't, he is putting Boe at equivalent risk. I hope that when we get to the contract making, this is included in the contract, cause that would be great. PS: please ignore people telling you to speed up or get to the action. This is A+ character writing and these "slow" (I don't actually think they are slow, plenty of plot relevant stuff is happening, people who think these chapters are "exposition" don't know what that means) chapters have been great.
Thank you, Signspace!
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I kind of saw it coming, that Boe would end up joining him. But never did I imagine this! That is such a Boe way to end up doing heroics. I just can’t!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
I'm so glad you liked it Saaski! A little thing I wrote on the fly. Forgive it if it's silly instead of good: Boe- "I'm a scumbag. Not a hero." Alden - "It turns out I'm not hero material either. I'm so disappointed in myself." Boe - "Yes! Finally! I've been waiting for you to realize how much happier we'll both be if you just become a third grade tea--" Alden - "It's been eight whole weeks since Rrorro gave me new legs and lungs. My guilt is crushing me. I am a terrible person for not trying to save the boater before n...what are you wearing?" Boe - "This is my domino mask." Alden - "I don't like it." Boe - "Imagine that. Does my cape make me look fat?"
Emotional blackmail. Great.
Boe did realize he was off, and he walked it back there at the end. Saying "If you risk yourself, I'll punish you by risking myself," is emotional blackmail even if the intentions are pure. Which is why he specifically apologizes for his idea coming across that way and clarifies that he's not trying to do that and this isn't about punishing anyone. (He even explains that he'll be careful and take precautions.) Saying, "I've decided that I'm going to insist on involving myself in this major part of your life even though it's dangerous," *isn't* emotional blackmail. It *is* Boe demanding an extreme new feature in their relationship, but their relationship is actually close enough that it's not unreasonable of him to ask for a pretty extreme thing. We see everything from Alden's perspective, so it's easy to forget that he's not the only one who should get to make major decisions. And it's easy to brush over the fact that Boe told him just days ago that it wasn't okay with him that Alden had agreed to a potentially dangerous contract with a wizard. Our loved ones do get a say in our behavior because it affects them, too. Boe's own life blows up when Alden's does. If they're going to stay close instead of breaking their friendship, they both get to set terms and then decide if those terms are acceptable.
I recommended Super Supportive to a friend. They texted me one day during the earlier chapters that i was like Boe. I told them that was bullshit and we're nothing alike. This chapter comes around and it exactly mirrors a career conversation i once had with a confused friend, down to the frustrated : “What logic is there in being .....? I can’t believe you’re so—gah!” and the "Oh my god, you are a therapist!" from my friend. I am in shock. I am in pain. Even his idea is the type of horribly devious yet overall-y good kinda creative solution i would probably think up of. Why?!!
Believe in your inner Boe!
lmao get fucked alden with your insistence about assigning moral worth to every person in existence except yourself
I heard you say this in Boe's voice.
Since it was brought up again, I'm wondering why Alden never showed any interest in finding out what happened to Hannah, how she died, why she died or if she is even dead. He had many opportunities to at least voice it, even very much the opportunity to ask the almighty system himself.
Deinos, I gave a very long reply to this a long time ago, and I can't find it. It was right after one of the Mother chapters I think, but what it boiled down to was: Alden believes Hannah is dead because the chances of Hannah being alive are astronomically slim. And the chances of her being alive and him being able to do anything about it are even slimmer. It's not like he doesn't wonder what happened, but because he assumes she's gone, he doesn't prioritize the mystery of her absence the same way we do as readers who know that a missing character = some kind of plot relevance. She's not at the forefront of his mind when he's talking to someone like the Primary or Alis-art'h or Mother; because his own personal issues in those situations have always been much more pressing.
Btw I like the story a lot but what really bound me is the whole thegund arc. Now, even if partially interesting, it feels like the story is leeching from that previous arc while staying low. I hope we will have another intense arc again.
There will be long intense arcs and long slice of life arcs and long in-between arcs!
Going to be honest, I don't like Boe. He just put negative conscious for succeeding at doing good. I see what he was going for I just think it's kinda horrible to manipulate anybody that way.
Hi, B! I think Boe would point out that if Alden sees him trying to save nine lives, too, as a negative consequence, then Alden should consider what that means. And it's been such a long time that it's hard to remember, but Alden was actually going to refuse Joe's offer no matter how good it was until he found out that he'd be saving people stranded at the lab. He didn't agree no matter what Joe tried to give him, even though he was tempted by the skill information, until Joe mentioned it was a rescue mission.
I am now more than a little in love with Boe. That was *masterful*.
Boe is so delighted with himself. Too delighted, clearly. But I'm pretty delighted with him, too.
I love this chapter. I love how polarizing it is. From Boe’s standpoint, he’s saying, “every time you help someone, remember that I’m there with you.” Meanwhile, Alden is freaking out because he really is not thinking about his personal well-being AT ALL when he thinks about helping someone. It’s only the possibility of Boe being at risk that makes him consider this. Yeah, it’s definitely added stress, but it’s stress Alden needs if he’s gonna survive.
Yes. Not wanting your best friend to do the "good" thing you yourself are doing is a pretty big flag that you might need to take a minute and re-think your assumptions!
Wow. Thank you, Sleyca! This chapter has opened up some really interesting doors, & I can’t wait to see where they lead. Boe can be awesomely devastating. I don’t tend to think of someone as being harsh and loving at the same time, but Boe just walked that line. And now he’s weirdly, unexpectedly heroic?! What a great twist on their relationship. I’m also enjoying the idea of a superhero who is more thoughtful in choosing sane heroism. In superhero stories there’s almost always this moral purism where you try to save everyone because that’s how heroes are supposed to be. The only time most superheroes struggle with their choices is when they fail to save someone they had tried to save. Choosing who to try to save is much harder. So is stopping to think if there’s any realistic way to save them without sacrificing yourself — thinking through the consequences. Some people may not want that dose of reality in their superhero fiction, but I’m thinking it could take Alden in some compelling, unexpected, and still heroic directions. I’m looking forward to seeing if Alden can be a sane superhero who’s in it for the long haul. Not an OP one who can just save everyone, but a strategic hero who makes hard choices & learns to live with them. And if he goes along with Boe’s desperate plan… that will be something new & interesting too. I’d like to see hero Boe, especially since he seemed so happy at the end. He needs some happiness too. And a good hero name.
Heather, I love your comment!! And thank you all! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I think Moon Thegund was so high tension it made people forget that the story prior to that was running at lower stakes and slower pace, so it's normal for there to be some let down. Actually, when we shifted from LeafSong to Thegund quite a few people were upset because they were ready for superhero school instead. And now we have a small number who are unhappy that we're getting superhero school even though Anesidora time was practically a promise I made from the very beginning of the serial. It's always disappointing when someone doesn't enjoy whatever thing for whatever reason, but most people are really quite nice about it. I just hope everyone approaches the story in the way that's most enjoyable for them. I keep modding the RoyalRoad description, trying to make it as clear as I possibly can what everybody is climbing aboard to experience. Overall, almost all of you are wonderfully supportive I'm happy to have people with me for whatever arcs they enjoy most, and I'm glad so many of you seem to have tastes for all of it, like I do! Writing for an audience of interested readers is an amazing thing. I love doing it.
Good chappie. Ty Slecya, I hope you're sleeping in well after posting this. <3
Thank you Flopmind! I had weird dreams about the characters, but I woke up feeling refreshed!
I think Boe suggested a very simplistic answer to a complex problem out of place of fear. A better solution would be for Alden to go to therapy. He is scared and is having panic attacks. It's not healthy.
Technically Alden has seen a therapist several times, but it's barely been mentioned on the page. He was assigned one who specialized in Avowed trauma when he arrived on Anesidora and he mentions that they have more than one meeting. I imagine that he is not very forthcoming with her. Some people requested that I put therapy sessions on the page, but I've chosen not to because there's no way to get it really right in my opinion. Even if I was a licensed psychologist myself, it probably wouldn't be possible to write a version of those scenes that satisfied everyone Alden was getting exactly what he needed from them. I do my absolute best to get trauma right, but I think actually doling out advice through a therapist's eyes is beyond me.
Holy cow! It just hit me that in today’s comments section we have become hero school students in an Engaging with the Unexpected class. Here we are, intensely debating how heroes should handle uncomfortable moral quandaries that don’t have clear cut, simple, obvious solutions. Well done, Sleyca!
This is the first time anyone in the story seriously pushes back against Alden's view of heroism. I've been very excited to come to this moment! Alden's heroic ideal and his intention to live up to it has been one of the most important and undiscussed background drivers of the story. He is a person who deeply wishes to be good and tries so hard to get there, which is why I love him to death and he's my favorite character. He's also a little bit of an idiot about this because since he's come back from Moon Thegund, he's so down on himself. And every time he says "I can't be a hero" he doesn't mean that he's unwilling to help others or even risk his own safety. He means "I am scared to experience intense, prolonged suffering even if it's for a righteous cause. Therefore I must not be good." Which is a *real* high bar in addition to being a much harsher standard than he holds anyone else to. So, it's cool that Boe finally said, "Why don't you aim for something just a touch shy of Savior, my dude. Because all you're doing right now is making yourself crazy with misplaced guilt." And now Alden (and all of us) get to argue about what makes you a good enough person to be a superhero.
Hi, Notcreepy! I answered someone above about whether or not this is emotional blackmail, but it's a very important answer so I'll answer it here, too: "Boe did realize he was off, and he walked it back there at the end. Saying "If you risk yourself, I'll punish you by risking myself," is emotional blackmail even if the intentions are pure. Which is why he specifically apologizes for his idea coming across that way and clarifies that he's not trying to do that and this isn't about punishing anyone. (He even explains that he'll be careful and take precautions. Which is the opposite of threatening self-harm) Saying, "I've decided that I'm going to insist on involving myself in this major part of your life even though it's dangerous," *isn't* emotional blackmail. It *is* Boe demanding an extreme new feature in their relationship, but their relationship is actually close enough that it's not unreasonable of him to ask for a pretty extreme thing. We see everything from Alden's perspective, so it's easy to forget that he's not the only one who should get to make major decisions. And it's easy to brush over the fact that Boe told him just days ago that it really wasn't okay with him that Alden had agreed to a potentially dangerous contract with a wizard. Our loved ones do get a say in our behavior because it affects them, too. Boe's own life blows up when Alden's does. If they're going to stay close instead of breaking their friendship, they both get to set terms and then decide if those terms are acceptable." To that, I would add that just because Alden is struggling right now doesn't mean he's too delicate for Boe to make demands of him. And Boe himself was literally so overwhelmed by Alden's death and the emotional tsunamis that followed it that he chose to disappear for months so that he wouldn't hurt anyone. They're both in a recovery/life reassessment phase. They both get to change their minds about how things work individually and together. And Alden isn't a pushover who is at risk of being bulldozed; he hasn't even agreed to Boe's idea by the end of the chapter. Boe's delivery was thoughtless, but I think his idea as he presents it in its slightly more refined form at the end of the chapter has a lot to recommend it and is a weird but effective answer to both his own feelings that he can't be a hero at all and Alden's feelings that he can't call himself one unless he's perfectly self-sacrificing in every situation and for every person he meets.
So Anesidora is straight up a luxury concentration camp?
Anesidora has some definite problems. The one in this case is a two-country problem. The U.S. limits the number of higher ranked Avowed who can visit at any given time because they're considered walking weapons and flight risks, and Anesidora also limits the number of non-residents who can visit the island on any given day due to space and resource limitations. Avowed can have visitors there any time as long as they're approved, but not every Avowed can have all the visitors they want at the same time. The Christmas/New Years holiday week would be one of the worst times of year to try to get a guest pass, since even the second generation Avowed would likely have multiple foreign family members they wanted to visit with then.
thanks. could we get an epub file as well? 👉👈
Of course Monus! I'm so sorry I forgot to add it!
Oh, he's still plant based for now. He's only managed to eat one sinner's bite, and now the gremlin is suspicious...we'll see how it goes.
Is the next post coming soon? And if so is the epub gonna be there? My screen readers works better with an epub
Sorry julian! I'll add the epub now. That was an error.
Thank you for the chapter - my beverage of choice is a cup of oversteeped tea your intro just reminded me of
I've oversteeped so many over the years that I'm developing a taste for it.
It's the name of the mess they're making in the blender. Side note: tons of drugs are banned on Anesidora but not all of them. Alden's still unused piece of gum is legal, for example. Alcohol is illegal.
Epic party. Heartwarming moment at the end. Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you, Blinkmouse!
Bizarrely, gmail flagged the email for this as "looking dangerous". It really should know that rabbits are not generally that dangerous. Now if Alden were a goat-femur meister, things would be different...
I wonder what I did to make Google angry? You guys let me know if the next chapter shows up with the same warnings.
Thanks for the big chapter, it successfully reminded me of why I hated teenage years ! And parties unfortunately (and I wasn't even on Anesidora...). I'm really stoked about Alden's origami and worried about Maricel and curious about Jupiter's name - it's quite unusual, especially for a girl, no ? Happy bunny day, hope everyone will have a great couple of days until next chapter :]
Thank you sebsebs!
Either there is a typo in this chapter, or I have completely misunderstood Anesidora. Kon and Lexi's apartment building was designed in the early 1900's, but they Artonan's didn't arrive and introduce the system until the 1960's. I always assumed that Anesidora was built after that, like in the 70s/80s, but why would they build a building designed over a half-century earlier?
It's late 1900's! (It used to say 90's, and then I thought it was funnier for Jupiter to say it this way.)
You know if for some mystical reason the chapter lengths of this story are going the way of the Wandering Inn then I'll be here for it.
If you can make time move slower or my fingers move quicker I will do it!
yay...great chapter
Thank you for teaching me about Bunny day!
The paper airplane scene when Alden was actually making his Affixation was excellent. Another little moment of dissonance that shows he doesn't really fit in. Even though taking it easy makes sense, it does make me wonder if he's not actually hurting himself more by not having the support network knights could offer. I wonder if there's something special about the 300 uncapped skills, beyond them being crafted with love etc? Perhaps they tap into something fundamental about the universe/authority/magic and being uncapped is just a side benefit?
I'm so glad you noticed the plane scene! I was afraid it would get lost in the madness of the party and people would brush past it. It's my favorite part.
So, I can't help but notice that the way Meisters behave with their tools is kinda similar to the way wizards behave with their auriads. I wonder if they've got the same thing going on? A direct and incredibly personal bond with their authority? Lexi even keeps his under his clothes so that it has direct skin contact at all times.
You know, this makes me realize I've never explicitly said it in text. I've been meaning to slip it in for a while now. Meisters actually get their primary weapon/tool from the System as a gift. They can use their talents with others of the same type--a sword Meister might have regular swords in addition to whatever their special one is--but the ones these kids are carrying around are all specially crafted and enchanted to suit them, even if they're pretty mundane in function (Andrzej's club). They're all at least somewhat magical to withstand the kinds of uses Avowed put them through. They don't get infinite free repairs and replacements, so they're pretty protective of them. And Lexi is mentally linked to his whip so he's extra attached.
Interesting to get to know some of the characters a bit better. Hardly a comprehensive breakdown but here are my major thoughts. I am very worried about Maricel. We heard talk of someone crying in a room and it got glossed over, her friends said she left suddenly, she hasn't been answering texts... Something happened and I want to know what, did her disdain for Anisidora leak, did something happen back home, something else??? Haoyu seems very likable and reasonable given the little we have seen of him, kind of wondering how he got to be close friends with Lexi... perhaps Lexi's utter disregard for his parents means he sees him a bit more clearly, maybe a bond over disappointing A rank affixations. Astrid is definitely crushing on Alden (poor girl). Jeffy is Jeffy. Max continues to show his insight and potential as an ally. Keeps Alden from giving away his cheat but collects for it. Pegs trouble with Winston and Medhi. Winston has an inferiority complex, and maybe some anti alien bias... wonder if there is a reason for it, it also adds a little context to him giving Alden a hard time on the bus (since rabbits have a reputation for getting picked by people who like the aliens). Seems like the type of person who might enjoy or want to style on B ranks so he can feel better than someone. Medhi gave bad vibes when he first showed, worse when he second showed, and even worse in this chapter. He is not some out of control monster but he really seems to embody the negative aspects of someone who would be drawn to the hero profession, along with spoiled entitled rich kid who still wants more. Can't quite tell based of the little we have seen if he is a full or minor psychopath or just a tad narcissistic. I have a major and negative gut reaction to this character and we haven't actually seen him do much so it is hard to tell if I am over reacting or projecting too much onto them. Vandy seems very likable to me, she reminds me a lot of a few very serious friends I have had through the years. She seems like the kind of person you have to accept as they are (kind of like Lexi), there is a certain inflexibility to them, but if you can get past that and not expect them to change who they are, then they can be amazing and reliable friends.
I love seeing what someone thinks of all the characters broken down like this. I've been wondering who peoples' favorites and least favorites of these more side-charactery characters are.
Ah Sleyca you genius, you did it again. I was enjoying the antics of these spoiled teenage brats, thinking it was one of those purely slice-of-life chapters which is showing us the background and maturity level of Alden's typical classmates. Then BAM, this fricking passage about him thinking of Stuart comes and completely stuns me. I don't have the skill to describe how I felt in that moment, but it hit me right in the heart. The contrast between those thoughts of Alden's and the party shenanigans just made it hit home that Alden is *not* OK and he will never be "normal" again. Oh, and then followed by a scene of a sheltered and wholesome family.. damn.. Alden was just thinking of a family where your sister volunteers to die because it is a thing to suffer unimaginable torture in your family..
Thank you, Francis! That scene was one I wanted to slip into the party, but at the same time I was worried that it would get lost in the party. I'm so glad it didn't!
Jeffy got in! It wouldn't have been a party without him. I continue being unsurprisingly unsurprised of the lack of tact of some people, specifically when they were talking about Alden's dead parents. I'm happy to say I haven't had to deal with people as dumb as Jeffy and Winston, I'll continue to believe it's just fiction, thank you. Poor Maricel. As others have said, I love how Alden's instability and trauma has been shown this chapter. And managing to origami part of his affixation takes real skill, holy shit. This has been a very inconspicuously detailed chapter, where you can find lots of info about other people if you gather what we've read from them. I'm not going to bother, but maybe someone from Royal Road will?
Thank you, Alberto!
Raccoons of Chicago By Astrid Raccoons are a small, clever mammal endemic to North America. They roam the streets of Chicago in small groups, and voraciously consume many different types of food. Though they have not been documented to frequently consume humans, when I spoke to Alden Thorn (a longtime resident of Chicago), he confirmed the threat that Raccoons pose. "Some of them", he said, are "probably" rabid. Despite the clear and present danger the raccoons pose, Alden noted that they are nonetheless cute and not scary. In the interest of transparency, it should be noted that while Alden was not Avowed in any capacity at the time of his racoon encounter, he has since affixed a Rabbit class and been accepted to CNH as a hero-track student. Perhaps Alden's exceptional risk tolerance was already at play in this early wildlife encounter. Despite his propensity for heroism, there are some lines that just aren't crossed when dealing with dangerous wildlife: when asked if he had ever pet a raccoon, Alden responded with a firm "NO!"
This is gold. It one hundred percent feels like Astrid, trying to go as far as she can into professional mode for an assignment and still somehow letting her energy leak through. "Though they have not been documented to frequently consume humans..." Thank you for making me laugh!
Oh that's awesome!! I hope you're having fun in the course!
Ha! Anesidorans even have their own version of the Mt Tai meme 😂 (Nautilus Needle)
I keep trying to come up with Anesidora-specific oddities like this. It's so fun.
Thanks for the chapter. I wonder if Alden can activate his power on a puddle on the floor and then pick up the puddle.
I feel like he definitely should be able to lift liquids like this. As soon as I write a scene with him doing it, I am sure some of you thinkers will immediately come up with a million ways for it to break the universe, though.
When I opened the version of this chapter in my email from Patreon I got a warning that said it looked like the account that sent the message was compromised and I shouldn't click on any links or download attachments. Not sure what that's about but I thought you should know. The same warning did not pop up for the character notes you sent immediately after.
Thank you, Kermit! I don't know what that's about since I posted the same as I always do. I wonder if it's the size of it, since it is the biggest one so far?
...well played.
No summary for Jeffy?
Oh no! I must have cut his out somehow. I had written something silly about his hatred of plaid. I'll have to go back in and add one for him.
I just included the description. I'm still mad I deleted the old one. I think it was even funnier, but I can't remember the exact wording.
Thank you, Flopmind!
Can someone explain what a middle school or 9th grade equivalent is in this story and if there's differences with the one America uses? I come from a place where there's only Primary school (5-12 years old normally) and Secondary school (13-18) so middle school is so confusing to me. Also it's interesting that Anesidora would use the American system(i'm guessing it's the american system?) of education when they use the metric system for measurements
In the U.S., 9th grade is almost always the first year of high school, which lasts four years. Most students will begin the 9th grade year as 14 year olds and end it as 15 year olds. Anesidora's school system is different. I tried to make up a brand new one that would work with the fact that the most powerful kids on the island would all be having a major life upheaval and getting superpowers at age 15. And most of the others would at 16. I'm still tweaking some things for their elementary/middle schools since it hasn't been as important, but their school year runs from January - December. Which means that by this time of year (the party is taking place on November 2), almost everyone in 9th grade will be 15. Their high schools are three year institutions, run on a modified quarter System that works *a little* like some colleges. It's also year round, with week-long breaks between each quarter and the occasional additional holiday. And students have the option of skipping one quarter/year, or of not doing that and graduating more quickly. (I think this might not have been mentioned yet...) The benefit of the quarter is how flexible it is for taking new students and integrating them into the school no matter when they affix. Every quarter, students at Celena North High can take from 2-6 classes, which will last for around three months. And then they get an entirely new set of classes the next term. There are no homerooms.
Forgot to add: there are also non-Avowed high schools. Since he's a year older than most of these kids, Lexi would definitely be a student in one of those. As would several of the others who were on the older end of fifteen.
Super Supportive has reached the top spot on RR, wow! Big congrats, you've earned it!
Thank you so much, Endaris!
is the chapter today late?
Hey, guys! It is going to be at least three more hours. I decided to do some work on this chapter before posting, and I'm still at it.
I will probably have to ask again once the newest chapter comes out, but where do the Meisters get their tools from. Does the system just give them one as a starter bonus? Do their families have to pay for them? That would be awfully inconvenient. What if the rich people can afford fancy alien versions that allow for unfair advantages in e.g., hero school assessment. So, like is Kon's (it's funny that I cannot remember his name rn) brother a Meister of whips or a Meister of Mind writher ? What is the cost of such a tool? How would anyone afford that without having avowed parents with good classes that are summoned often
The System gives them their tools, upgrades them, and sees to it that they are repaired. It's one of the big class advantages. However, they don't get unlimited freebies in this way (for example, if someone just repeatedly destroys their special weapon for no reason...they're also not allowed to sell them, not that many of them would want to). Some of them can use regular weapons similar to their System-gifted one with their skills, but the System weapons are made just for them. They're tough enough to take whatever it is they're dishing out. So Meisters are quite attached to them. Lexi is a Meister of one specific tool called Mind Writher. He can't use a regular whip in the same way because Mind Writher is a highly magical device that he's training to control mentally. The fanciest version of their weapons Meisters could possibly get on Earth would be the ones the System gives them.
Thank you for the chapter. I quickly have to ask a question I just posted on the last chapter. Where do Meisters get their weapons from? Does the system offer them one for free or do their parents have to buy them.
Whoops! I just answered you on the previous one. Their weapons are such a critical part of their power that they are System-gifted, repaired, and upgraded. Though there are limits on how generous the System is, and if they repeatedly damage or destroy them in foolish ways they might not get one next time.
Thanks for the chapter, I was afraid it'd be another six hours! Really feels like the end of the arc for real, even though we know it is just beginning...
It's the end of Alden's intake/recovery arc, and he's headed toward something new. So that's a good feeling to have!
Very nice and plausible section on Maricel and her backstory. Thank you Sleyca. I guess the Artonans helped treat her grandma's incipient cognitive issues. I guess J. was going to do something dangerous - maybe try to escape from Anesidora? But Maricel wouldn't go along even though she desperately wants to. Probable reason is it would bring shame to her family if she became a crim. Will there be a chapter dedicated to handing over Victor to Jeremy? I hope not and I doubt it. Boe's powers remind me of those of the Mule in the Foundation series. But this is the first time we've seen a sign of a Sway or Sway-ish being able to affect animals.
Victor's hand-over is mentioned, but it doesn't get it's own chapter. Though of course he is a worthy cat. Boe's favorite hero actually does something Sway-ish with small animals. Bedlam Beldam. A U-type with Sky Shaper-ish and animal communion abilities. It's mentioned in just a couple of sentences when Lesedi Saleh is first introduced, and it's not at all the most interesting thing going on in that chapter so it's easy to forget.
Missing word in this sentence: Stop crying, Maricel, she thought, lying on [the] floor in a bathroom in Anesidora.
Thank you! I fixed it.
So it was not his taking a ride on Victor what made him fat, but actually using his powers!
Boe on the first day: I did nothing to your cat. Stop being weird. Boe five seconds before he vanishes: About the cat...
Poor Jeffy, Anesidora should have glass bottled cane sugar Dr. Pepper. Only the best stuff for the supers.
That sounds delicious.
You know, I'm kind of shocked that on previous party no rebellious teenager brought any forbridden stuff like alcohol or whatever "fun" potions Wizards peddle. Mocktails my ass. Teenagers rebel whether it's smart or not!
People keep mentioning this, but I feel like it's realistic? These are pretty young teenagers (fifteen mostly), alcohol is illegal in the country (it exists, of course, but it's not like they can just get a fake id and purchase it...there would be a few more steps to acquisition), and they're here celebrating the fact that they've just been accepted into their elite dream school that randomly drug tests. I'm sure a couple of them have sneaked in airplane bottles or something, but I think the social pressure from the large group here would actually be toward not breaking the rules that badly. If any of them are drinking, they're hiding in a closet with their one or two "rebel" friends doing it I think.
The lack of italics on Alden's thoughts is confusing, but I think that's probably due to Patreon messing it up with the new update?
Is anyone else having this issue? I'm on my laptop and it looks fine (a couple of other things about the site have gotten less useful though...). Manfredi, there's an ePub link at the bottom that should look great. It'll just be missing the character notes!
Is Rocco the name of the owner, or of the tree...
It kills me that I did not think of this first. Rocco is a thousand times more interesting if it's the tree instead of the owner.
Thanks for the chapter! Same issue with the italics as last time, looks like patreon formatting got screwed up.
Hi David! Yes. This is so frustrating. The italics are there, Patreon has just stopped showing them to certain browsers (and maybe devices?). If anyone hears about a workaround I can use on my end, or knows of a solution for readers, please let me know. The ePub should be good for everyone.
“Wait, you’re serious about someone pissing on your things? (...) “How do they do it?” Haoyu asked. “Can you not dodge fast enough?” I don't know why, but this and the sunglasses on the bear to not bother Lexi made me laugh a lot.
Haoyu was prepping to teach Lute faster footwork if that was what he needed.
Thanks for the chapter! I was wondering if you had any favorite books? This is one of my favorite questions to ask authors, but feel free to not answer if you don’t want to :^)
A ton! Lately I've enjoyed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and a children's fantasy series called Nevermoor. I'm about to start reading The Wandering Inn, since several fans have mentioned it to me since I started writing Super Supportive.
Hah! Stealth or unintentional pun, but Alden is sandbagging his abilities while carrying sandbags 😂. Thanks for (as it's my first ever comment) this entire story!
And it's a good first comment, too!
I wonder if Alden will ever bother to explain to anyone except Mother about his new origami metaphor. Plim would surely love to know but does he trust her that much? More Plim thoughts - Has she had much contact with Artonan wizards? Does she know the perspective trick? Does she even speak Artonan? Alden has many reasons not to let Plim know about the inner workings of his skill, but she could teach him a lot better if she understood what he is doing on the inside. Maybe if and when Alden learns to do contract tattoos. he could offer one to Plim too. But it would be weird for Plim to accept a contract tattoo from a 16 year old, unless the fruit of secret knowledge offered was especially juicy and tempting. Edit: quote from above: He grabbed the side handle of the bag. That part of the affixation tried to close—an automatic setting to prevent double activation. He held it in place, trying to paper-ify the process in his mind so it would fit with his new metaphor. Like keeping an origami piece that’s been partially unfolded from snapping back shut along the creases? my comment: Was Alden holding open the part of the affixation with his free authority or his bound authority? I'm assuming he's using his free authority to hold it open, but he should try to do it with his bound authority if he can learn how. I believe that leads to success in his goal of using his affixed authority to pick things up, no hands needed.
Hi, John! When Alden consciously makes adjustments to the skill's settings like this, he's using his bound authority. His free authority can run around the skill's metaphorical exterior, but it can't run the skill. If that makes sense. Great question!
If and when Alden ranks up and becomes A, will he stop being a member of the B-list? And will Francis and BeeBee call him an interloper and berate the B's into beating him? Interesting that Francis and BeeBee only want to beat A's, not S's. I think they lack ambition.
I really look forward to all of these people getting to know Alden and seeing how the way they think of him changes. :)
I need a timeskip so badly. Chapters after Boe departure are good characterisation of the new cast but it's boring as hell. I don't think I can take 10 more chapters of just school routine until something new happens.
Slice of Life is one of the main genres of Super Supportive. (The School Life tag has also been up from the very beginning on Royal Road. I feel bad for those of you who came in specifically for the school life when I made you wait so long for a taste of it.) That means that chapters about meeting new people and exploring new places aren't delays on the way to action scenes for this serial; they are and always will be their own destinations. I won't be rushing through or time skipping over chapters like this because I'm here specifically to write chapters like this. This and the previous are a couple of my favorites so far. I understand some people are really here for the high-danger arcs like Thegund, and I'm so glad to have you all! But I think the happiest readers will be the ones who also have fun reading character development arcs or arcs with humorous friendship moments as well as the darker or more action-packed material. If you come to a Slice of Life arc when you're in the mood for Alden to get a move on and beat up some demons, then it's understandable that this would be "boring as hell" for you. But it's not boring as hell. In television terms it's Friends instead of Die Hard. (But not Friends...Friends if it was at school and there were aliens and all of the Friends were gradually coming into their own as superhumans, and the darkness of interplanetary politics was in the background.) All I can do for people new to the genre is explain that this is not a flawed section of the story. I have not made a mistake or gotten lazy. I am not confused and struggling to find the next action scene. I could literally time skip to the next big thing with the Artonans if I wanted. But I would be depriving myself and you of one of the things that's special about Super Supportive in the first place. I want to write about Lexi, Lute, and Haoyu. And I work crazy hard to convey all of these characters as totally unique individuals. I want to see Alden hang out with the other B-ranks. I'm looking forward to his phone call with Stu-art'h on Tuesday. I'm also looking forward to getting him back on the Triplanets... To put it in the terms of the only other superhero story I can think of off the top of my head that has (or had) a slice of life component...MHA? Oh, man. I was SO THERE for early MHA when we were getting to know all the characters. And when they moved into the dorms it gave me pure dopamine. The fight scenes were cool, too, but they were really only cool because I was into the characters. It would have been fine with me if the villains caused less problems so that the kids could have spent more time in school. I LOVED writing Moon Thegund. I'm really looking forward to writing more terrifying death-filled arcs, too, because I'm nice like that. But the writing quality and effort for the past couple of chapters has been just as high. This is the current dish I'm serving up in the many-course banquet that is Super Supportive. If it's not to your taste another one will come, but I'm not going throw this one in the trash or skip over the next couple to get to exactly the dish you're looking forward to most. I hope you can get into the Slice of Life parts of the story and love them too. Especially if you've never given this kind of story a shot before. But if not, I think it's fine to take a break and come back and find your way in when there's more danger. Incidentally, a couple of people complained/left during the combat assessment too because they didn't want to see fighting. One accused me of making Alden just like every other protagonist all of the sudden, obsessed with violence and self-improvement...so it's a problem that goes both ways with a multi-genre serial. Overall, the readership is growing. These chapters have been popular. I'm having so, so much fun. I stay up into the middle of the night to write sometimes because I want to talk about these characters more. I only write a massive essay here because the action dislikers tend to leave quietly with just a note in exit surveys or the DMs, knowing that the genre is popular, while the slice of life haters often have not encountered slice of life before. And so they tend to leave very angry, feeling like I just started writing about "boring stuff" accidentally and I think a lot of them would actually appreciate it, or at least not be venty about it, if they understood that they were not getting "boring stuff" they were getting more story of a different kind. Whew. Berusella, I sincerely hope you have fun reading these chapters that are so much fun for me. If not, maybe try a DIY time skip and come back in a few months on RR to see where the story has gone while you're away.
We will have time skips when it's a case of "there's nothing *new* here for readers" ...I want to see Alden's school days but there's a lot of repetition with school life, so we won't be seeing the repetitive parts. When we hit a point where he's just doing business as usual, then I'll skip to the next different thing. If that makes sense!
I love the slice of life chapters. I still loved the Moon but my favorite aspects were how it reminded me of books like Hatchet, that survival and living in a disaster aspect more than any "action". Maybe I'm weird in that the start of most stories, where they're still exploring everything and fleshing out the world, are the best parts to me. I adore that you've kept that vibe going so far and I'm really looking forward to more school and roommate shenanigans. 💖
Yesss...that sweet, sweet first fifteen minutes of the superhero movie where they're discovering they have their powers and meeting the mad cast of characters and learning that there are big bad things they never knew about out there. Being a greedy, greedy person who wanted to see every last second of the "becoming" phase of being super powerful was a big motivation for me writing this story. Thank you for hanging out in the story world with me!
I know it's kind of late to be asking this but what does Alden's 'Mother' privilege entail. Does it mean that he won't have to deal with the usual bullshit where the system tries to bait him into using his free authority on progressively better stuff?
Let's just say it's Mother's way of saying, "Feel free to reach out."
Okay, so here I am enjoying the story when the heretical abomination of words "Chipotle Tofu" sears past my eyes and burns into my very soul. I want to know how to deal with the lasting damage you left me from the very idea. Lol
The truth about tofu is that it's a helpful protein sponge for other flavors to be applied to. As long as the texture of tofu is not weird for you, you're golden. Because the flavor is so mild you pretty much just taste whatever you put on it. I like my tofu spicy. I've never actually had chipotle tofu, but Alden's quite a fan of Mexican food so I thought he would like it. (Note: He was too busy pouting about the fact that it was just food and not magic-infused Natalie food to love it, despite my best efforts on his behalf.)
"I asked them for the ability to center-align text and change fonts in my last creator survey" What the fuck? xD Patreon doesn't even have basic HTML functionalities? I don't get it. How can company providing a way for authors paid content can be so bad
RIGHT? It has to be so easy to give us those things...
"If a freaking garden gnome flies at you in a straight line, that’s really bad." This one almost made me spit my water all over my monitor, very close one.
I am conflicted. I'm glad your monitor survived! But at the same time I now wish to write a line surprising enough to make you douse it.
Now I’m a bit curious about the body suit Alden has to wear. The scene where he does the cartoon split kind of broke my brain a bit. Can Alden actually do a split in the body suit and have the pain reduced, or does he have 10% of the pain as if he just did a split he did not, in fact, do?
Michael Blue -- this is a great question, and one I hadn't thought through correctly. To some extent, any magic battle space has to operate on Rule of Cool, but I had actually planned on the suit preventing the body from moving in ways that would cause significant injuries. ( I've written in an upcoming chapter that the kids can get sore but not badly tear muscles...) There's an illusionary element to the gym, too, when the realism is heightened. I think Alden should be able to do the split, since he's technically flexible enough, but the pain realism *shouldn't* have been reduced for that. Since he's basically just strained muscles, not seriously damaged himself. I'll fix it when I've got better internet access, since right now the page is struggling to load. Thanks for making me think it over again!
I noticed that a lot of the B's have little sayings on their clothing. After this little gift: The girl leaned forward with an interested expression. “Are you a U?” she asked in a French accent. “Rabbit.” “Haha! Right.” Alden should just have a Tshirt printed to wear over his Gym clothes, "Yes, I really am a Rabbit"
Bugs Bunny appeared in the 1940s, so he would still exist!
Thanks a lot for the chapter! All hail the life shapers!! Wait, It can exist a Life Adjuster? 🤔
Adjusters can have spells that effect living things!
This was amazing!! I feel all pumped up and I just got off a 12 hour shift :D
Whew. Twelve hours is long. Get a good night's rest!
One interesting question here - the students are pretty much invulnerable due to the gym suits. What about their equipment, particularly the multi-object launcher? A 200 lb suitcase seems like it would mess that up pretty badly, and a wright has to actually make their own stuff unlike a meister. Probably this is a common thing and either wrights can repair their stuff very well or remake it quickly or make it more durable in some way.
Equipment isn't protected by the gym, so it does get destroyed sometimes!
I am having a senior moment - what exactly does the magic ring do? I can't remember.
Gregory is correct. It makes whatever Alden has in that hand cling to it for a fraction of a second longer than it should, so that he's less likely to drop it. It doesn't work on things he's actively preserving or when it's preserved itself. It can hold his full bodyweight as well, so when he's climbing something he has a chance to re-grasp with that hand when his fingers slip.
"When Alden loses skin-to-object contact and the object's weight is resting on something other than his body, he tends to lose entrustment and he has to have the item re-entrusted." Hmm.. if someone can help clarify, then 1)how did he put ice cream in his pocket and keep it preserved? 2) when he lost preservation on the suitcase sandbag, shouldn't he need someone to entrust it to him again?? Thanks
Ah, I haven't phrased this as well as I could have. 1. Alden can carry things in his clothes or with bags as long as his body is still holding most of the item's weight. This is actually something he learned to do with Joe's perception lessons. An ice cream in a hoody pocket is fine while he's walking around or standing because he's still carrying its weight. But he has trouble if he sticks the preserved ice cream in a backpack, and then lays down on his back. Since he's no longer in direct physical contact with with the object and no longer bearing it, he can lose entrustment. We only see this happen to him once in the story, I think. He has the putty ball in his lab coat pocket--preserved but not touching skin--so he can climb up on top of the car and yank the armored door open to free Kibby. He falls off and loses entrustment of the putty because the part of the coat it was in was being held by the ground instead of him for a bit. If the putty had been in a chest pocket instead, and had landed directly on top of him, it would have been fine. He doesn't seem to have much trouble with the nuance. He's gotten used to paying attention and making sure he's alway got his object positioned correctly. Him practicing being constantly aware of his carried item with his authority is helping, too. 2. Losing preservation and losing entrustment are two different processes. Preservation is Alden's skill actively affecting the object. He can lose his ability to preserve something in a given moment without losing his right to preserve it again in the future. In this case, Max's spell is relieving Alden of the suitcase's weight in a way he knows is benevolent, which is interfering with his ability to be all burden bearery and self-sacrificing (BoAB draws some of its power from the concept of sacrifice, according to Mother) to satisfy the skill requirements. However, Alden never stops touching the suitcase, so he hasn't lost entrustment. And just as soon as Max's zone fades, he can re-preserve it. It's the same as Alden letting the suitcase rest on the floor but not taking his hand off of it, basically. No preservation while it's resting there, but the skill still considers it to be under his control.
I would totally fail out of high school. I would spend every class period and every other waking moment planning how I was going to attack and defeat people during B-List Club. Forming alliances during lunch and writing out battle plans late into the night. Yep, and then I'd get kicked out of school. Anyway, thank you for the fun fun chapter, Sleyca! :)
Late night gym battle planning sessions would be so much more fun than math homework.
One thing I noticed is that Andrzej's story contradicts something from early on in the story. Alden said all or most meisters got a skill that made it difficult to disarm them. I also got the vibe that this was more of a "forced to pick" rather than a "popular to pick" thing. Maybe this is something Sleyca plans to retcon?
Even though Andrzej fits, I think I will actually be tidying this description of class talents up in the long-promised future pass. I've come up with some Meister concepts that are a little more flexible than those rules imply and it would be good to make it clearer.
Hey, just found the story and liked it so much I blew through it in 3 days. Can't wait for more!
Welcome, Richard! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!
Woot!
That combo wouldn't erase every bad day, but it would put a significant dent in their number!
Libra, the scales, balance. Appropriate name for a Chainer's yacht. Poor Lute got Natalie'd. This is just like the fanfic that way. Hope Maricel is still on Anesidora by sunrise. Figurinist is a cool class, and powerful, especially with the right attachments. Maybe a dog-sized spider with blade arms that runs fast at enemies and sprays them with pepper spray before it starts to slice. Terrifying against anyone but an Object Shaper. I figure Ella-Clara must also be good at fighting with her body.
Thanks for noticing the yacht's name!
But…but what about the character descriptions? I need some hot gossip of what is happening in the girls life! Thank you for the awesome chapter
I felt like Alden had kind of done the character reminders for me this time, since he told Lute about all the girls when they were on the bus! I did think of doing one for Aimi Velra...whose closet has just been raided by teenagers.
I wonder if Aimi actually minds or not…
Lute and Aimi seem (I know the exact relationship dynamic, but I have to pretend not to so that I don't spoil) to have a closeish relationship at this point. We know he called her crying during the Gloss to tell her about the incident with the girl he had a crush on suddenly crushing back, and he actually said he liked her a couple of chapters ago when he was mentioning that she would forget to keep secrets if Aulia didn't have a family contract tattoo policy.
I loved getting to know Lute better, and laugh-cringed at the ending. I wonder how Lute will feel about that when the confidence chain wears off.
A magical confidence boost would make strange and wonderful and terrible things happen I think!
Ok, is this a Chicago joke I’m too East Coast too understand? I don’t understand why a backpack is being called a wombat or named Wummy. Or is this a stuffed wombat from an earlier chapter that I forgot? Haoyu is a nice guy. This way he gets to spend time with his other friends (not that Lute isn’t a friend but they see each other a lot more) and Lute gets to go and Alden can get to know Lute better. Oof, not cool bro. Introducing Lute to not just girls in his sweatpants, but *Natalie*? Good thing he had the chain. (Small editing nitpick: you switch from Emilija’s comment about the hot tub, to a few paragraphs about his spell then back to Emilijia talking about bathing suits. I had to back track to figure out who was talking and how they got on that subject.)
Ah! Wummy must need a character note here! Alden has a stuffed wombat toy his parents bought him shortly before their deaths. To his confusion, Connie sent him pictures of Wummy and promised not to put him in the attic with Alden's other bleongings as part of her grieving process whens he thought he'd died. Instead she kept him on her dresser in her bedroom, where (according to Jeremy in a previous chapter) he was subjected to sights no innocent wombat should be exposed to. Thank you for that and the editing note!
(making this a separate message for Sleyca) I noticed that on RR you stated that you might be adding some new content for some chapters in-between the RR release and on Patreon. Would it be possible to either put them on here or notify us which RR chapter the changes are on when they eventually release?
Yes! If I ever make significant changes between what was posted here and what gets posted on RR, I'll let everyone know. If there's a significant amount of new material, I'll post it here as well!
"Lack of bodily awareness actually makes it really easy to fall asleep." I feel like I have to comment on this, as someone with autism who has low proprioception as one of his symptoms. Weighted blankets, body pillows, and a bunch of similar products are basically meant for people with low proprioception to be able to feel their bodies more by using their sense of touch as a reference, which helps them fall asleep. So in other words, there are products whose whole point is to help *increase* your proprioception to help you sleep. Just in general, too, I can say that the "floating in a void" feeling that some of my limbs get when not touching anything is not actually pleasant or relaxing at all, but rather disorientating.
That's very enlightening in both directions! I was actually imagining how an ache, pain, or itch you've been successfully ignoring all day long suddenly seems like a crisis at midnight when you're trying not to notice it and get some sleep. I guess we would all have different personal responses to different wordchains...Alden's ability to shrug off the anxious thoughts that come with the bad half of Peace of Mind is definitely reduced now compared to when he was practicing it at LeafSong. (We should all come with off buttons so we can get a good night's sleep on demand.)
Why is Emilja's speech inside <<>>?
Emilija speaks Lithuanian. She only knows a little bit of English (including "candied bacon" and "fried chicken"...important words to know considering who her roommate is). Actually, now that I say that I'm not one hundred percent sure I ever specified where she's from. It's been mentioned previously that Hadiza is from Nigeria. She speaks English very well, and she also speaks Hausa.
@Sleyca 1) I need those wordchains. 2) I appreciate the attention to details, but I have to google every piece of clothing you mention :D
Clothing words do tend to be very country or region specific! Jumpers are two completely different things in Britain vs America. And sequins can be called spangles. And I used "stocking hat" in an earlier chapter, which confused so many people because that kind of hat has about a dozen names. (Or are you googling them to find lookalikes for mental images? I do that too.)
Alden short talk with Haoyu made me wonder, how good is Alden at cooking? I'm sure he knows at least a little bit, since Connie wasn't around a lot of the time, but can he make decent Vegan food for himself, or is he getting delivery all the time?
Alden can cook as well as anyone if you give him a recipe, but he and Connie operated on takeout and sandwiches so he's not used to applying much effort to it on his own behalf. He did try harder with the alien ingredients for himself and Kibby, because there wasn't much else to do and she liked it that he made meals for her.
What happened to their fourth roommate, C-rank with Tailor Environment? She didn't have a name mentioned and now those three live together and she's... what?
They have parted ways. As a C-rank, she's probably living in the dorms at Franklin High. I didn't have a fourth Rabbit girl character I was super excited about, and I thought these three made for such a good mix that a fourth in their room would feel like an add-on.
Did nine eat 6 and 7. 🤣
We shall not speak of what happened to six and seven.
Would it be possible to have a merged ePub for 81-88 linked as well? I assume you mean that the individual chapter ePubs will be replaced, but it would be nice to have all the changed chapters in a single file!
I'm doing it in a big single file! It's almost put together.
The chapter start is way too cruel. I want to. KNOW. EVERYTHING. that happened around that tub D:
Maybe a bonus scene sometime!
I too want to smack my own ass and refuse to answer someone at some point.
You guys are cracking me up.
And they payed me really well. -> Paid (Chapter 82)
Ah I make this error ALL the time. I do know the rule, but my fingers don't believe in it. I make some other weird homophone errors whenever I'm tired, but the spell checker usually helps me catch them. It never gets this one.
“And dow that you’re not out in the middle of a crowd of superhumans Should be "And now" This is a good change to the way the boater stuff is introduced, since previously it was a bit odd that he was just sitting at the station thinking about helping. And it's a nice segue into Boe helping him out with his hero complex, since Alden looks at a man and thinks "this guy was a huge asshole for no reason and without mind control, I should really help him" And how Boe met Alden! It's kind of impressive that Jeremy managed to work his way into the friendship, all things considered. Dik-diks are a great thing to bond over.
Thank you! I used this revision as an excuse to watch videos of dik-diks and I don't regret it a bit.
I loved the extra layers! I feel like the meeting in the train added a bit of a reminder about the boater before the BOE copy cat thing brings it back up. Also the boe flashbacks are very interesting. Wtf happened with his parents for him to be like that at that age
I'm glad it's working! I spent a lot of time thinking about how to revise it and make sure it said and did what it was supposed to. Sorry I didn't think of presenting it this way the first time around!
I have a default assumption that everyone is going to *despise* flashbacks, so I don't always remember that they're a tool I can use lightly to bring characters we haven't seen in a while back into focus.
My heart just melted all over again.
Writing about Baby Boe and Alden made me love them both more, and I didn't think I even could!
Scrolling through this post made me realize how much effort you put into this series Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you! I'll try my best!
Sleyca could you maybe also post the other revised chapters somewhere... im having trouble reading epubs and im probably not alone in that... sorry!
Sure if you guys want them! I didn't want to be rude and spam people with new posts if nobody was going to read them all. They really are very minimally different...typo corrections mostly. I'll put up a second post with them.
This was wonderful. Thank you! I have so many thoughts but I need to go to bed. 😭
Sleep well!
Dang, those extra scenes are great! I think they really flesh things out a bit more, and the scene at the train is a great way to bring back an earlier narrative point that Alden will start to deal with in his class instead of it being introduced as a response to his semester project. It feels more organic and definitely narratively stronger! Awesome stuff! Also, that scene at the zoo and his early friendship with Boe was so cute, and definitely needed, since there werent that many emotional moments in the earlier chapters that can really bring home the weight of their relationship in this moment. Originally when i read this chapter, although I did like it, I also found myself questioning, why Boe and not Jeremy? Nothing particularly stood out to me in the first few chapters of the story that made one friend deeper than the other, but here we get some of the development which is great! I do hope Jeremy doesn't feel too left out though.. being the powerless one in the friendship trio kinda sucks lol
Thank you, Memory! Yes, I think the development I was trying to do was suffering from readers not having seen Boe in soooo long. And there were really only a couple of lines indicating that Boe is Alden's oldest friend, and Jeremy is newer to the trio. And then there was the added wrinkle of it being really easy not to remember that Alden has actually had a character shift in story from trauma to normal already, since it happened off screen. He hasn't quite got a handle on his issues when we see him as an eleven-year-old making a phone call to Hannah in Chapter Three . And then fifteen-year-old Alden is fairly put together with a college plan and goals and friends. I should have brought that out more. So hopefully these new layers will do the job! Sorry I didn't get it exactly right the first time around!
New chapter in one minute!
Thank you for the chapter. I love the story. But so much thinking and repeating details about his own power in the middle of the exercise just makes me skip buts of text. It's too distracting from the NOW in the story. Would be better to do the exercise and then stop to think. Or next time there's an exercise he can be "last time I though ... might be a good idea to go about it"
I see what you mean by this, Meh. I'll try to be more alert to it and fix it on revision!
For the gloves, couple of options come to mind. Firstly, a dancing supply store would likely have Lycra gloves for costume design that could be cut down to the size Alden wants pretty easily. Secondly, he could use liquid latex to make latex ones precisely molded to his supple Rabbit hands, although the drawbacks of latex ANYTHING would apply. Lastly, he could visit his local bondage sex shop, maybe with a furiously blushing local guide such as Kon, and get everything he could possibly need including a book on shibari >.>
I had to go to Google to understand some of these comments. Look what you have done.
There's a small thing that's been bothering me more than it should. Most of this story so far has taken place in 2037, right? The Body Drainer incident was in 2029 according to ch. 22, and it's roughly eight years later. But the days of the week don't match up to the dates. In 2037, Nov. 5 is on a Thursday, not a Monday; Halloween is on Saturday, not Wednesday; Hannah's birthday of 2/13 falls on Friday, not (?)Saturday. I initially thought a rounding error meant the year was off by one from my expectation. February 13 *is* a Saturday in 2038. But... the displacement between stated day-of-the-week and actual day-of-the-week isn't the same for all of these, so there's actually no year for which all the dates and weekdays will match up. I know this is the nittiest of picks, so I'll happily drop it if you decide it's too much trouble to fix this. But I wanted to make you aware of it.
It's officially 2040 moving forward. I was fuzzy on the precise year and not anticipating anyone to care enough to check me on it (you are dedicated!) until a few months ago, when I started mapping at Anesidoran holidays and Stuart's phone calls. I picked the 2040 calendar, which should match everything from the LeafSong arc forward. I do need to go back and fix some dates in the early story.
Thanks for the chapter ! No character notes anymore ? Not a reproach I'm just wondering ; there were only recurring characters in the past few chapters so it was redundant (except for the jokes) but this time I admit I didn't recognize a few names... (Btw it's funny that instructor Marion is a man, it got me confused for a bit :v)
I'm so sorry, sebsebs! And everyone. I did mean to include notes with this chapter. I'll add some for future readers. And to the next chapter for sure.
This sequence seems a bit unclear to me. "His own roommate chat notification appeared, and he opened it to find Haoyu asking critical questions. [Haoyu: Astrid looks different.] Alden glanced at him. They were standing right next to each other, and Haoyu wasn’t obviously observing the target of his inquiry. [Lexi: Why are you texting us here? Isn’t this for roommate business?] [Lute: I’m interested in Astrid. Who is she? Is she beating you all up in your Avowed violence class?] I guess I should answer since I know the answer? [Alden: She morphs them. She was going minimalist when I met her on assessment day, too. It’s probably better than a sports bra.] [Lute: Now I’m even more interested in Astrid.] [Lexi: I’m going to ignore notifications. I need to focus.]" I don't see what exactly is being commented on here, we hear she looks different but not how.
Astrid is a shapeshifter. She has noteworthy boobs (Jeffy particularly appreciated them at the party while she was making blender potion) and she gets rid of them for PE. I'll make it clearer on the next pass!
Sorry for answering on top of everyone else! The comments hadn't loaded when I started to type.
Finlay(great name btw) is something separate from an agility brute? I remember him being called a speedster but is that it’s own class or another brute subclass?
Yes! Brutes have a lot of bleedover in terms of physical abilities because in reality strong = fast and fast = strong. However what differentiates a Speed Brute from an Agility Brute is largely stuff beyond the stat allocation -- the System has made Torsten Klein (AgiBrute) fast, but it's given him spell/skill options that support maneuvering and gymnastics rather than extreme speed. Someone the System has dubbed "Speed Brute" wouldn't get access to the Instant Corners skill or the invisible blocks that Torsten uses for redirecting himself here. Instead, speedsters like Finlay and Winston would have talents that prioritized speed over maneuverability, and they would have things to protect themselves from their own top speeds. Personal shielding, talents that allowed them to run over strange surfaces like Everly does here...weirder things that worked like individualized versions of Max's speed zone wouldn't be off the table. My thoughts are that even high rank Brutes like these kids would start out a lot more basic--runs really fast, hits really hard. But as they double or triple their power and go beyond the reasonable limits of say, the human brain's ability to process information and the System's willingness to enhance that, they start to get access to more arcane magical stuff that still fits their subclass. So, since the System considers the Speed Brutes to be all about the speed, it might not be weird for a very advanced S-rank or a hyperbole to get access to personal long-distance teleportation. Even though that sounds like more of an advanced Adjuster power. At some point (that most human Avowed don't reach) making a body and a brain faster and faster wouldn't be as simple or reasonable from the System's point of view as giving the Avowed the ability to teleport.
Also, Finlay is a great name. :)
"Would you come over to my duffel with me." > Feels weird that this sentence doesn't end with a questionmark.
Fixing it now!
Wonderful Chappie as always Sleyca! Happy 100! Small note though: Early in the story, I think chapter 24, maybe 25, it was said that Brutes don't get spell impressions, ever. It was a class penalty. Yet that's not the case here with Instructor Klein. Thanks again! Discord: https://discord.gg/PRyweNZmBW
Argh! That was still in there. I thought I had removed the reference to that months ago. It was on my to-do ASAP list, but it looks like it never did get done. Or maybe I fixed it in one spot, but it was mentioned in another, too. It's in sixteen, when he's talking about Chainers not getting spell impressions. (They still don't.) Fixed it just now. I did Brutes and Meisters a little dirty in my early descriptions because I hadn't yet conceived of the System being quite as flexible as I came to realize it should be. I also avoided explaining how stat points worked with authority because it was going to be a plot point...and then I realized what I had planned was going to be was ridiculously convoluted, so I've made stats much more straightforward now. How they work isn't super relevant for the plot, but to get the fix in smoothly, I'm going to need to re-read and repair multiple places since stats get mentioned so often and Alden shouldn't be as vague on how they work as he is...
Did the big chapter that was promised for 100 get pushed back? Is it going to be chapter 103 now? I vaguely remember Sleyca replying that 100 would be big to someone complaining about the slow slice-of-life pace somewhere between 92-94. Then the skip happened (95 -> 98).
That was other people speculating that I should do something dramatic for 100! The numbering did get changed, but I didn't ever have a particularly large or shocking chapter in line for the magic number.
The next one, 102, is a slightly unusual chapter. But I don't know if people will think it's "big" or just "different."
sleyca i loove youuuu! <3
If Patreon would let me send you a .gif, I'd send that one of Metro Man from Mega Mind that says "And I love you, random citizen!"
Sleyca I have a question of absolutely critical importance! Can life shapers make themselves fly by targetting themselves with Life telekinesis skills?
I would think so! Yes. This works. I can't think of any reason it wouldn't within the story.
There should be several flying options of varying quality/ease given the variety of classes.
I would prefer you simply skip a post or two rather than freeze entirely, I pay for patreon both to get early access but also to ensure that this story continues. Whichever approach works better for you is fine though.
It's good to know what people prefer! I've never had to skip before so I do appreciate the insight into what everyone wants.
Hi, is there an .epub or just a.pages
Oops! Sorry everybody! That was an error. It's an epub now.
As much as I hate to suggest it - you're effectively self-employed on this gig. Taking time off, both to get the backlog up and just to recharge is absolutely something you can and should do. Selfishly I love reading your work, and want to keep doing so for some time, so anything that keeps you writing is something I'm 100% behind. Look after yourself!
Thanks, Cyrus! I'm loving writing the story every day. I have a few looming obligations that make the upcoming couple of months more challenging, but I'm trying to balance it out.
Reading about Stuart’s auriad made me curious. What happens if someone’s favorite color is just white?? Does it just stay white? Or does it change to an off white?
It would stay white!
Hey Sleyca, if this isn't spoilers, how does the Adjuster class work? Do they have subclasses? My assumption was that Adjusters had total freedom when choosing their first spell (though maybe more powerful spells are only available later), with later spells specializing based on their first choice. But there's a couple times during the Class Trading chapters where someone will request "Adjusters (All)". If they do have subclasses, can you tell us what the subclasses are? Like is Everly Adjuster -- Ice, Max is Adjuster -- AOE and Kon is Adjuster -- Object?
Adjusters do have total freedom choosing their route to start with. They get to play with the whole list to pick their initial spell/skill combos, and then they get locked into a narrower path. In Kon's case, when he agreed to the Contract and started the process for choosing his Adjuster path there was a special offer. The System itself doesn't give Adjuster's subclass names. They're all called Adjuster of Reality when they pull up their own interfaces to take a look at themselves. Interestingly, the fact that they get narrowed down after first affixation is just common knowledge, not an actual written restriction or rule the System informs them about in advance. There are so many routes Adjusters can take that most people don't call them by a colloquial subclass name either, unless they're going a route that's really widely used. Everly's ice spells and her traction skill are recognizable and popular enough that it wouldn't be strange for someone to call her an Ice Adjuster or Frost Adjuster, and people who heard those names would pretty much have a sense of what she did. Max, being weirder (and Kon being weirdest), don't have a similar shorthand way of telling people what they do. The lack of official path restriction and subclass names is why Kon doesn't have any idea what his next set of spell offers will be. It could be a ton of object repair spells, something temporal that has nothing to do with repair (totally what he's hoping for), or something that makes use of his object reading skill in an entirely different way than his first spell.
The chapter is a pages file not an epub! Could you update?
I did! Sorry Ming! Sorry everyone!
Can we please get a pronunciation for the word that means "righteous scholarly exit"? I need it for... reasons
I need to make up that word. I just loved the idea of them having a name for the process of leaving because your school or teacher isn't treating you appropriately. It felt like the flip-side of their reverence for instructors.
I don't think you should pause payments if you miss just one chapter. Just do what you can and take my money already! I'd send a heart emoticon if would show up in the comment :'(
Thank you, Flopmind!
Patreon is heartless!
I get that Alden is thinking a lot about Boe's situation and that affects what he thinks of Superheroes, but an unregistered villain murdered his family and I don't think he'd be as dismissive of heroes as he comes across here.
He does say that in response to Stuart asking specifically about dragging Avowed to Anesidora, though. "Will you do that one day?" follows Stuart's question about capturing people who haven't done any harm. It's a condemnation of that specific part of the job, not of the entire concept of superheroes in general. When Stuart asks about superheroes and the entertainment factor more generally, right before that, Alden points out that while it's a large part of work for most superheroes there are people who aren't entertainers at all. (Instructor Fragment and the Anesidora battlegroups)
Thanks for the chapter. It makes sence that Alden uses Fahrenheid because he is an American but do Anesidorans use Celsius becaue that is more international/scientific? Or does the system also translates that. I am curious because I had to look up how warm/cold 40 Fahrenheid is.
Alden is still stuck on Fahrenheit, but Anesidora does use Celsius. I think we see an example of this in the party scene at Kon's when they're talking about water temp if I didn't cut that line. I'm thinking of having him switch over to Celsius after he's lived there a while.
Hey Sleyca, this chapter hasn't been released to the public on Patreon (but the next one has). Just an FYI :) I love your work btw!
Thanks Walter!
It's there anyone in the world who actually does the recycling *right*?
The garbage wright is the real hero.
Affixing his free authority is going to be interesting. A few weeks where he won't use his powers is going to be tough with school. Seems a good reason to confide in Stuart for a friendly summon at that time.
Regarding summer break - I *think* I said it but it might just be in my notes instead of on the page. CNH is year round, but students can choose to take one quarter per year off, effectively giving themselves their own break. The hero program is less flexible due to extra grad requirements, but they do have some options.
Just because it's a little unclear from the text, and what's gone before - does the extra level to Lifter of Many Loads get applied immediately, or does the unbound authority from that act stay available for Alden to use? I thought, from what has been said before, that it would be the latter but some of the statements from today's Counselling Session imply that the skill has already levelled on its own.
It was explained back in Mother, but a ton of stuff was in that chapter so it’s easy to forget specifics. Skills can become more powerful and accumulate authority and gain functionality as long as they haven’t hit the cap that they’re designed to have. Bound authority grows until a skill is complete. Alden’s skill is designed to be capless, so it can just keep growing…he grew it on Thegund too, then Mother tied his free authority up with it, which isn’t a common thing. Instead of getting spell impressions and points, she did work on the skill…an option that’s a better fit for him than it would be for most Avowed because his skill was designed with the understanding that it would be upgraded and enhanced whereas most don’t require any further work from Systems after they’re given.
The authority that grows within the confines of a skill can only become the skill…like it’s following guidelines laid down for it by the affixation. Or expanding to fill a container…
I want to answer everyone individually but I’m having some trouble with my tech tonight, so I’ll put this here and hope people see it: *Small affixations being less traumatic than larger ones is a natural assumption, but it’s not really accurate. Affixation itself is something it’s nearly impossible for someone with an authority sense to accept as it’s happening; Alden definitely can’t. As Mother says when he asks her to tell him what it will be like, after he’s decided to do it, “You will beg me to stop, and I will not. You will fight back, and you will lose.”
Skill in the real profile should be: Bearer of All Burdens instead of Let Me Take Your Luggage.
I am extremely late replying to this, but I happened to spot the comment as I was scrolling down. Let Me Take Your Luggage is the official System name for Alden's skill, even on the real profile. Bearer of All Burdens is its original name, but it's not listed anywhere. The Artonans' current policy on the 300ish original skills is that they should be kept in circulation, but they should be chosen and developed organically by clueless Avowed if they get chosen at all. Keeping them is a concession to the people who think the skills are meaningful, necessary, and/or historically significant; but they don't want curious or enthusiastic wizards summoning up the Bearer of All Burdens by name and putting him through intensive training to see what kind of OP super Avowed they can make with the *neat* unlimited skill. So even summoners have to recognize the skill by its features and functions, like Joe did, rather than getting notified about what it really is by the System.
Could you maybe add how many parts these chapters will have? Some might consider it a spoiler, but it would be nice to know how long i would have to wait if i wanted to read all the parts in one go
FruitsPunchSamurai, there will be at least 3 parts called "The Chainer" and possibly a couple more, depending on how I decide to present the plot point I have in mind. I think if you want to read in chunks, Parts 1 and 2 will go together nicely...I can give you an update with more details after I've written a little farther and figured out whether I want a certain thing to happen in the next few chapters or in a future section.
FruitsPunchSamurai, an update: As of right now, I plan to call around six chapters "The Chainer." Setting/situation will change throughout though, so it's not as easy to say where good stopping spots are as usual. Parts 1-2 or parts 1-3 will read nicely all together, followed by a second batch of around 3 chapters that should read well in a chunk, too.
Hey Sleyca, if it's not spoilers, can you explain how Trap Meisters and Wand Meisters work? Are they like Dart Meisters, where they get multiple tools from the System? This behavior about Lute is pretty interesting. Reminds of the roommates chapter, where it's implied that Lute did *something* to his classmates a few years ago. Lexi and Haoyu don't seem to blame him and even think it was justified, but I guess Everly, Vandy, and Tuyet don't have the same opinion.
cafenacet, I've been wanting to play with Trap Meister but it may be a long while before one shows up. My original idea for them was that they would get a set of complementary tools to play with. Wand Meister is interesting. Wands haven't made much of an appearance in Super Supportive but they work in two different ways. There are wands that wizards use as casting tools, like Alden does the auriad, and there are wands that are more like complex spell rings pre-loaded with effects or partial effects.
Alden's wrong about Manon right? When we were reading her POV, everything she did was about placing people to affect their thoughts, not influencing them directly in those people minds. Am I misremembering?
Sindri, you're going to think I stole your example here in the next chapter. I almost changed a paragraph because of this comment...it's in response to a different thing but Alden is about to make this point too. He even uses Sway and Meister as his comparisons!
Also, Manon is both a social manipulator and a mind manipulator. It's been so long since we saw Alden arrive at the conclusion for the first time back in the LeafSong arc...I should perhaps make that even clearer in Manon's chicken-eating scene. She does rearrange thoughts directly in addition to setting people up in situations so that they'll have the thoughts/feelings she wants to use in the first place. A two-pronged approach so to speak. So when she talks about putting Naya and Chris together and getting them to have sex with each other...she has to generate the possibility first. (Putting them in the same room, plying them with alcohol, etc..) Then she can "push" them into it with her magic and make sure the outcome (Naya-guilty/ Chris-smitten) is the one she wants instead of whatever might happen more organically.
Excellent soup as always! Thank you Sleyca! I feel so bad at the hate Lute is getting. With how little we know of the situation, it feels like victim blaming for whatever Lute in retaliation/lashing out. But we don't know what or why and it's just ugggggghhhhh. Sleyca why? :'( Discord link: https://discord.gg/PRyweNZmBW
I love Lute so much, so I make him suffer.
I'm convinced that no one knows why everyone hates luke, Sleyca included. All of this has just been stalling so that Sleyca has time to come up with something.
Oh ye of little faith. Actually, you could say this about several things in the book and be correct...Joe, for example, sideswiped me. He was going to be a more minor character originally, but after I started writing about him, I just kept developing him more and more because he was so interesting. Before I knew it he had a full backstory and a spot on the "definitely going to come back" roster. I usually go the other way though. There are quite a few characters with very deep backstories because I planned to use them heavily but then I realized their plot lines were too tangential or other characters were just better for the story right now. Lute has had a very meaty backstory since he came on screen and a place on the recurring character roster, though. There was going to be a chapter called Hazel & Lute after Hannah's funeral that talked about both of them, so I actually developed them even more than I normally would have. I decided it was too much of a digression at that point to have a chapter about two characters who wouldn't reappear for such a long time...but the reason for the hatred (well, one of the reasons...he has the Velra situation complicating matters...the Lute dislike is multilayered and the reasons for it differ depending on the person) was actually made up all the way back then. The details have changed a couple of times in my head, but the spirit of them has remained the same.
Hi just joined the patreon from RR, noticed that the chapters on there seem to be different from the ones here. (RR just got chapter ninety two and that one is very different from the one here) could anybody tell me where the divergence happens so I can reread those sections?
N0m_N0m, you'll want to start here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ninety-one-only-90163085.
RR has a different chapter number count than Patreon due to a revision back in the eighties. (The Boe chapters had some additions when they were posted on RR, so you've read the most up to date versions.) I skipped two numbers here on the Patreon to put them back up to date with you on the latest ones. I should go change the titles so that it's a little less confusing...though then the epub titles will all be off. By the way, welcome! Also, if you're having any trouble with the italics on chapters showing up, they should look good on other browsers or the Patreon app or in the ePub files linked at the bottom of the chapters. If you need anything feel free to comment or shoot me a message.
Aldenxthat one artonan girl with the gum at leafsong.
Ah, I haven't seen a Jel-nor shipper in a while! She did offer to share little square hamburgers with him. And she tried to force him to fight a crocosquid. And she macrames skin. And she showed him her auriad while she was blowing up Stuart's foot.
Thanks! "The Miracle Lakes neighborhoods are so twee" Can someone translate please?
What Maddy says! The neighborhoods are heavily themed and a bit cutesy. (Milagro is the Spanish themed one. Kiseki would have Japanese theming, etc...)
Oh wow. Lute's mom is a non-Avowed. Didn't expect that. I had this theory that Orpheus Velra was Lute's dad because the mythological Orpheus was a lute player, and he is in his 30s now so if he was irresponsible he could have become a father at that young age. I guess he'd have to be really irresponsible to get a non-Avowed woman pregnant so it makes sense kinda. Interesting what it says about authority genetics if a regular human woman can give birth to S-rank Lute. It would also help explain why he was bullied and tormented as a smaller boy, and also his bitterness about 'those privileged little rankists'. edit some more: I guess Laura and probably many of her fellow boaters don't want to be healed- they want to be compensated by Manon. They don't mind being her possessions, being in her cult - they just want to be paid more for it. Very venal of them. Disappointing.
I will not comment on anything that might be spoilery, but I just wanted to thank you for the new word! I didn't know "venal."
Neat. Usually I’m all in in the slow pace and the character building but I think this is the first time I actually started to get annoyed that Alden didn’t manage to speak to Laura. It’s been building for that past few chapters and finally right when it was going to happen something got in the way and it’s totally gonna get sidelined by Lutes mom revelation.
Ah, sometimes knowing too much about the characters makes it difficult for me to anticipate frustrations like this. For example, the convo with Laura would have been very easy to write, and *then* Lute's mom could've shown up which would have avoided Alden failing at his goal...but it didn't occur to me to do it that way because I already knew the things about Laura's character that are revealed in this chapter. (She does not respond to Alden's warning message by seeking help, she appears to be willingly a part of something that she says 'takes the whole team,' she calls in a Velra instead of police/a healer...) Given all of that, they could have had a conversation but not a very plot-forwarding one. Without spoiling anything, it's obvious that she's displeased since receiving his letter a few hours ago, so it's fair to assume she read it and is currently in the process of reacting to it. But her reaction doesn't seem to be one that would lead her to accept any further involvement from an outsider, especially a teenager. So their conversation would likely have been Alden saying, "Take this seriously." And Laura saying, "Yes, yes. Thank you. Of course I will. Now please stay out of my business, little boy." Alden might or might not have believed her. They could possibly have had some tension with each other about the boater's bad treatment of a frightened teenager... But the information-rich, revelatory part of the chapter would *still* have been Lute's mom showing up because her connection to all of this, whatever it is, gives Alden much more access to the problem and food for thought than a convo with Laura would. (We're also in the middle of a biggish Lute/Chainer section. The boater is connected but not necessarily centered.)
Wow as several people have pointed out, this looks like the S rank that was texting Manon in chapter 101 (same speech pattern, has a Velra connection), meaning she probably has a way to hide her avowed status. There have been theories floating around about Lute having some Artonan genes for awhile (short, double S, makes high pitched squeaks, maybe couldn't be healed as easily because of unusual cells, pretty sure there is more since I began seeing the theory before most of that had even come up), it will be interesting to see if there is something to it or if his mother just happens to look very Artonan.
David! I'm so glad someone picked up on that tiny reaction. It's just a single pained look from him when Alden mentions the teacher's appearance, and I didn't expected anyone to notice it.
Great cliff!
I feel like I don't do true cliffhangers often enough. :)
"He leaned forward to talk to the burly, suited man who definitely wasn’t a mobster. Lute reached into the seatback pocket and pulled out a ski mask Alden stared at him. 'They come standard with the ride,' Lute said defensively." Dying! I know Alden is the BoAB, but the burden of continuing to believe the driver isn't a mobster might just be beyond him.
If I was writing bloopers/outtakes for this chapter, I would have to include Lute shopping for this whole privacy experience with Parethat-uur's money.
The Roman numeral IV is because I wanted to see if it looked better than part four, part 4, pt 4...I've been so random in how I do this, I want to settle and get a consistent format for multipart chapters moving forward.
I like how it looks, too! I think if any of you are hating the Roman numeral you should speak now before I fall for it completely.
I have to go have dinner with my family. Will save my soup for later.
Dessert soup!
Well that was heavy. Thanks for the chapter!
Yeah. I think being a human child on Anesidora would be incredibly hard. Everyone's entire life is built around being something you can never be and doing things you can never do.
Dear lord, Hazel is an awful little girl and Jessica should have thrown her overboard. Her comments to Lute were horrible and her getting B must have been Karma smacking her around.
My first reader for this chapter said, "She didn't deserve B! She should have gotten something worse."
How much of this was Alden told
It will be more obvious in the next chapter, but I'm structuring these Velra bits as Lute telling Alden the story...you can think of it as Alden getting the basic facts/highlights, but readers get to inhabit the actual scene so you're getting more of Lute's thoughts and details than Alden would. For example, he wouldn't have described his mom's outfit to Alden, but you get to see it. He might not tell him about his most embarrassing thoughts. Things like that. But Alden's getting the gist of it all unless otherwise stated.
Ooookay, the Hazel fan club may need to meet slightly later than usual today as we digest this latest chapter and work on rationalizations for how she is actually a misunderstood nice young lady. We all learned some valuable lessons about Velras family history and human biology today and I, for one, am grateful to Hazel for that.
The Hazel fan club has such a rich history. It formed the very minute she appeared at the funeral...I think because Alden didn't like her. People were saying, "That's love brewin' right there." The instant dislike is a classic set-up for that sort of thing. Anyway, she's a very interesting character. Please enjoy theorizing about her until I finally get around to showcasing her in her entirety. :)
The reason everyone hates lute just gets more and more hyped. Good lord please, just tell us, lmao. I feel like it has to be more than Velra reputation. What did he do when he was younger? Why are otherwise perfectly fine people so completely against the poor guy? To the point he even has to worry about people pissing in his shoes. Its wild. He had to have done some sorta class wide revenge shit to alienate almost every single one of his peers to that degree, for this long.
No spoilers here, just a clarification: there is more than one set of Lute dislikers, and only one group of them is a mystery still. The Velra family has lovers and haters for a plethora of reasons (Aulia is a politician, among other things). Lute wouldn't be getting many advantages from the Velra-lovers since he's vocally anti-Velra at the moment. But he's still got the last name and the number of haters has increased recently due to people being aware of the fact that the Gloss had, at minimum, a nationwide effect. Aulia lucking up her whole family with something super powerful has to have an effect on the rest of Anesidora, but nobody can determine or prove what those effects are. So a lot of them just assume that it was all *bad* for everyone else... Aulia has used the Gloss just a couple of times before, but it was such a long time ago that this recent instance is very noteworthy. At CNH, the other art students call Lute "cheater" in an earlier chapter and he says they think he uses luck wordchains to get things he doesn't deserve. Any time he beats someone in class or for an audition, that kind of thing would get leveled at him by jealous people, and he has no rejoinder other than "I didn't do it" since he can't prove he's not doing something similar to Aulia. On top of that, during the Gloss, a girl who Lute liked suddenly decided she was in love with him...that just looks really bad even if it wasn't his fault. That kind of thing would definitely be enough to inspire a shoe pisser. Finally, we have a small number of people who went to school with Lute before high school, some of whom are now coming to CNH, who Lute seems to have had some specific conflict with in middle school. Lute was very worried Haoyu's mom wouldn't like him because of it, but Lexi says it was childish and that his classmates were terrible. Haoyu thinks it was similarly forgivable and actually neglected to tell his parents about it because he was worried it would actually make him look worse than Lute. The other kids, who do tend to be less mature than Lexi and Haoyu, are still angry about it obviously. Info about that is coming up... As a side note, Lute could probably have "friends" of the S-rank admirer variety. He does have that going for him, and it's not a small thing. But he would be very unwelcoming of that, I think, given how he grew up. So then you'd have a subset of people who were like, "I wanted to be friends with Lute Velra (because he's an S), and he told me I was a buttkisser who should jump off a dock!" That definitely wouldn't inspire a lot of affection from those people.
Honestly this description of the Velra family tree reminded me of a Ray Steven’s song…. 🎶“I’m My Own Grandpa” 🎶 https://youtu.be/eYlJH81dSiw
I thought of this song more than once when I was making the family tree.
How you write humans so humanly is something I can't help but constantly admire
Thank you Pordgy!
Assembling the Lute protection squad rn
I felt like a monster writing this chapter. Baby Lute just wanted to practice his piano and be a Water Shaper and eat grapes! And I ruined it all...
These chainer chapters have everything but fencing in them. William Goldman would be proud. 💖
The Princess Bride is glorious and the book is even better.
"If the bagpipe man hadn’t been busy that month, who knew what might have happened?" Oh, Lute! The bagpiper was always going to be busy that month. And the next month. And if you asked about it again, then Jessica was going to murder the bagpiper and be like, "What? He must've moved or something?"
I love bagpipes! You know seven-year-old Lute would have loved bagpipes! Bagpipes played by small children in ship cabins and city apartments is a very good idea!
What's a hyperbole in this context?
Adam is right!
The most unbelievable thing about the chapter is Aulia going through such great lengths to illegally modify her daughter to be as Artonan as possible and then turning around and giving her such a basic name like Jessica 😂
Oh!! There's a reason for this! It's back-backstory though. I don't know how long it will be before I can slip it in naturally. It might fit in soonish or it might be quite a while.
Stop, stop! He's already dead!
Let me go a little longer! He's still twitching.
Honestly, I just love Lute. I think the Velra family is so insane, and I think getting to see what childhood is like on Anesidora really paints all of the non-globie characters in a clearer light. This will probably be the longest I'll ever spend telling the story of someone besides Alden. The only other flashbacks longer than a page or two that I have in mind for the entire serial right now are for Stuart, Joe, Aulia, Boe and mayyyybe Lexi. They might not happen, they are way off in the distance, and they all feel like single chapter affairs to me, not like this Velra Novella I've been playing with in my head since March. I could write this much about Stu and the other art'h's as well, but they have access to too much info for me to actually do it without spoiling all the things.
Swiss Jeez, yes. John D Jones - Lute: You're one of Alden's wizard friends? I asked his other wizard friend how to say dickwad and he told me there was no equivalent in your language. Joe *narrows eyes*: Well you asked an amateur. What can you expect? Lute: Oh so there is-- Joe: Take off your shoes. You're in the presence of an Instructor.
Thank you for the chapter! How long has Super Supportive been in the works?
I started actually writing it a few weeks before I first posted on Royal Road. So I think it was right at the very beginning of this year. Before that, I'd had the characters and the world in my head for several months, though!
Man, I bet countries really like recruiting "globies" as heroes because they can physically feel the waves of condescension coming off of anyone born on Anesidora. What an incredibly toxic way to raise kids.
I definitely think I'd rather grow up a globie than an Anesidoran, if I was getting superpowers in this world. Even if they are way behind in a lot of ways and struggling with disadvantages from not knowing what was going to happen to them. I think having something much more powerful than you stick a literal rank on everyone you'd ever met would create a nigh-inescapable vortex of rank obsession. Even if you were trying to claw your way out of it and think around it, it would be hard to know when you were actually judging people correctly instead of by the letter, and as a kid approaching the age when you were going to get your own letter, thoughts and anxieties and hunger for the "good" ranks would probably swallow a lot of your life and personality. Even in our world, you've got eighteen-year-olds who've been raised to think something like a college application will decide their entire fate and worth. Starting to think that way about getting the magic you're going to have for the rest of your life at twelve and thirteen, while enjoying the hormone soup of puberty at the same time, would just be awful and make a lot of people awful.
I’m looking at every Aulia interaction so critically. Her pulling a Steve Jobs reference on her grandson has to be a clever trick from Sleyca to foreshadow how terribly she treats the Velras, ~just~ like steve jobs treated the apple employees. Yes, it all makes so much sense now. This is clearly a very intriguing metaphor for capitalism and the people at the top hurting those at the bottom… or she was just making a goofy reference. 50/50 shot really.
Haha! I was actually thinking about Aulia's age. She's too young to have been a beatnik but just the right age to have thought they were cool when she was young. Then I started looking at pictures of beatnik outfits, and one of the first results was the exact one I had in mind and the woman wearing it even looked a little like my mental Aulia. It's here (I'm sorry I don't know who the original photographer/model are to credit them): https://pascalebooysen.com/2020/06/14/lookbook-beatnik-style/ The woman with the pipe and the beret. Though Aulia does not smoke a pipe...
I'm about to cry for Lute Velra in the middle of a cafe; I understand even more now why he was initially so standoffish
I'm glad nobody realized he wasn't born to super powerful parents before we got to these chapters! I had worked hints in, but I hoped it would stay unspoiled and it looks like it did. :)
ARTONIANS ARE POCKET SIZED?!?!? Why hasen't this been emphasized in the past?! I was thinking of them as tall willowy dudes but it turns out they're actually wizards in a fun-sized package!
They are! If you imagined them otherwise it's probably because of Joe, who's about an inch taller than Alden and the first one we really got a good description of. He's a really big guy for an Artonan. Alden's right at 5' 10" or 176.4 cm.
Now I'm really tempted to have Alden call Stu-art'h fun-sized so that he can be completely baffled...
Thanks for the chapter! First: god, kids get messed up enough as is by standardized testing etc, seeing the outcome of that same obsession with "objective" rankings getting applied to their entire existence is positively heartbreaking. Second: is this the first time we've had a year directly stated for the story? I can recall a few times there were rough timeframes based on historical references, but I think this is the first time we've been explicitly able to say "it is currently 2040"? Still pretty much the "present day, present time" I had been thinking of, but might be interesting to reread with that in mind.
It was always around 2040, but I did't actually settle on the exact year until Alden got to Anesidora. Since I knew they had a thing for celebrating global holidays I wanted to make sure they had correct dates. If you look at the earlier chapters, days of the week that coincide with specific dates are going to be a little off with the year 2040, but I'll go back and fix those eventually. From the beginning of the intake chapters to now, I *should* have all the dates/days correctly synched with the 2040 calendar.
Can't comment. Too sad.
Don't be too too sad! He's sitting in an apartment with Alden now eating flan, so thinks are looking up!
I like the idea of feeding Brutes.
The Brutes would probably like it too, to be honest. As long as it wasn't carrot sticks and sugar cubes. Who doesn't want snacks?
Well.. its kinda weird that there is so much world building. But the ending cliffhanger kinda makes it interesting, so I guess its fine. Without the cliffhanger I'm not sure I would be back.
I've realized that some people are always going to have a dislike of any part of the story that deviates from the present-day plot. That's fine. I understand because I've definitely felt that way about flashbacks or delays due to a new character intro in other stories. But since writing the things I'm passionate about is what keeps me churning out chapters, I'll always have to go with the thing I'm really excited about. Lute's backstory is so darn juicy. He could definitely be the protag of his own novel. And his background shows a part of Anesidora it's virtually impossible for Alden to see, so it's coming in from his perspective. This is the last chance for it to be presented in the story without a ton of the more dramatic details being a rehash of things readers would come to know in the future through less interesting ways. I'm also a major sucker for world building, so there's really no such thing as too much of it, imo. The Velras too...so much to unpack there. In general I'm not a flashback writer and I've only very, very rarely left Alden's point of view in Super Supportive up until now. That's how I intend to keep going moving forward. But this is going to be an enormous (wordcount wise) story about Lute and the family and the Chainer class, if that's not already clear. I've been calling it the Velra Novella in my head. It's probably the biggest thing like this I will do...at least as far as my authorial eyes can see into the future at this point. There are at least two more large chapters in it (they are written). I think it will be four total by the time I wrap it up. So I'm very glad you're coming back on Sunday to read the next one, but if it hasn't captured you by then, now you what I'm doing and how long it should last. That's what's up! :)
*four more total, I'm not sure the way I wrote that was very clear
hell yeah it's a helicopter! thanks for the chapter! so he is telling Alden his past, I was so curious about what happened in school, nice to see the other characters, makes it more real, though seeing this, I dread the middle school bullying. Aulia was so creepy, a special game for some members to make them feel special and loved, truly a cult leader. It really feels like the rest are only minions to be managed in her cabal. I must say when we first met Lute in Hannah's funeral, I didn't expect him to be more than a passing character like Aimi, I am so glad that's not the case, he's so fun, relatable, and these chapters break my heart. I was outraged at the bullying especially the coldness from the hero students, so I am excited to see what actually happened. and finally have background info on that conversation when the boys first were settling in the apartment.
Oh! Was it you who was hoping for the helicopter last chapter? I was excited to see that comment because I was like, Yes! That person is going to be happy with Lute's ride. :)
I didn't enjoy reading this, it is unrealistic without there being a driving reason why that I can see. This feels like someone telling me the most insanely overly dramatic telling of their bad childhood I would tell them they have a victim complex and we're leaving things out. However that doesn't seem to be your intention so instead the CIA gangstalked Lute to give him mathematicly the most cartoonishly bad childhood possible. It is well written as always. My own life experience included a not great childhood but two things make Lutes seem totally invented. First Lute would try and leave, it is mentioned but no kid that age has the emotional strength to endure that. After Kon made that comment a normal kid might refuse to go to school the next day or act out. His grades would drop, he might stop eating. Second people do care, even in socially rigid contexts. Yet apparently even Lutes own parents never once detected his problems nor did any teacher or other family members. Also how is it the greatest grandma ever paid a mountain of cash for designer babies and then dropped them on their heads and apparently leaves them all socially stunted? I don't know, I love this story but this section feels like a low point to me but maybe I just can't see the design.
Kerri, I've read your comment a few times. I wonder if you might be reacting to the degree of misery Lute is feeling more than the degree of ill-treatment he's experiencing and that's what's making it read as unrealistic. At this point in the story, the school kids (Hazel and the cousins are a different matter entirely) haven't actually done much to him other than exclude him and disappoint him, for a variety of reasons. Remember, Aulia isn't just rich; she's a controversial politician. A lot of parents would support or even want to suck up to the Velras, although Lute seems to have decided by sixth grade to disdain the 'friends' who only want to hang out with him because they like his family's influence and material wealth. He's rejecting the idea of having a giant birthday party to try to claim some of that for himself... On the other side of it, some parents would be uncomfortable having their children spend time in the household of someone who they knew had vastly different morals/opinions than they do. The parents' distaste for Aulia is filtering down to the kids as "Something's wrong with that Velra family." So they don't want to hang out with Lute because of the association...rather like Alden not wanting to be his roommate before he snapped out of it, actually. Most of what's hurting Lute in this chapter, though, is contained in Kon's statement to Lexi. And Kon is not being deliberately cruel at all. He's just telling his big brother what the most noteworthy thing about Lute Velra is, in his opinion -- he's not one of us. He's not superhuman. It's set up in contrast to the acceptance Lute felt in third grade, when the kids thought he was close enough to being "just like us". Rejection, which is mostly what's happening here, is horribly painful. That's why Lute's suffering so much. But in my experience that kind of exclusionary behavior doesn't get handled well by adults at all. It's pretty hard to fix a situation where all the other kids don't want to hang out with one who has a glaring difference. As Lute says, he's allowed to join their extracurriculars. The adults would make everyone behave. But the very act of the adults forcing the other kids to be nice to him and include him would make them dislike him more. Of course they're hitting middle school now, and Lute's alone, and the pressure cooker that is rankism is working on all of them...and we're starting to get signs of people picking on him more actively. Like the phone case. Bullies do like to target the vulnerable.
I thought Lute was cool before these chapters but now he’s one of my favorite characters.
Thank you Spam!
At some point I want to see Maricel meeting Alis'Art'h so Maricel can learn the Dao of Dirt-throwing.
Maricel upon First Meeting the Quaternary: Now there's a woman who could build the kind of bridge I have in mind!
Sleyca, if this isn't spoilers, can you be selected younger than 15? We know most S get selected at 15, but all the bits in story (that I could find) are ambiguous whether younger than 15 is possible.
Outliers happen on both ends of the spectrum.
I kind of skimmed this chapter but I think I got the jist of it,
Aidan if you're skimming because you don't want to read about the Velras and Lute, it's going to last 3 or 4 more chapters I think. They're very full of drama if you like Lute's character and are curious about the Chainer family, but if not, now you know.
P look m the
I do not know what this means, but I will like it anyway...
Oh southern hemisphere eww
Poor Southern Hemisphere. What did it ever do to you, Leaf?
I mostly skimmed and skipped. I'm fine with some background here and there but I want to read about.. super supportive. Thus far we had the moon and some gym and that's about it. I'll go 1 more month but I'm on the edge of dropping the story. It was slow but now its just weeks of filler stuff that doesn't add that much to the story. 5 parts of this..
Well, the first three chapters of The Chainer, Alden was learning about the class, learning his self-mastery wordchain, and discovering that the Velras are involved with the boater and Manon. Now it's about who the Velras are, as seen through Lute's eyes. Super Supportive is a heavily world-building, character, and slice of life focused story. I try to tell people this at every opportunity. My goal is world immersion. I feel like the future action lines hit harder because of it. If you enjoyed chapters like Roommates, where Alden moved into the dorms or the recent chapter where Stuart watched him go through his school day, those are a couple of personal favorites from the last few. Oh! And Alden's talk with the Earth System of course. If you did enjoy those, as well as the moon and the gym our tastes probably align pretty well. Lute's backstory will be completed in around two weeks, and we'll be on to new things. If you did really think everything other than the gym and Thegund was filler, though, I apologize. I haven't written anything *I* consider filler. Goodness, why would? I only have so many hours in the day, and so much story to tell... Even the party at Kon's, which I feel comes the closest to qualifying as filler, was meant to be an experience for the reader--it's supposed to be a sort of vibey invitation to be a teenager for the night, and a jubilant character extravaganza set up to contrast with a couple of dark and painful small moments (Alden's origami folding of his affixation and Maricel's separation from the life and people she loves.) The B-list was a small oops....it definitely wasn't filler at that time since I was planning to launch a plot point from within the club, but I decided to launch that plot point differently, so in hindsight it's going to look like those characters were given page time quite prematurely. (Sorry, B-listers. Love you guys. See you again soon.) Anyway, what I'm saying is, this is the kind of story where if you want to *fully* enjoy *every* chapter you're going to need to enjoy lots of different stuff like this. The Party is different from Roommates which is different from Alden progressing his magic in the kitchen the night before Boe leaves which is different from Thegund which is different from...etc... I want everyone to love it. And if I could shoot my own passion for this story through the computer screen to pierce all doubting hearts I would. But that's kind of what I'm trying to do by writing it the way I have been since the beginning of this year anyway... Super Supportive gives you Alden, every step of the way, and this universe he lives in, every crumb of it. Presented with as much care and attention to detail as I can manage. That is the story goal. I hope that shines through.
Sometimes a novel starts getting too invested in telling the stories of characters other than the protagonist. It makes me, at least, get frustrated and start wanting to just shift back to what I came for. I feel we’re getting close to that point here. I get it. Backstory for people around the MC and the environment. But maybe do this in smaller chunks. It’s feeling like too much. The fact we’re on session 5 of the same title with more to go is telling. I don’t dislike Lute or his story, but jeez. Too much, all at once.
I'm guilty of being majorly invested in Lute's backstory, but that's because he's cool and his childhood is abnormally dramatic and it's also a backstory that reveals things about the Velras and Hazel and the Chainer class and some of the kids Alden knows at school now and... It's a big access point for worldbuilding a part of Anesidora that won't be easy for Alden to see otherwise, and I'm fascinated by what the "becoming an Avowed" process looks like for the Anesidora kids. It also lets us see the Velras in a way that we would otherwise only hear about secondhand, right as we've learned they have an involvement with the boater of some kind. So this is going to be a big story section. Definitely three more chapters. Maybe a fourth. But in general I have little interest in writing other characters' backstories out. I think before now we've only had half a chapter for Maricel and a chapter for the Boe & Alden revision? (I could be missing one..) I mention in a comment above that the only other characters in the story who I currently have tentative plans to backstory in the future are Stuart, Joe, Aulia, Boe, and maybe Lexi. And all of those storylines in my head are only around a chapter's worth of info that would be best shared directly through those characters' eyes (my requirement for whether something should be presented in flashback scenes as opposed to just being learned by Alden through dialogue) The exception to that would be Stuart. He could have a massive one, considering how thoroughly developed his childhood is in my head, but he's almost definitely not getting a *big* block of backstory chapters within the next hundred because writing from an Artonan perspective while avoiding buckets of spoilers ruining things is really hard... Oh I forgot Gorgon. I know things about Gorgon. I don't consider things like Kivb-ee's and Manon's and escape kid's plans to be backstory though. Those are front story from different PoV's. Though even if you're including different PoV's...we've had hardly any of it. A smidge from Boe, a smidge from Gorgon, one from Alis-art'h... Anyway, none of that's an absolute promise about things I will or won't write in the future, but those are my current plans and my general taste as an author and a reader is to focus on a single protagonist. So Alden's PoV in the present timeline remains my primary interest. It's his story. But Lute's cool. And the Velras kidnapped him once. And they do things on the Triplanets. So they get what's probably going to be the longest backstory section in the whole book until/unless Stuart becomes not a spoiler in the future...
This story is really something special. Its emotional sensitivity and wonderful characters, its quiet understanding of consequences, its compassion, all set it apart from the crowd.
Thank you!
I don't know if this has been mentioned in a previous chapter, but can i ask what are the chances of being avowed if your parents are both avowed? the way people act in the story it seems like more than 90%
It is more than 90%. For kids of two Avowed parents it's a virtually always thing. Whiffs like Jessica and Cyril are extremely uncommon.
So I have a lot of thoughts on the last few chapters that I am struggling to figure out how to properly express. In general though i am loving them. I have a ton of theories budding up and floating around but I think I am going to let most grow a bit more before I try to express them. However I do have one that I want to put out there. My current pet/out there theory is that Jessica was gene modded to try to produce a super baby and it worked but not in the way they thought (maybe the dad was a hyperbole, maybe Artonan genes got snuck into the mix somehow, regardless). She got an abnormally large amount of Authority (maybe enough to qualify as a Hyperbole) but very low Chaos Potential. The main/original point of the contract is not to create superpowered servants it is binding the authority of people with high authority and high chaos potential to manage to Chaos Problem (obviously a lot of supposition here since we have very little concrete info on all this so far). So she was never chosen by the System. Lute on the other hand inherited her potential and (His father was a whiff also so maybe he was in the same boat if not as extreme) did have enough chaos potential leading the him getting an abnormally strong/high rank when he was chosen by the system. This has a couple odd implications beyond the obvious. One is that people are operating on really incomplete/inaccurate information when trying to create super babies. Two Jessica has the training and background to make an amazing mage if instructed, maybe a lot of Anisidoran Whiffs do.
You guys are actually going to get a clearer view of Alden's suppositions about authority and chaos potential soon. They're still just his suppositions, but it's something he hasn't really addressed since that day at the lab where Kibby tried to explain some things about chaos to him. It's been a few months, so he's thoughts...
As far as cruel school pranks go, the dice thing was EXCEPTIONALLY mild.
I think it's one of those things where it wasn't something completely out there and insane, but it was also a prank that would have pressed precisely the wrong button for a lot of the other kids. I feel like most of them would have been more forgiving if Lute had punched them in the face. He only poked them, but he poked them in a spot that was extremely sensitive. "Look at all the terrible ways you might suffer. Look at how your parents might die." There is also an added element of him not having the *right* to make light of things like that, since the Avowed relationship with the rest of Earth is one in which the Avowed are the only ones paying much of a price for the contract with the Artonans. As a non-Avowed who grew up with them all, Lute would be aware that there is a massive sense of unfairness underlying all the superiority. Kon is very lightly alluding to it in this chapter when he tells Lute he thought Lexi would find the dice thing unacceptable. (Based on his last convo with Alden, we learned that Lexi is of the opinion that humanity thinks Avowed should sacrifice themselves gladly since "that's what we're for." He's not wrong about that either...Avowed have magic, celebrity, and lots of luxuries which makes them envied and makes the majority of humanity unsympathetic to any complaints they might have about the less enjoyable parts of their lot in life. ) On top of that, almost everyone feels--like Kon here--that Lute was cruel to them for no reason. They are comparing themselves to his actual bullies and thinking, "What did he lash out at me for? I've never done anything mean to him!" A lot of blindness to their own flaws is going on there...
Hello, everyone! I'm still in the middle of revising the next chapter. I just wanted to let you all know it will be a few more hours since I've been posting them earlier lately.
You don't have to read it, but these chapters actually weren't unpopular after people settled into them. A few commenters were very, "when Alden?!" but for the most part readers got quite invested. The finale was actually one of the most liked posts on the Patreon. (Possibly because it's crazy long, I'll admit.) Also, you're posting that it's tedious and boring as you skip, and judging by how quickly you're posting complaints on each one, you really *are* fully skipping them all. So you might want to give it a chance with fresh eyes, unless you just loathe Lute or alternate character PoV's on principle. There's a lot of drama in these six chapters. Hazel, Aulia, Jessica and the other Velras are messy and interesting if you like character exploration, and the world of Anesidora presented here won't be seen in quite this light at any point through Alden's PoV. You also get to know Alden's classmates in a different light, and you see him and Haoyu interject on the story a couple of times. I encourage people to read however they please, but since you seem to be a true skipper rather than a skimmer, I did want to slow your roll a little and say, "Are you sure you hate it? Or are you just annoyed and racing through because it's not Alden?" I'd hate for you to skip over 70k words of content that I found enjoyable and then regret it when you read later chapters. These are not completely critical to understanding the plot, but they really build character (including some important characters you don't know much about yet) and they won't be as fun to read after you've experience some of the upcoming chapters. So I just wanted to give you fair warning that you are bypassing a LOT of words.
Is coda meant to have dual meanings, or was I reading something that wasn't there? I originally thought this was from the "Child Of Deaf Adults" acronym, which I thought was an interesting metaphor for Lute's relationship with his family. But coda as the musical term, closing out the Velra's section and maybe hinting towards his skill seems more the intention (that I missed originally).
I wasn't aware of the acronym! That's very interesting, Spores. I was using it in the musical sense.
I started binging this yesterday, now I am here
Welcome, Spirit Stones. (I hope you are well-rested!)
Oh gokoratch, Oh gokoracht, How tasty are your nest mates? Your putrid not only in summertime, But malodorous when it snows, Oh gokoratch, Oh gokoratch, Can I eat your egg before it hatches?
Beautiful.
I’m running circles gabbling. gokorach song is the best
I wondered if I was mean to share it. It's been stuck in my head ever since I made it up!
How does the “Empathy” of the Appeal stat works? Is it similar to Boe’s power?
If you just click +1 to Empathy and leave it up to the System what it gives you is a dose of the good social skills -- interest in others and an ability to more accurately analyze their emotions through social cues + feelings of warmth toward those others. It is also optional, and the System is (as exemplified by Lute's special request) able to do some really interesting and specific things if the Avowed wants. It's also able to suggest alternatives to points in some cases.
Thank you Sleyca! You should know that you (probably by accident) gave a server member a great birthday present today. It's a long story, but thanks for making his day. Speaking of discord: https://discord.gg/PRyweNZmBW
Happy Birthday reader! I hope it is a lovely one in every way!
My brother has been obsessed with rollercoasters since Mom checked out a rollercoaster picture book for him when he was two. I’m pretty sure he’s ridden all the famous ones in the US, and a number in other countries. Aside from my own desire to ride a magical coaster that hops like a frog and has invisible tracks, I found myself thinking that my brother would be the only kid in the world who wanted to be an F-rank Avowed, just so he could just spend his life on Anesidora riding that coaster over and over and over.
Rollercoaster riding is a fantastic hobby!
Will have to go back and check but did the girls 4th roommate vanish from the story without a word or name?
I was originally going to use her as a fourth girl character, but then I didn't think she really stood up to the rest of the Rabbit girls. And the scenes were feeling full enough with just the three named ones. So I decided not to name her or bring her forward. I figure it would be pretty normal for a lot of the teens to go separate ways after intake.
Elepta Farm’s marleck berry facility had been heavily robotized. Robotized isn't a word. Roboticized or automated would be better choices.
Robotized is actually more commonly used than roboticized! Almost 900k results on google vs 200k. I looked it up when my spell checker marked roboticized as incorrect while I was writing the chapter.
An interesting question came up on the Discord; couldn't Alden use his skill targeting and ability to know where the target is to utterly trivialize the hunting game? And for that matter, how common are targeted skills and do they usually create a halo around their target, since Alden got that even before the authority sense?
I should have had Marion explicitly say not to use targeting abilities in the first gym chapter. I was going to fix it by having someone accuse Reinhard of cheating here with his own targeting skill to show they were off-limits, but I took it out right before posting since I didn't want to do his character dirty like that. (He's overly gleeful about shooting people with arrows and has a terrible naming sense, but he's not a cheater!) I'll probably go back to the first gym chapter and slip it in there, since that's the most organic place for it. Basically, targeting is off limits because it would be preventing the kids with targeting abilities from learning to use their other senses and their reason for this exercise. There are different types of targeting depending on the Avowed, but a lot of them require the user to either know the name of their target or have them in their sights, so in a real life situation where they couldn't see the person they needed to find and didn't know their name their targeting would be useless.
Sleyca; Chapter is short, so you can wait until next release for more good stuffs! Me; ehm, no thanks :)
Thanks Vallla! It's the next one that's short. This one was actually a normal length. I just wanted to give as much advanced warning as possible. :)
“I’m going to buy more copper appliances for the apartment.” I laughed so hard I had tears welling up & my cat left the couch.
"Why do we have a new fridge?" "Because Haoyu deserves one. That's why."
Okay, it was short, but slowly thawing Lexi's frozen heart totally made up for it, their camaraderie is a joy to read. Also, if Alden can train the skill to the point that the distance doesn't matter, he's totally gonna be a sick rescue/extraction type hero. I could see a moment where a mission happens like what Joe had given him to go to the moon, but he's grown and improved, and its gonna be so sick to watch. I'm so happy to follow this story!
Thanks Memory! It's always fun to progress Alden. I've got so much cool stuff in mind for Bearer so it's always exciting to write chapters where I get to unwrap it just a little bit more! (PS - Next chapter's the short one. I'm just warning everyone in advance.)
I hope 2023 treated you well, everybody! And if it didn't, I hope you enjoy slamming the door on it. Happy New Year! :)
SO I've just read Chapter 107 on RR and noticed the following conversation: “Oh,” said Alden. He smiled down at the stone. “So they’re a kid.” An Artonan exactly his age should be physically and emotionally closer to human twelve. and Esh in this chapter calls Alden a 13 yr old child - both of these imply that the Artonan year is longer than the human year. But Kibby is only 8/9 Artonan years old and seems older, we don't know how old Stuart is, but he's going to university and preparing to take up knighthood and Alden refers to him as 'about our age'. According to the above Kibby should be mentally 6/7 and if Stuart is mentally 16 then he should be c18/19 Earth yrs old? Is this a bit of an inconsistency?
Hi, SFGuru! When Alden mentally ages an Artonan, like Kibby or the LeafSong kids, he's trying to convert their ages into human maturity equivalents. Artonans reach maturity more slowly than humans *and* they have a longer year. So an Artonan the exact same age as Alden would be 13 in Artonan years, 16 years (and 8ish months) old in Earth years, and more developmentally similar to a human 12-year-old. This is why Stuart protested when Alden called him the same age during their phone call. They're at the same stage of life--nearing adulthood but not there yet. But he's a few years older in the literal sense.
Man that was satisfying. I kind of wish she had at-least one redeeming quality though lol.
She's not lying about being a hard worker. It might have been environmentally forced on her, but even Lute acknowledges that she's really dedicated and talented. That's one of those redeeming qualities that's a bit detrimental to everyone around you though if you're not a nice person.
Did Alden make a mistake here by saying he could feel his wordchain debt being triggered? Is that something normal avowed can feel?
Since the wordchain has a clear and immediate effect on peoples' mental state, it's fine! Anybody would notice it happening. Alden was just aware of the fact that he was targeted by another Avowed right before it happened, making him more sure it wasn't the debt naturally landing on him.
Some new thoughts - I wonder how the native Anesidorans like Lexi and Haoyu think of all this. Alden's understanding of Velras and Velra-related politics is shallow compared to theirs. Will Hazel still be attending Celena North after this? It would be so great, I mean horrible, for Alden to have to go to school with a nemesis. I loved this paragraph, so full of sarcasm: “That should be interesting. Roman’s not sure if he’s forgiven my grandmother or not yet—his resolve is weak—but he wants to discuss how he feels about it all apparently. And Lexi’s so good at talking about feelings.” The way Lexi talks about how he'd like Writher to handle Roman... I had a new thought just now - is it possible that, instead of Lexi's mood affecting Writher's behavior, Writher is affecting Lexi's mood? I wouldn't put it past the Artonans to make a mentally directed weapon that can affect its user's mood, maybe nudging him to violence or unearthing aggression that would otherwise be hidden. Or maybe it's just positive reinforcement from having a weapon always at your side that responds so easily to your will.
Celena North campus is divided into CNH (high) and CNU (university). It's the main Apex school for English speakers, though speaking English isn't a requirement to attend of course. The Arts and Sciences programs at the high school level are easier to get into than the Talent Development program (unofficially called the hero program by pretty much everyone) and have a lot more students. The university is also larger than the high school. Hazel is thirteen months older than Alden and nearly two years older than Lute. When they meet at Hannah's funeral, she's just about to turn seventeen. So she'll be eighteen next year, in February of 2041. Lute will be turning sixteen in January and Alden will be turning seventeen in March. Lexi will be turning seventeen in February. Haoyu doesn't have an official birthday yet even though he deserves one more than most, but I have him being a month or two younger than Lute in my head. Given the fact that high schoolers on Anesidora all start from different places and get selected at different points in their education, it's normal enough for kids to graduate from CNH at nineteen instead of the usual eighteen. It's also normal for them to be taking a few university classes toward the end of their high school education.
“You used my hot tub! And you came to a family party with Lute! You’re one of my cousins now!” “Nope.” Nope is bold, like a thought, but it’s also in quotes, like Alden said it out loud. I really really hope Alden said it out loud :)
He did. *say nope out loud, not use the hot tub.
:)
as #1 Writher Fan I would like to note that Writher is probably jealous that Lexi has been paying attention to Roman instead of practicing, and is glad Roman got summoned away. I know there was some dramatic plot this chapter but I'm here for the Lexi, Roman, and Writher triangle.
I am very excited Writher has a #1 Fan!
I would reply to all of these if I had another me! Wow! This is going to be fun to read all the way through when I get the chance.
I can't quite remember, but does anyone know what the "fun facts" about Jupiter in the character descriptions is about? Lip gloss and extra nice to Alden?
I didn't mean to leave that up there! I copy/pasted the party chapter descriptions and then updated some of them to be more current. I missed cutting that part of Jupiter's. She only runs around covered in glitter lipgloss on special occasions, not gym class.
Why is Jupiter covered on lip gloss?
She was at Kon's party, and when I copied the character descriptions from that chapter I failed to cut that part out! She's not covered in lip gloss for gym.
I understand that these are flawed character and as such will make mistakes, but it’s such a shame that RainHard is one of those people, who just blame everyone else, I liked him in his few appearances. Other than that, I’m guessing the reason why Max’s team lost is that Winston and possibly other members wouldn’t listen to “The B” and did their own thing, and Max had to expend most of his spells 1st round to try and mitigate the issues arriving, resulting in him being magically drained round 2.
Fun fact: At just a couple weeks shy of seventeen, Max is the oldest member of the class. Lexi mentioned it previously because he's sensitive about being the second oldest member of the class. CNH won't accept you after you turn 17; you have to wait and apply to the uni programs instead. Second Fun Fact: Despite all being first years, they've all tested out of different amounts of the high school core curriculum. Students like Lexi and Max who had an additional year of high school, in addition to being diligent students, can't enter the talent development program as second years mostly because it won't allow them enough time to complete their gym classes. This means that as third year high school students, they expect to be in the same situation as someone like Rahul (President of the B-list), still finishing off the heroing-specific classes and gym work while they take academic courses at the university. Final fun fact: People who enter hero programs for the first time at the university level instead of the high school level tend to struggle a lot. Even if they've managed to train and level their skills on their own, they'll be surrounded by these little monsters who've spent all this time with magic gym access. If Max had failed to get into CNH with this group, his next course of action would have been to apply to university the following year, where his peer group would suddenly be a bunch of CNH graduates with two or three years of classes like this one under their belt. So you can imagine how much he really wanted to get in the door here at the high school instead.
> She is currently covered in lipgloss and she very definitely is not telling everyone to be extra nice to Alden Is this copied from the party chapter?
It was! It was such a lot of characters that I copy/pasted and then added in new info where appropriate. But I accidentally left in Jupiter's party chapter description.
Thank you for the chapter. Minor typo: "Every sounded slightly winded." -> "Everly sounded slightly winded."
Oh no! I make this typo a lot actually. I see I've finally let an instance of it out into the wild.
So, I have a question about the preserved rope lifting stuff. It doesn't really make sense to me that Alden doesn't need to lift the weight itself. Because if he can, he should be able to use it to push people around at distance with the same force and he can't, or can he? I get why he can't slap people, because of impulse. But for everything else he should act through the rope like a really strong brute.
Someone had a similar question below! Sorry I missed yours on the first read-through of the comments. People have been giving you good answers, but here's my copy/pasted answer from earlier: "People have been bringing up the possibility of preserved items being effectively wrecking balls for a while, but The Bearer of All Burdens is quite metaphorical. When Alden deliberately strikes people or things with a preserved object he 1. runs the risk of having the wrong perception and completely losing preservation and 2. applies only as much force as the swing of his own arm. When he whacks a person with his preserved umbrella in combat assessment, for example, he feels just like he's defending himself with an umbrella that happens to not break. In story, this is because much of the skill's power comes from being true to its nature. Alden has been gradually arriving at this conclusion for a while, pretty much ever since Mother told him the skill's real name. It's for shielding, protecting, burden bearing...it's not suited to attack or destruction on a fundamental level. Though of course he *can* attack using it in various ways -- he can lift a thousand pound weight over someone's head with the skill then let go, for example. Or he can create an immovable line for something to crash into. "
And yes, Zachary Sloan! He can toss things. He can actually toss them stupidly hard using a rope, though accuracy with that kind of thing will be pretty difficult to get the knack of.
Why does he need help with the weights? I don't get it? Weights is one of the things that are easiest for him
Zach and Payforthat are correct. The weight has to have a loop or protrusion of some kind or a base narrower than some other part of it (the dodecahedron he moves has a narrower base) so that he can get cord beneath it. For example, a cube-shaped weight this heavy wouldn't work the same way.
Objects Alden preserves are inviolable as long as he has the authority to bear the weight of whatever is acting on them. I would argue that he should be able to make an object preserve an object then gently push it through the obstacle course, totally demolishing all the obstacles.
People have been bringing up the possibility of preserved items being effectively wrecking balls for a while, but The Bearer of All Burdens is quite metaphorical. When Alden deliberately strikes people or things with a preserved object he 1. runs the risk of having the wrong perception and completely losing preservation and 2. applies only as much force as the swing of his own arm. When he whacks a person with his preserved umbrella in combat assessment, for example, he feels just like he's defending himself with an umbrella that happens to not break. In story, this is because much of the skill's power comes from being true to its nature. Alden has been gradually arriving at this conclusion for a while, pretty much ever since Mother told him the skill's real name. It's for shielding, protecting, burden bearing...it's not suited to attack or destruction on a fundamental level. Though of course he *can* attack using it in various ways -- he can lift a thousand pound weight over someone's head with the skill then let go, for example. Or he can create an immovable line for something to crash into.
Was aldens opposite stone ever mentioned again? the one that glows or smth?
It's coming up when he does wordchains in the future!
If the attack hurt his foot it wasn't harmless? The way the rules read makes me think Tuyet's ambush was illegal. "On the outdoor portion of the course, only harmless attacks and obstacle modification may be used to impede runners."
I actually have a funny image in my head of the faculty trying to judge these things on the fly. One of them monitoring the track and saying, "Okay, so Tuyet's crawling under the mat, you guys. She's definitely planning to stab Alden. But, like, she's doing it on a mat so he won't bonk his head and she's carrying a Band-Aid for him. Do I stop her or is it all right?" And then the ensuing debate and someone pointing out that if it was a sleeping spell impression instead of a sleeping dart they would let her do it. And someone else being like, "You're sure it's a *sleeping* dart right? You were watching her? You're one hundred percent sure?!"
Alden: "...and then Tuyet popped out of nowhere and hit me with a sleeping dart." Jeremy: "Wait so...you mean you took a nap in your gym jammies?"
The fact that I did not think of this line on my own wounds me. There is no way Jeremy doesn't say this when Alden recounts the battle to him.
💖 I haven’t even read the title yet, just the oof slightly late & I wanted to let you know that it’s okay. Morning soup 💖
Thank you, Kim!
I’m imagining the rope armour from this chapter evolving into one of those gymnastics ribbons that you twirl around, I’m pretty sure there’s a trick that creates a full body cocoon within like a second and once frozen he’s shielded in place…
I've been planning to play with strip-shaped stuff for a while! Ribbon, lashing straps...the things he could build with a roll of duct tape (he bought one on his little shopping trip earlier in the story) and a bit of time.
@sleyca i have a question, if Alden preserves multiple objects, do those objects would have to belong to same person or he can have multiple entrusters
Kate Yen has it right!
Enjoyed the chapter. There are several spot where it reads weird and swaps between what seems like third and first person.
Ahppy, is Patreon showing all the italics on your device? Alden's thoughts are in first person and should (assuming I didn't make typos, which is always possible!) be italicized, but Patreon has an italics problem on different browsers. Some people say reader view on their browsers and the Patreon app work for them. There's also an ePub file attached that should have all the italics.
The interesting part of this to me is that Tuyet, a Dart Meister, was seemingly able to run significantly faster than Alden using his Azure Rabbit ability (unless I missed something and he wasn't using it at the time). I guess that's just from the raw foundation points they get as an S-Rank?
Tuyet has gone for the very zippy/very deadly/doesn't take hits well package. Zachary, you're probably remembering the speed the car needed to drive at for x-number of hours on Thegund for them to make it to safety. As for Alden's speed here, he is quite fast on his element here and running is something he's been focusing on. His ability to clear the hurdles easily would put him ahead of others, too. I haven't put an exact number on it because I know if I do I'll write something like, "running as fast as he could, it still took him five minutes to get there," and one of you guys will do the math and discover my mileage between two points is wrong. Additional fun fact: one of my favorite things about Azure Rabbit that we haven't seen since Thegund, but that's referenced here (when Alden mentions mud) is that it will let him run over ground that's fairly unstable as if it's solid. He took advantage of this on Moon Thegund, where the soil was powdery and prone to small sinkholes and craters after the corruption started. He can't just stand on top of it, but if he's moving his feet will launch him forward off of it. So he should be able to run in loose sand or on top of mud as if it's solid ground.
Sorry, this is a silly detail, but its hilarious to me now in hindsight that Aulia would serve a pile of literal raw radishes at a fancy birthday party, was it described that way? Idk the memes are funnier in my head when its just a pile of uncooked, whole raw radishes that Alden just decided to pile on his plate. Colibrí would definitely market this in an amazing way for his image, it just works too well! Also, I hope you're well and safe author! We've been getting hit hard by winter storms, please take it easy if you need it!
They were definitely whole, raw radishes, Memory! So picture them rolling away with glee! It's pretty common for the small red radishes to be served whole on crudite platters with at least a little bit of stem to provide a handle for dipping.
One more thing you're unusually skilled at: capturing meme culture. That was perfect. And that pickling joke from Maricel could not have been better.
Thanks, Jeff!
I’ve been thinking, Alden can be entrusted with multiple objects without necessarily preserving them, right? There’s no reason why he can’t wear a poncho and carry around a rope, and freeze either one as needed
As far as the faculty limiting him to a type goes, I think it's reasonable for a couple of reasons. From a teaching standpoint, they can't monitor his progress at all if he's showing up every day with a completely different tool. If they give him advice about how to move his body to protect himself with a tablecloth on Monday and he comes in on Wednesday wanting to play with a rope, they have no idea if he's getting better at the tablecloth lesson. They only have 21 total gym classes this quarter, so he could easily bring something completely off-the-wall to every single class which would make it hard for him to get the hang of any of them and for them to even figure out how to help him. And from a real-world perspective, it's good for him to know how to work with what he's actually got preserved instead of assuming he'll always have access to a ton of options and a nearby entruster. In a classroom environment, he can head over to his duffel bag and solve most problems by grabbing exactly the right tool for the job, but in an emergency he might have to work with whatever he happened to have on him at the time. So they're actually encouraging creative thinking by limiting him to one tool. Alden's pretty cool with it. If his goal was to win as much as he could in class, he'd have taken something that was easy to figure out and very effective. He went with rope because even though it's versatile, he doesn't understand it as well and he finds it harder to use. Fragment does let him use whatever he wants for rescue work, still, and he's allowed to preserve things he picks up in the course of whatever else they might be doing--like the tennis balls.
@Sleyca, if you read this, is there any plan to release an Audiobook?
Kettle, I've had a lot of interest from readers, so it will probably happen eventually. But it would be after I've cleaned up the beginning of the story a little more, since I want the story to be in the best shape possible before I release formal ebooks and audiobooks.
Somewhere that light adjuster we met is having a Very Bad Day in gym class. I wonder if anyone is going to be impressed by Alden’s ability to carry 1000 pounds (or shield teammates from damage) once the obstacle course videos of his class are distributed.
Haha! I wondered when someone would mention Soren. He can't do heights and they're going to make him rope climb and go up a giant wall. I can confirm that his team is currently losing their minds. (He is on an eleven-man team though, so the faculty aren't too mean.)
Seriously Sleyca, we don't mind if you take a break or reduce output to build up a backlog or something.
It's likely that I'll have to skip a day soon...holidays plus a few other things have put me right up against the wall. It's frustrating because I'm excited about upcoming plot points and want to race toward them, but my racing speed is currently decrepit turtle. Hence the later posts. If I'm going to miss one completely, I'll let you guys know the morning of so people aren't waiting around for it! Getting ready to post this one and RR now. Both should be up in the next hour!
Good soup (haven't read it yet, but I know sleyca's quality)
Your faith honors me.
Thank you, it's incredible that for the past year or so, the consistency and intensity you've dedicated towards this story is truly a monumental achievement. Please stay healthy and well! Your readership will always support you!
Thank you all so much. I have been consistently in awe of the fact that I have found so many thoughtful, compassionate people through the story.
Poor Reinhard. I'm going to order a pizza in his honor. Right now.
They should've ordered deep dish and watched Alden pout.
I’m really enjoying getting more insight into the side characters! I have a question: how do you keep everyone’s voices separate in your head and when you’re writing? Everyone has distinct goals and personality traits and it seems like trying to mentally immerse yourself in each character during an ensemble scene would cause things to tangle. Do you have a strategy for it or are you just a genius? Do your characters take on their own voices or do you plan out everything they’re going to say? Thanks for the chapter! You’re a really awesome writer.
I just spend forever writing ensemble scenes to be honest. I know who all the characters are but it takes me a while to get into their point of view. So when there's something like this I have to actively switch gears between each one and remember exactly what they know about what's going on and how they feel about it. Sometimes it's frustrating because I want someone to do or say a specific thing to further the plot, and none of them would really do it. When that happens, I usually let them be themselves, and find the plot-furthering moment later. Characters with bigger, bolder personalities are a lot easier to keep track of and give voice to. Jeffy and Astrid are really easy for example. Their vibes are easy to convey in even single lines of dialogue. I find Lexi unusually difficult, considering how well I know him and how much I've written him; he's got a lot of personality traits that don't go together tonally, so you never get all of him in one line. There is no Lexi equivalent for Astrid's beautiful, "Raccoons!" Although maybe something like "Koooooon!!!" with Writher whipping around in the background would work for him. :) I'm glad it's working for you, Cambria! I do worry a lot about making a messy reading experience for you all when I'm juggling this many characters in a single chapter!
Loving the move into leadership from Alden. Not a dramatic or assertive style but just bringing people together. I’m really looking forward to him inadvertently improving his skills in this area. I can just hear Kibby saying “The best avowed in the universe has to be a leader”
The real timeline to the end of his peaceful life isn't the Primary's summons. It's Kibby's.
This was a really fun follow up to the last chapter. Alden is going to be a force to be reckoned with, just because he has the optimism to try. Others were coming up with reasons a meeting and strategizing together wouldn’t work, while he was figuring out how to make it possible. I love his character! And Haoyu, also with the figuring out how to make group brainstorming possible. Have I mentioned how much I adore our copper-plated Haoyu? Who else could chew gummy bears defiantly?
I'm so glad you guys are fans of Haoyu. I seriously did not know how much I was going to enjoy his character until I started writing him.
He's a "tactical" rabbit, the best prepared of all hero classes.
Gus is the night counselor from intake. (Gustavo) He's a soccer-loving Rabbit butler for a family on the Triplanets and he gave Alden a little speech about Rabbits being the most prepared class. "We are the handsomest, the richest, the cleanest, and the most thoroughly prepared for every eventuality. Forty-eight seconds? It’s no trouble. A Rabbit man carries all he needs to survive the ravages of interplanetary travel upon his person." He's also promised to take Alden shopping when he's ready for his first tuxedo; he says he can make sure Alden's well-dressed for any party, on any planet.
the character descriptions at the end were fun. I've never read them before since I know the characters and didn't realize that they added anything. thanks.
They are *usually* more practical and businesslike with hints of humor. But I just gave everyone a more businesslike one with the last post, so I wanted something different for this one. It was a particularly good first one to read.
I’m soooo waiting till Jeffy comes with “Hey, have IQ of 130, every single item strategically planned and was just fucking with you guys so you do not consider me a rival”
"You guys, he's not a bad kid. We can *mold* him." First gym class -- "We can mold him?" Second gym class - "We can...?"
Possible timeline discrepancy: In 111, it's mentioned that Jan 2037 was Lute's 12th birthday (“You too!” she said brightly. Turning to the others, she added, “Lute’s birthday was last month. He turned twelve. He didn’t have a party.”). In today's RR chapter notes, it says " Lute Velra was born on January 22, 2024", which would make Jan 2037 his 13th birthday, right?
Noooo. I've messed up the easiest kind of math! How embarrassing. I did it this morning. I was thinking, wait, is 2024 his *birthday* birthday? And then I subtracted 16 from 2040 (current story year) instead of 2041 (when he'll be sixteen).
Good afternoon, all. Chapter will be seven more hours minimum and maybe longer. On top of being out of the backlog, I lost a writing day and quite a lot of sleep due to a minor family emergency...It's outlined, partially written, and I'm planning to stay up working on it. So there's a chance it will still make it before midnight, but it might not. It's coming!
You know, if you mention a family emergency in the last chapter and then start this chapter with ‘The death of my’, my email notifications get me worried for a second lol
All my family is well! There was a very stressful day and an ER trip, though, so this chapter is a weird case of art reflecting life. The patient feels much better and got to read this chapter right before it went live and approve of it!
Dammit Sleyca. This isn't a sweatshop. You don't need to thank us for letting you have one day off. Definitely take more if you need it for your own well-being or the betterment of the story.
I am going to have to take more days in the future if the backlog doesn't magically appear on my desk by itself. Having one does give me a lot more options, from a writing standpoint. Foreshadowing and seeding in all the good stuff that kicks off new plot is possible without it because I have outlines, but when I have chapters actually written and waiting in the wings I've got a lot more flexibility. I can take a couple of days here and there to change something before a chapter posts because I know it won't make me miss the next one; I can find cool new threads unexpectedly and build them in so that it looks like they always belonged; I can get sick and not have it blow up the schedule...things like that! I just keep hoping (forgive me) I'll have a solid run of chapters that naturally reach satisfying conclusions around the 4-5k word mark. That's a writing pace that allows me to slowly pull ahead of you guys, and that's the size the chapters were when I *started* the Patreon. Then all these behemoths started rolling in and kept rolling in...partially because when I write world building heavy chapters the satisfying cut-off points tend to be farther apart, partially because the cast expanded and more characters on the page = more writing, etc...
Sleyca? You didn't answer the most important question in this chapter.. Is that hockey team okay?
I had so much fun writing that little bit. (And the hockey team members who survive the first few games are probably doing great!)
Couldn't they have simply tied the rope to the top of the wall somehow?
There's nowhere to tie off, but they can have someone standing on top of the wall pull them up, like Lucille. Or they can climb, but Alden's a lot faster than climbing. I did mean to mention another length of cord being sent up with Astrid and Jeffy to be left on top of the wall as a backup, like the one he left on the bar obstacle. Reinhard can shoot arrows into it, but it would seriously deplete his arrow supply to leave them behind for everyone's use. Climbing the wall is also one of the course's more vulnerable positions. People heading up can't defend themselves, so the longer it takes the more likely you are to get picked off. Team Cottontail's favored two ways up for speed and convenience are riding one of Maricel's sandbags or riding Alden's hoop. Alden himself expects to get a lift up from someone else at some point, since they can't just leave him at the bottom.
TFTC! It’s really interesting to see the strategy they’ve come up with in action, as well as the enemy teams point of view. Do you have a method for coming up with strategies for the different groups, or is it just a spontaneous thing that occurs throughout the day? Also, hoping that Max performs EXACTLY as the team asks and they fail heavily, but I’m not too hopeful that Winston will have the ability to recognise his fault in that. Also if Winston finds out about the commendation, he’s definitely going to see it as the reason for why “Alden thought he would get in”.
When I'm coming up with strategies I do a lot of rewriting. I have my initial idea for what everyone will do, but then I often realize there's some reason they can't or wouldn't based on how their powers interact with the other kids' talents or the course, so I have to go back to the drawing board several times. I also have to decide how smart to let them be. I want to let them be clever but also let them be imperfect with plenty of room for improvement, so it's interesting to try to find the balance.
I'm not totally clear on the restrictions on attacks, honestly, it seems like ranged people generally get one shot but how would that apply to Febri, for example? One punch?
Pretty much. I was going to mention more rules that the game has -- there's a maximum allowable time spent on the opposite team's course (to prevent someone like Febri from delaying the enemy by just threatening to attack people over and over without actually taking a swing), and once someone has crossed over they're the only valid attacker for that 1 attack they've earned (to prevent three or four people running over at once and just calling the first one to get a good opportunity the attacker.) But so much is going on I'm trying to keep it as streamlined as possible, so I didn't bring them all up.
Was that Lexi talking to Mind Writher like a pet snake? I guess Everly and Maricel made a trap with the extra material they had on hand? Nice to see team cottontail come together. I liked that the other team also had their own strategy and they were actually competitive. I'm still hoping Alden yeets somebody across the course with a rope hoop. I bet Astrid or Jeffy would be down!
Yes, Lexi is talking to his whip. He's finally been caught doing it out loud!
Happy 1 year anniversary to super supportive! First chapter came out exactly one year ago today!!
Thank you, Hailhound! It's been a really, really fun year!
I'm interested in how you've described running in dreams. I ran long distance nearly every day for ~5 years, and whenever I'd dream about running, it would always feel deeply wrong. The most common sensation was that gravity was too weak, making my stride feel nauseatingly floaty. It always made me get increasingly distressed until it turned into a nightmare or I realized I was dreaming.
Dreams are weird. We should poll everyone and find out what normal is, because I run like a gazelle in dreams. But in real life running I have nothing but a can-do attitude going for me.
The vibe I'm getting from Marsha after her rant at low ranks and experimental types, is that she has a friend or two that didn't pass admissions and she is personally blaming the B's, Kon, and Soren (for possibly taking their slots).
Meister weapons like Writher, Marsha's polearm, Tuyet's darts, and Shrike's main knives (two of them) are given to them and upgraded by the System. (Well, they're created elsewhere, but they're managed, granted, and to some extent repaired/edited by the System.) The System will usually replace tools damaged in combat, normal use, or training...but Meisters doing things like breaking down the weapon for parts/experimenting or deliberately destroying it do so at their own risk. The System isn't obligated to provide them with free replacement weapons if they're not about to be summoned. Meisters are able to use regular weaponry too, of course, but a lot of regular weaponry wouldn't hold up well to Avowed use or it might not accept the spells that Tuyet uses to enhance her darts, for example. And Marsha could swing a regular polearm like a boss, but she would need someone standing off to the side handing her new ones every other swing.
Fuck, you actually *made me order beef jerky*.
Think of Jeffy when you eat it!
Noticed something interesting authority-wise here. Quote: A large knife at the top of the flock smashed into Lexi’s shins before Alden had him fully out of range, then kept going. But they missed the worst of it, and Ignacio was dangling off the floor now, leg still caught by Writher. Lexi was staring down at him with dignity and focus befitting a person who wasn’t barely hanging onto his uncomfortable perch by his armpits. My comment: So at this point Lexi is holding Ignacio up in the air using Writher, right? And at the same time Alden is holding Lexi up in the air using his preserved paracord? So technically Alden is holding both Lexi and Ignacio up in the air, and yet there is no mention of any extra strain on his authority. I'm guessing instead of Alden's BoAB, Lexi's own power bore the weight of Ignacio's body. Which makes no sense in regular physics but I guess is true for a Meister of the Mind Writher. That's interesting, no?
Two part answer! 1. I don't mention increased strain on Alden's authority every time because it would come up so often. Heavier loads, harder hits, environmental damage, etc... do increase his fatigue. 2. This would be a case where Ignacio's bodyweight wouldn't add an additional strain, though. Lexi's magic is doing things in combo with Writher. So Ignacio is being supported by Writher + Lexi's authority; I think the only time we've seen clear evidence of this is actually during combat assessment. Alden grabs the whip that's wrapped around him, attempting to yank Lexi off balance, and absolutely nothing happens other than Alden getting a big dose of pain for slicing/cauterizing his hands. Lexi's arm doesn't even move. And Alden thinks something like, "Oh, so I'm fighting an A-rank's magic with my arm muscles. This isn't going to happen." *Bonus note: In a real life scenario if all these things went down, Ignacio wouldn't have been lifted up. Instead his leg would've been severed--go Writher! *Bonus, bonus note: In a real life scenario, Ignacio would've been allowed to attack as much as he wanted without all these pesky rules and limitations, and Lexi and Alden would both be super dead.
Never been more ready for a segment of a story to be over. Reading dozens of pages of details of this course is unbearable and doesn't move the story forward at all. Make it stop. 😭
I don't *think* Seriously is trolling. A few people really don't enjoy the gym chapters and haven't from the very beginning. I actually understand them much better than I do the people who get so mad about PoV shifts or slice of life, since something like the Lute novella still provides a reading experience that fits in with the majority of Super Supportive imo (extremely character focused, world building heavy, lots of drama and tension based around situational problems and character rather than physical action). But the kind of reading experience you have with the gym chapters is unique to the gym chapters and unlike the rest of the serial so far. This one, for example, asks you to keep track of a lot of individuals and envision a lot of physical objects, motions, powers, and teammate positions. I've got the character development and emotional highs in place, but to get at them you have to be rolling with everything else that's happening on the page. It's a different kind of reading, and some people (I suspect those of you who read lots of content like this in other stories or who are very good at building movies in your head as you read) are going to find it super natural to click in and go with it. Some people love reading games in a literary format, and others find it a bit of a struggle. I actually used to fall into the struggle camp myself. Something I almost never seen anyone talk about that rocked my reading world once I finally *got* it is how much your genre-specific literacy affects how you read things. You can be a very adept, book-a-day reader and still not have found your personal "in" to every kind of storytelling. For example, I can read and enjoy most things, but I used to gloss over ensemble action scenes and think "Why do people like this? Reading it feels like hard work. Must be bad writing." (Often, it truly is bad writing. But not always!) Then I started reading comics and manga, where ensemble action scenes are absolutely everywhere because the visual medium makes them so much more accessible, and I would still hit patches where I was like, "Okay. Who is doing what where now? I'm confused." But I slowly just got better at reading them, then I started to really like the process of slowing down to figure out what was going on with everyone in chaotic scenes, *then* I finally had the experience to know how I liked to read and enjoy that type of thing in non-visual mediums. Anyway, all of that boils down to -- the gym chapters are pretty different animals. I definitely feel it when I'm writing them. Trying to make sure I've got everyone on the page doing the right thing in the right way is a fun puzzle, but it is more obviously a puzzle. And I still realized lying in bed last night that I made at least one obvious mistake that I'm going to go back and fix when none of you are looking... I was very relieved when I saw some of you commenting that everything going on in this chapter was clean and easy to follow because I was really trying hard to get it there.
Wow. Patreon is doing that thing again where it shows me some comments but not others randomly. A whole bunch of new ones (from hours ago) appeared after I refreshed the page.
Seriously. Dude/dudette, you went from relatively reasonable to allll the way out of line here. Alex's comment is well written, well considered, and not rude at all unless you are reading it with an inclination to be offended. A couple of your own comments in this thread, including the original, are harsher and more directly insulting to me and the story than his response was to you. I have an enormous emotional investment in the serial. I come to the comments section every time hoping everyone got what I was trying to do and had fun reading. If they didn't get it, I hope they tell me that in a kind and constructive way. If they did get it but it wasn't to their taste, I honestly hope they don't tell me at all because there's nothing I can do for you if some part of the story isn't to your taste. I have to write to my *own* taste or I wouldn't be writing this much. I know what I intend for Super Supportive to be, and though I wish to please everyone, very rarely do I make a decision based on the mood of select members of the audience. But! Even if someone doesn't have anything constructive to say and they just want to share their disappointment here in the comments section...that's okay. People can look for likeminded disappointed people here. I only ask that they do it with a modicum of respect for me and the majority of commenters who are here to theorize and get excited and have fun with other fans. My enthusiasm is dimmed, my mental energy drained, and my day made slightly worse every single time someone decides to write a casually dismissive comment like "It's unbearable. Make it stop!" Yet I took the time to reply to your complaint. My reply was meant to be thoughtful, personal, and polite. I hope it was. I was defending your right to dislike the chapter and explaining to people that I understand these chapters are of a different sort and some readers may struggle to enjoy them because of it. I was doing this purely to acknowledge your feelings, connect with you, and let you and anyone who shared those feelings know that I heard you. And then you respond to someone else who is sharing their own read on the chapter and offering a counterpoint with something like this? I have a "no throwing insults at other commenters" policy, so I'm deleting your comment. I hope that you're just having a bad night--we all do sometimes--and that you'll apologize to Alex. So that we can put this behind us and shake it off. And so that I can feel less like a fool for expending so much emotional labor and time carefully crafting my response to you earlier...and crafting this one now. Because even though I felt disappointed that you didn't like the chapter, I was trying so freaking hard to be nice and respectful about it. I am still trying. Please, in the future, if this string of interactions doesn't put you off the story...extend the same courtesy to me and to others.
On RR, preannouncing the Lute chapters seems to have worked well. The complaints are a lot fewer and less salty. Everybody knows when Alden's chapters will resume, and that's kept even the grumblers basically on board.
I think the pre-announcing helped a bunch. I do also think the Lute chapters weren't as unpopular here on Patreon as it looked. A few of the people who were mad about them were *very* mad and felt like sharing their rage with the rest of us. (Thanks to everyone who didn't enjoy the PoV switch but chose to say so politely and constructively instead of making things weird and hostile.) If I judge by the likes--which isn't the best metric, but it's what we have to work with--there was really only a slight dip with the first couple of backstory chapters and then they progressively got more and more popular as people got into it. The third and fourth backstory chapters had similar numbers of likes to "Artonan Conversations" (Stuart phone call) and "You've Grown" (Alden levels up and talks to the System) which were the most liked chapters at the time. And then the fifth and sixth became the first chapters to break the 500 likes mark. It could've been because people sometimes reward longer word counts and those were my two longest word counts, but I do think those chapters had a lot more passionate fans than they did detractors. For anyone who's curious, other particularly popular chapters in the past few months have been "Roommates" (a personal favorite of mine as well...Alden's move-in day with the guys) and "Fireworks" (hanging out with the girls on Aimi's balcony) and pretty much everything since The Chainer ended actually...especially the Velra party. Any chapters where Alden progresses his magic (thinking of tennis balls and the all-nighter chapter with Boe where he finally has a breakthrough on the carriage restriction) tend to be more popular than their surrounding chapters as well.
I can't wait for Writher to become a sentient weapon 😝
"...it starts talking." Option 1: Only Lexi can hear it. Even Better Option 2: Everyone *but* Lexi can hear it.
I hope Alden sends the recording to Kibby and Stu!
He does send videos to Kibby! We just haven't seen much of it on screen. He sent her videos of "beautiful, fat Victor the kyat" for one thing (and she appears to be under the impression that Victor is allowed to attend classes with him.)
I'm a little hesitant to post this because it is awkward, but Sup Supp has an unusually large number of chapters that refer to cannibalism and/or eating sapients. In previous chapters we have Stu offering his high-quality flesh to the mishnen, Gorgon's death cave feast, Alden looking at Stu's bone and thinking about eating it, Alden eating some of Kibby's blood, and gokoratch. In this chapter we have Njeri's inspiring speech about feeding their enemies to Victory. Let us note there is only a tissue paper of nuance separating Victory's feast from victory feast. And so I think of Alden's non-team classmates and wonder which of them tastes the best.
There's another reference in the next chapter...and it's funny so I don't want to take it out...cannibalism is now an official theme.
The Night Before Sup Sup T’was the night before Sup Sup and all through the chat, People dreamed of where Sleyca was at. Lute was sitting snug in his tub, While video comments scrolled up above. Alden and Hayou were refreshed from their smoke, A magical sauna is certainly no joke. Lexi was handling Writher with care, When suddenly a sharp scream cut through the air, Up shot Lute in suds from his lather, As he ran out shouting & mad as a hatter, Out of his bedroom Lexi flew with a curse, As he hoped whatever it was his classmates couldn’t make worse. Outside there were outlines strewn into the snow, And the soft sounds of napping from somewhere below. And what was the scene that struck our characters with such fear? Was an impending affixment drawing quite near? No a writer dreamed dreams of fleet feet, And our hero hopefuls beat no retreat. More rapid than rhey-b’ts on the course they would run, As Sleyca continued dreaming of what was to come: Now Everly, Njeri, Now Maribel, Astrid, On Jeffy! (Aqua brute’s awesome) On Lucille, On Lexi, On Haoyu, On Alden, Though the course quick, Then quick up the wall, Stick to the plan and make sure not to fall. There goes the bell and another one too, But our young heroes know what to do. Rienhart on overwatch lets arrows fly, Alden and Lexi watch close for knife guy There’s tinkering going on in the tunnel below, Njeri, Maricel, and Everly raring to go. Shrike lurking with knives sharp and bright, As Olive, Olive, and Olive enter the fight. Yes the plot points were setup with arrangements so nice, Everyone was sitting and reading it twice. Sleeping eyes merry, joyful and bright, Dreaming of writing that glorious fight. Action filled paragraphs started to flow, And excitement building like slope-rolling snow. The outlines were ready, and not be the skin of one’s teeth, The edits a thoughtful, thorough relief. A forward to let all the Patrons know, How writing next post was likely to go. And the comments the comments the comments (them all), Full of support, care, and joy never small. And even I too was there, Trying to rhyme things everywhere. But I think that I’m lost, My mind’s starting to fall. So now I’ll bid you goodnight. Merry Sup Sup to all, The Soup is just right.
It's beautiful!
Good afternoon everybody. Chapter will be out late tonight!
Thanks so very much Sleyca. Hope you aren't tired and weren't too inconvenienced by staying up so late. Have a good sleep now.
Zzzzzzz...
Edit Suggestion: A few seconds later he was emerging from the escape hatch, the magic barrier letting him slid right through. ->A few seconds later he was emerging from the escape hatch, the magic barrier letting him slide right through.
Thank you, Obbu!
What did Max figure out about the paracord? It's on-point that the team doesn't ask him directly even though he's seen most of Alden through B-list. Feels like BigSnake has even more death flags with Maricel going "I wish we could do obstacle course more". Also, a completely innocent Jacob reminder, I'm sure he's not planning to build a submarine he can escape on during Matadero. Maricel's segment felt a little clunky. There's too much introspection and reminiscing and it kills any tension that's been built up in the course. Like, let me unleash my super powerful attack but also summarise the last month of my life. I would suggest maybe moving some of that to when they eat out? It'd still be pre-weekend so it could work for highlighting Jacob and it feels like a more natural place to deliver that exposition. Just my 2c.
I actually wondered if the Maricel bit was clunky or not. I was going for what Gail says, but I wondered if the emotional payoff of getting an update on her prior her big moment was worth the pause in the action or not. You gain or lose something either way, I think. I'll take a close look at this one with fresher eyes and a little distance before it goes up on Royal Road.
Great chapter! Slight correction: "wordchain knowledge was more as a post-graduate endeavor.” I think you meant, "more of a"
Corrected it! Thanks guys!
I loved the chapter but I hated that it's one of the ones that even though it's super long and a lot of stuff happened now I feel like "that's it? Just like 20 minutes outta his day? Nothing happened!" ,it's like watching a fight episode in dragon Ball z where it starts mid fight from the previous episode but yet there still fighting the same boss at the end and you need to catch the next episode to see the battle conclude but then even then the next episode ends just before the final hit and now you gotta wait for the next episode...it's just frustrating. This issue is personal of course and only proves how good your writing is because there's no way in hell I don't see what happens next. I like it but I think I need to pause and let like 2 or three chapters build up, I don't mind reading a turd ton of words but I hate stopping at a point where I'm like "that's it?" Keep up the good work your doing great with this story 👏
I've occasionally considered a more flexible release schedule that would let me direct the reading experience a bit more...dropping three chapters that go together at once then taking the next couple of posting days off, releasing really giant chapters on occasion and having that be the only drop that week (Chainer, Coda definitely deserved a week to itself for my sanity), or even writing a series of small chapters that get released daily under certain circumstances. I've adjusted posting schedules a couple of times on RR, and I like how it's worked out. If I had the backlog for it, chapters like this would be a good time to experiment with that here on the Patreon, too. Me being more flexible about posting days would probably be good for some odd narrative things that occasionally arise. I do think I need enough written in advance to be able to have at least a two-week posting calendar to start doing things like that here, though. So I can actually see what the final chapters look like and then decide. Plus making sure everyone is forewarned!
lol poor Maricel she did amazing it’s a little unfortunate her Big attack looks like pipe pooping. Tho I do find it interesting that there are peeps jealous of Alden’s performance when in reality he is downplaying a lot of the crazy stuff he can do. Also Klein is going to be so confused when Alden gets his other upgrades. I’m looking forward to what come next. Thanks for the chapter Edit: side note I wonder if Alden will tell his roommates and friends that they should put off their leveling affixing a few times before they should take it? I think it would be nice if Alden could give the people he’s close to things that he learned after being contracted with them.
Alden can share info from his early lessons with Joe if he acquires the knowledge by other means later, so that's how he can talk about perception with people. He also learned about it from Gwen-lor in the baby wizard lessons. But Alden and Joe renewed the privacy portion of their contract with stricter rules when Joe talked about the Bearer of All Burdens and advised Alden about holding off on taking talents until the last minute. It was in the lab, right after Alden told Joe about catching the Primary's interest at the party, and Joe wanted to *extremely* limit his ability to share the intel. Here: “Touch the ‘Triangle of Absolute Secrecy,’ please.” Alden stared at his back. “We already reconfirmed the contract for today.” “Ah, I would like to clarify a point. Today’s lesson is going to be special, you see. And I would like you to confirm specifically that you will not, through any means or by any permutation of interpretation, intentionally reveal the information I’m about to disclose to you with anyone else of any species without my permission. Ever.” Surprised but intensely curious, Alden thought through the wording. “That’s way too strict, isn’t it? It means even if I hear the information from someone other than you at some point, I still can’t ever repeat it. Or even act on it in a way that I thought would allow it to become known.” “Yes, that’s right. Anything I say that you’re already aware of is yours to do with as you please, but any new information I reveal falls under this agreement. Also you will not use this knowledge to advise or instruct another person in a fashion that would allow them to take advantage of it.” “Uh…do I even want to know whatever it is?” Joe was silent for a minute. He was still staring down at the eels. Finally he said, “I’m not sure. However, it will undeniably benefit your skill development. Which is what I promised to help you do.” * As for why Joe is so concerned about this particular information being shared, there were multiple reasons. There was a lot about the 300 and authority in there of course which is what sticks in the memory. But one *huge* reason wizards don't advise Avowed to take affixations in larger doses is that the levels their System recommends are already the advisable doses. The Systems are in charge of Avowed management and part of that management is giving them useful powers, but another part is safety considerations. If many Avowed realized they could just hold off on accepting affixation and gain bigger rewards for it, it would be a catastrophe in waiting. Avowed can't survive without Systems indefinitely. If they get summoned off-world and end up traveling to a place without one, they will eventually die. Putting off affixations until the last minute, like Alden plans to do, means he has a shorter survival timer in the event of second Thegund. One thing a System like Earth considers is, "What happens if the shit hits the fan and I disappear? How long can all of my Avowed last without me before the Triplanets can fix me?" And here's Joe being a very naughty wizard and telling a fifteen-year-old one of the System's big weaknesses: “Instead, wonder about what happens if you don’t give the System permission to affix its little rewards when it wants to.” “Eventually it’s going to force me to do it, right?” “The key word there is eventually. It doesn’t want to take that route. It’s absolutely horrible on the budget, and it’s considered morally monstrous by far more Artonans than you would expect. So the System isn’t allowed to force an affixation until it’s exhausted all other possibilities. Instead it will let you level the skill and level it again and probably a few more times besides without taking your reward. I haven’t actually seen it happen before, but from what I understand, it will resort to outright bribery right before it gives up on getting your permission and violently modifies you.” “How does it bribe people who refuse to accept any kind of magical improvement?” “It almost never occurs, but I’ve heard it usually involves the creation of high end equipment. You asked once about accumulating a large number of refusals; I imagine something like that would be on the table, too.” That sounded awesome. “Why don’t more people do it then?” “Why don’t more people train endlessly in an effort to increase their power and then, at the moment of achievement, refuse to increase their power?” “I mean…somebody has to have tried it just out of curiosity.” Joe shook his head. “You have to consider the fact that the first thing that will happen is nothing. And the second. And the third. And only then does the System start to get concerned about the unbound authority creating a dangerous problem for the Avowed.” “What happens?” “A scale tips. Too much excess authority will unbalance the original skill affixation and damage it, which would result in either a gruesome and agonizing death or something much worse.” * So keeping Avowed satisfied with a healthy level of progress and not letting them find out that the System has an exploitable weakness--it's costly for it to forcibly affix someone-- is actually pretty important. Lots of Avowed doing what Alden does would be expensive and dangerous, and if it got out of hand, the Artonans would probably have to do something to stop it since they can't have entire planets full of Avowed who are bent on making the System bribe them to do what it needs to and in the process putting themselves in danger.
TL;DR: Joe is naughty, and Mother advised Alden the same way she would have an Artonan. The knights know how to be responsible about their affixations and don't have the same relationship with the System that Avowed do. Poor Earth probably wonders what's wrong with those two, and what they have against its carefully-orchestrated safe human management program.
Wonderful chapter! Love the mini-POVs we're getting! So happy for Marcy! I'm not usually one to ride the corrections train but I noticed a couple here: "Principle" should be "Principal" early-ish in the chapter iirc and "was more as a post-graduate endeavor” should be "was more [of] a post-graduate endeavor" instead. Wonderful chapter, I greatly appreciate you, Sleyca. I hope you're doing well! Discord: https://discord.gg/PRyweNZmBW
The dreaded Principle/Principal swap! Thank you!
Lovely chapter. Thank you again Sleyca. I really appreciated the Torsten Klein POV. This chapter has the first mention of Maricel having a spell impression; I did not know she had one, as we don't know that much yet about novice Shapers. I gather it's some kind of mental concentration effect. Speaking of spell impressions - as far as we know, they have no level and therefore don't level. This supports the idea that they can't be improved upon. And yet Big Snake once said that the students should all be trying to repeatedly exhaust their spell impressions unless they're the kind that would bankrupt the user. That implies spell impressions -can- be strengthened. My best guess so far is that spell impressions can be strengthened but they never gain extra features, which could explain why they don't level. They grow in quantity but never in quality. It would certainly be rather sad for the Adjuster class if they had a bunch of static spells.
It's going to be touched on at length later, but while people don't level up a spell impression, using any Avowed power to its limit can help them grow their free authority. Human knowledge is slightly different than Alden's developing understanding since they can't feel what they're doing authority-wise, but there are a few things they know work for leveling. Mentions have been sprinkled in throughout. Seeking creative interpretations of skills, frequent practice, exhausting talents, and (mentioned last chapter) using abilities in highly competitive environments are all known ways for achieving growth.
tyftc, Sleyca. I'm at Disney World, reading the chapter in my hotel room instead of going into the park!
Highest of praise! Enjoy your vacation!
Not *super* related to this chapter, but I was thinking about Astrid hyping up Jeffy about Aqua Brutes and couldn't get this out of my head. Enjoy! --- Setting the scene: Astrid walks into the Team Cottontail planning room, microphone in hand. She's changed her outfit and morphed her proportions into "distracting Jeffy at a party" mode. Following behind her are Alden, carrying Angela Aubergine, and Lute, who sets up for musical accompaniment. She taps the mic to get everyone's attention (especially Jeffy's), and begins to sing. **Holding Out For A\[n Aquatic\] Hero** (with credit and apologies to Bonnie Tyler) [Verse 1] Where have all the good men gone And where's the Aqua Brutes? Where's the streetwise Hercules In a CNH gym suit? Isn't there a white knight upon a watery steed Bored in class, I fret and I sqirm And daydream of what I need... [Chorus] I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'til we're crossing the lake He's gotta be smooth, and he'll get us all through Leaving Team Febri lost in his wake I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the class He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be tough And he's gotta swim awfully fast Awfully fast [Verse 2] Somewhere after midnight In my wildest fantasy Somewhere, just beyond my reach There's someone reaching back for me Racing through the ocean 'Neath squall and surf and sleet It's gonna take an Aqua Brute to sweep me off my feet! [Bridge] As far from land as anybody could be Out where the lightning splits the sea I could swear there is someone, somewhere watching me Through the wind and the chill and the rain And the storm and the flood I can feel his approach like the powers in my blood (Like the powers in my blood, like the powers in my blood Like the powers in my blood, like the powers in my blood, blood) [Instrumental solo, feat. Lute on the Electric Harp] [Chorus] I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'til we're crossing the lake He's gotta be smooth, and he'll get us all through Leaving Team Febri lost in his wake I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the class He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be tough And he's gotta swim awfully fast I need a hero!
I have the original version on my playlist. Now I need to go listen to it with these new lyrics playing in my head.
does the suit protect from the effects of diving 30 ft quickly and also not apply a restriction?
I spent an hour reading free diving websites trying to find safe descent speeds. I couldn't because the free divers don't seem to have Aqua Brutes dragging them downward faster than they can swim. But it seemed like 30 feet should be safe for both descending and ascending without SCUBA equipment. (If I'm wrong about that, do let me know.) The suits can prevent drowning. The suits prevent almost any kind of harm while they're in the gym and the floor's on, and if things do go really wrong they get ET'd out.
unrelated to the chapter, but it's basically confirmed that wordchain bestowal is a skill that anyone (even non avowed) can do, and that it's not even that esoteric of a skill, right? evidences: 1) alden's mum worked at a healing house, where they underwent special wordchain courses. given how the wordchains we know of work, it's much more likely that the ones in use are something along the lines of increase/decrease health regeneration, increase/decrease immune system etc rather than being direct healing effects. and these would only work on patients if bestowed 2) when alden collapsed for 16 hours after affixing for the first time, Jeremy was trying to wake him up by casting wordchains on him. this suggests that the modification for wordchain bestowal is taught in the beginner wordchain classes he might have attended (not that he got any of them to work, just that he knew roughly how to try) 3) kibby didn't seem to think it was weird that alden cast wordchains for her and her dead family members. this may just be because he's avowed, but chainers are so rare that I think it's more likely that chaining for others is just a known possibility in their culture mass bestowal is the s rank skill, but bestowal is probably fairly simple but with more limited use cases
As for the wordchains cast in Houses of Healing specifically -- they learn specific chains designated and designed for that purpose . Generally, humans other than Chainers don't have any wordchains that they can "gift" to another person like that.
Are we going to see all of the team fights, or just Alden's?
I feel like it would be a bit self-indulgent of me to write the other teams' fights out in this much detail. So mainly just Alden's with the others mentioned in passing.
So is alden ace?
The last major thing I posted about relationships was on Royal Road a couple of months back. I'll copy and paste some of it here. It's maybe a bit ill-tempered in tone, but that's not directed at you or anyone else who's curious about Alden, Isaiah! Questions are very welcome. But at the time I wrote this, I'd received some very angry and entitled demands about whether Alden was *allowed* to have relationships with anyone and who he should be attracted to (as well as some homophobic flailing because Boe said "love you"). I was quite annoyed by both. Here's some of what I posted on that day, with some clarification at the bottom: "...Alden's never felt sexually attracted to anyone. He's a little embarrassed and worried that he's missing out, and he's trying not to overthink it. This, too, is canon. My most frequently DM'd questions are "What is Alden's sexuality exactly?" and "Will there be romance?" The first answer is viewable on the Discord I think and I'll continue to answer it in DM's for anyone who asks. The second, I am weirdly bad at answering but I'll try here. Super Supportive is a multi-genre creature, but traditional romance is unlikely to be a significant part of the overall story. I'm very interested in writing about different types of friendship, brotherhood, and intimate connection without feeling tied down by romantic conventions.... But if you're of the 'no romance ever, not even a single date' mindset...I'm probably not going to be able to satisfy that. This is going to be a really long story. Alden's sixteen. He's still figuring himself out. I don't want to make promises in either direction because if I don't end up fulfilling them, people will be disappointed. It might not be in my notes for major plot points, but I would be surprised if he never gave it a try at all. Also I have aliens to work with! That opens up so many possible varieties of relationship to talk about. Which brings me to the last thing: This is a serial about teenagers and young adults set in 2040 (recently decided on the exact date for calendaring purposes, but it's always been 2040ish), eighty years after aliens with alien marriage customs introduced themselves to Earth. The first mention of a girl and a boy being attracted to our embarrassed protagonist was back in Chapter 6. Artonans sometimes marry in groups. (First mentioned in 18 and alluded to several times since.) There's sex gum. Alis-art'h and the Primary both have multiple spouses. There have been sex-ed classes where Gus and Gretchen taught everyone to be careful of their partners' pH balances and had slides featuring quadrupeds. All of this has been in the story from the beginning. So if Alden makes out with a sentient fern in Chapter 800... I don't have plans to that effect and can't currently imagine what permutations of story would lead us there, but people sometimes make sweeping statements about what will turn them off of the story forever and ever. Don't you dare, Sleyca! And I don't feel particularly limited by those statements. I'm just doing my level best to let Alden and my other characters grow and succeed and fail and breathe in a full, complicated world. " That's a very long-winded answer, but I'll still add to it for anyone who's curious: Readers tend to analyze Alden's sexuality a lot more than Alden himself does at this point in the story. Prior to Thegund, not being that interested was a source of minor embarrassment for him--he blushed when Gorgon brought it up and was snippy with Boe and Jeremy for letting the school think he was dating a girl on the track team. Post-Thegund he's actually less embarrassed, by a lot of things, and busy trying to put his life back together and recover. He's aware that not getting electrified and magnetized by the sight of traditionally hot guys and gals is a fact for him, but it's not an urgent matter to him. He's shocked by Natalie Choir when he first meets her because "Holy shit, she's gorgeous!" wouldn't *normally* be his first thought about another person, so he takes a few seconds to analyze it, realizes it's the same kind of reaction he'd have to a breathtaking sunset rather than a horny moment, and goes about his day. I will add, because it's at least been brushed over canonically, that Alden isn't opposed to sex or any more freaked out about the idea of it than an average sixteen-year-old. He's cool with Connie having lots of it. He's cool with the Artonans doing it how they do it. And he's actually far less alarmed by the Avowed sex-ed class than most of the other people in intake and he even starts to find it all a bit funny. So he doesn't hate that channel everyone else his age seems to be kind of obsessed with, he just isn't tuned into it himself. Not being tuned into it doesn't mean he can't be curious about what the big deal is and want to try it out at some point. Finally, I struggle with romance questions more than sexuality questions because I'm not sure what any given individual means when they say, "Will there be romance?" I don't want to be wishy-washy with answers since I do know Alden and have ideas about how his emotional relationships will develop with various characters, but I feel like people asking about romance often have very specific notions about what qualifies as romance to them. After asking around (I have asked around) there are people who think a single date is romance and also those who think anything that doesn't result in a lifelong Happily Ever After is just a sparkling tragedy. I'm not that into romance, as a genre, and even I have specific opinions on the matter. (I don't consider harems in which the guy collects a buxom girl-shaped reward at the end of each adventure to be romance, but a lot of people probably do. I would consider three sentient ferns singing of their undying fidelity to each other across the forest each night, even though they were planted too far away to touch, a romance; but a lot of people probably wouldn't. ) Maybe the best answer for the romance question isn't about romance at all -- "Lots of things are going to happen in this story before the end, and Alden won't live a loveless life." But you guys already knew that from all that's gone before. I hope that helps everyone without spoiling anyone! Sorry for taking over your comment to answer all the things, Isaiah!
Jeffy being so coy about growing up on a farm (presumably because he is embarrassed to be seen as some sort of hick) is so amusing to me. This is a place where skyscrapers have to be torn down because they don't use space efficiently enough and an S rank hero/principal of an elite school can't afford/find a treehouse; a place where Astrid is excited to talk to someone whose seen a raccoon in real life. Everyone is going to think Jeffy living on a farm is the coolest and craziest thing they have ever heard.
He is totally wrong about how they would view rural life.
WORD CHOICE >aquarium-like container sat on top of a crystal dial that was obviously made to hold it. Should "crystal dial" be "crystal DAIS" ? Or is it some sort of clockwork mechanism? 🔲
It's more of a dial.
I just wrote a enormous reply to Isaiah up above, about 17-18 comments back, clarifying some comments I've made in the past about sexuality/romance in the story. I don't consider it to be a major part of the serial right now, so I'll probably wait for a future Q&A to make a formal post about it. But if you're someone who's been curious or who hasn't seen my past replies to people asking about things of that nature and you wanted clarification, there it is. I don't think there's anything there most people would consider spoilers!
@Adunk, thank you! On the romance front, I do know I'll keep getting questions as long as I keep refusing to sign my name in blood to an oath swearing that Alden will or won't fall in love with someone and revealing whether that someone will be human/alien/boy/girl/single/multiple/etc... I don't mind the questions. I'm just trying to navigate giving people the info I can while avoiding even a hint of spoilers. In this case, I consider spoilers to be anything Alden doesn't yet know about himself, so that does leave me without many options beyond highlighting what's already present in the story for him personally and the world at large.
[quote]Forty-one students, six instructors, and one principal nearly filled the place up.[/quote] This should probably be Forty students since Soren is presumably getting his skin grown back right now. Unless Lute showed up because "team trainer."
You are correct, John! (...I'm going to be getting 41/42 wrong frequently it seems.)
Thanks for the chapter Sleyca! I was curious about Avowed ranks; why doesn't Earth have an E-rank? I checked on the fan discord in case someone else had asked and no-one seemed sure (apart from maybe because of jrpgs), so apologies if you've already answered this elsewhere! My favorite theory currently is that the Primary/Earth contract is a weeb :V
It's because I had mostly seen tier lists for fiction and video games that skipped the E, so I thought if I put it in there I would be *more* confusing rather than less. I've since seen more lists with E's, so I'm not sure which is really more common. It does feel very natural to me as an American, too, since our grades in school don't have the E.
Also, because Earth is a weeb.
And with the inevitability of a freight train, all the disparate threads set up over weeks and weeks are coming together. Thegund mark 2, intensity level 99, here we go. Thoughts: 1. “I’ve been kind of worried since we started school that things like that were going to turn boring”: another running theme of the story – superhumans becoming so disconnected from real life that the normal experiences of humanity don’t really matter / have any effect. 2. “This is our last chance to farewell a noble vessel”: this boat is going to sink within 24 hours. 3. “The coin hit the water. The ripples didn’t spread very far before they disappeared into the waves”: the coin tossing is a nice thematic link from the first section to the submerger. It also suggests Alden’s final wish, to have peaceful nice moments, isn’t going to last very long… 4. “a man wearing lounge pants”: The Informant! Often mentioned, now seen here for the first time. Humble dog walker, lounge pant and wellington boot wearer – seems to be a chilled sort of privacy-invading ultra powerful S-rank, not as highly strung as Velras. 5. “Why do government officials keep calling me on my interface when they know it’s not my preferred contact method for the information business?”: I wonder why that is – does he not trust the system? 6. “before they hit the edge of our territory and run into less tolerant parties”: who are these? Do the united nations keep patrol boats around Anesidora with instructions to shoot on sight? 7. “notes appeared in front of Elias’s eyes, and a soothing, male voice whispered in his ear”: sounds like Elias has created a fancy schmanzy AI to help him with the info business. 8. “a couple who thought an escape attempt would spice up their love life, and that funny woman who enjoys the thrill”: an indication that the SkySea are generally pretty chilled, with no real punishments for escape attempts – they all try to be lenient because they’re all prisoners together. 9. “The audio recording and video you purchased indicated the boy left in the company of five others”: Mina’s Sway power can’t fool tech. 10. “It’s because of the two high ranks traveling with them, I suppose?”: makes sense they’re more chilled about low-ranks escaping. If Mina is one high rank (the S-rank Sway), who is the other? Will – the friend who needs a lift? Just the sort of nervous, odd guy you don’t want to have extreme magical powers if shit does go down ☹ 11. “If I was required by law to do any such thing, I would get on a boat myself. And you would not find me.” He bent to lay a hand on top of the dog’s soft, wet head. “Or I would run for election.”: the informant is a libertarian! And undoubtedly would do very well in an election, with technology to clearly understand and parse what every single person on the island is talking about and wants from their politicians… 12. “No need to help your creation along with your power,” he said at once. “Just its own work will be sufficient”: so his S-rank Wright skill allows him to boost the power of his AI? Very interesting and possibly very OP. 13. “I hope you have a lot of manpower for tonight’s search. And that they’re strong swimmers”: does he know something going to go wrong and they’ll end up swimming? 14. “looked around for one of those knockout drugs they’d given him the last time they’d hauled him back to intake”: sounds like his escape attempts might have been a bit more intense than previously indicated – don’t think police usually use knockout drugs on suspects… 15. ““Excuse me,” he said when he was halfway to the door. Wait, who was I apologizing…”: hi Mina! 16. “We were wondering if you still wanted to come with us to Matadero. It’s a long trip out and it’s not much to see since we can’t get too close, but the boat’s fun.”: Alden/Lexi/Haoyu/Vandy, time to meet Jacob, the SkySea guard, and possibly some demons and wizards. 17. “Having the money is more practical”: oh Lexi. Looks like the cost-benefit analysis he ran came down on the side of cash. What about things that bring you joy, Lexi? 18. “On track for a do-nothing life like my do-nothing friends and family”: is this what it’s like for the majority of mid/low ranks? Getting bored after a few hours, creating stickers…Riley doesn’t seem set up for the fugitive life. 19. “I…people like my dad think superhumans are…I don’t think that way”: poor Jacob. What did his dad do when Jacob was selected? 20. “Stronger, healthier, kinder and prettier if we want to be. Smarter. It’s harder to see on Anesidora, where everyone’s one of us. Why do you think they make us stay there?”: I must say Riley, you sound awfully like a supremacist for someone who insists they’re not a supremacist. 21. “They say that if the first generation of Avowed had been chosen at forty, instead of in their teens, they would’ve become Presidents and Prime Ministers. They would’ve ended monopolies and carved out kingdoms for themselves”: a very interesting perspective, and very possible. Certainly the selectees youth/inexperience made Anesidora easier. 22. “Some of them almost did things like that anyway”: an indication of attempted avowed warlords from the 1950s/60s? 23. “She had pale eyes, and she was so thin”: pale eyes, thin, habit of speaking “reallyreallyfast”? That’s our Mina - called it! C74: "skinny, blue-eyed girl" 24. “Something is reallyreallywrong”: guesses from anyone? a. Will has messed with the submerger; b. Will has messed with the large object covered by the tarp; c. there’s a demon lurking around very nearby; d. she’s sensed the SkySea guard (I think this is unlikely given her tone); e. something that Mina can sense with her Sway abilities – maybe someone having a breakdown? Either the crazy captain or Will? f. Chaos is fucking with the submerger? I thinkkkkk I'm voting for f. Edit: I also like that ‘Everly Kim give him such a frosty look’ - frosty looks being her specialty! Seems like her and Kon’s relationship is still going well :)
The point by point commentary is so fun for me to read!
Why is anesidora mainly western? Why isn't the majority culture Chinese and Indian? Are avowed not equally distributed or did the governments of those countries not join the agreement for anesidora?
A question about world building! You know I can't resist them! Everyone is giving the correct answers here already, but to cement them: Anesidora does have a population that properly reflects global diversity, but as Curtis and Biped say, Celena North is the English language school in Apex. So Alden's classmates are mostly kids who speak English as a first or second language. The Apex school that teaches primarily in Mandarin --Li Jean--is actually larger. This doesn't necessarily mean they're all Western though. For example, Haoyu's parents are ethnically Turkish and Chinese, but he speaks English as his first language because it's his father and mother's shared second language. So when he was born it was what they used in their home. He speaks and reads Mandarin fluently, and he's less fluent in Turkish but competent. Culturally, Anesidora is a big mash-up of everything on Earth + Triplanetary influence, with their "Avowedness" being the thing that ties them all together to such an extent that, by adulthood, most would say it matters more than their original homelands. When globies arrive, they're 15-17 years old, and the defining characteristics of their place in society suddenly become class and rank. Given their ages, their sudden disconnect from the places they grew up in, and the fact that the locals tend to exist in a state of proud cultural hodgepodge rather than purity, most of them don't end up in micro-communities that resemble the places where they were born. Even if they cling to people who were raised similarly to them for a few years, the fact that they are Brutes, C-ranks, Meisters, Rabbits, etc... gradually becomes a bigger and bigger part of their lives. And they form community with people along those lines or along shared perspectives of the Avowed life. There's a big push on Anesidora for multilingualism, and for the kids born there to become fluent in at least two of the most spoken languages on the island/in the world (English and Mandarin. Then Hindi, Spanish, etc...) prior to acquiring System translation. A lot of emphasis is placed on this in schools, so every single member of Alden's current class who was born on Anesidora is already fluently bilingual, usually with a lot of loan words and surface knowledge from third or fourth languages thrown in. Realistically they would all drop a *ton* of non-English words into their speech, but it's not feasible to show that off in text even though I'd like to. Even if I use the << >> to indicate that they're dropping in a word, it doesn't tell readers which language they're speaking unless I add a sentence about it specifically, and that gets awkward very fast. I've toyed with the idea of replacing the << >> with actual text in those languages, since I think it would be so rich to have that feature. But accurate and realistic translation becomes a big headache. And I might very well overdo it and frustrate readers who had to translate things as they read... Other fun bits of info I haven't managed to focus on much in the story despite the fact that they are painted there in light strokes: * Many of the island-born kids are multiracial, and almost all of the third and fourth gen Avowed are. * Realistically, given names wouldn't be a great indicator of someone's ancestry. For one thing, part of the national identity is kind of, "Here we are! A special subset of the entirety of humanity. Earth says none of those cultures are really ours, so we say all of them are ours and we'll share them with each other!" For another, they've picked up the System habit of just going with everyone's preferred name no matter what it is. For story purposes and reader sanity, most of my characters do have names that hint at parts of their family background. * Many cultures beyond Anesidora are going to look very different than our Earth cultures do in various ways. A lot of religions had to bend if they didn't want to break in order to tangle with the undeniable presence of alien life. Countries had some of the issues that contribute to poverty eradicated. The global population is larger. And since the Artonans exist as a superior society (in terms of population size, wealth, and power...not morals) that looks similar *enough* to human society to provide a source of constant comparison, people would always be doing that comparing. Today, we think "Well, I grew up this way, and that person on the other side of the world grew up that way, and which of us is right?" Alden's Earth gets to think "my culture does it this way, some humans do it that way, but look at the Artonans doing it a third way" which would have major impacts. We also have to consider the fact that those cultural deviations started in 1963, which was really much farther away from where we are today than it sounds like. At some point, I'm going to share just a *little* bit of Aulia Velra's teenage years, and that's going to be a really neat opportunity for some historical reminders.
There is no smallpox in Alden's world either. (Thank goodness.)
Alden’s such a good kid. The fact that his first two wishes were for other people really drives that home, at least to me.
I love him. I'm going to write so much more about him.
The king and his men stole the queen from her bed And bound her in her bones The seas be ours and by the powers Where we will we'll roam Yo ho, all together Hoist the colours high Heave ho, thieves and beggars Never shall we die Some men have died and some are alive And others sail on the sea With the keys to the cage and the devil to pay We lay to Fiddler's Green Yo ho, all together Hoist the colours high Heave ho, thieves and beggars Never shall we die The bell has been raised from it's watery grave Do you hear it's sepulchral tone? We call to all pay heed the squall And turn your sail toward home Yo ho, all together Hoist the colours high Heave ho, thieves and beggars Never shall we die
I love how eerie this song sounds.
The Informant's had that dog ever since he was a kid and begged his parents for one and the pair made the trip to Anesidora together like 60 years ago.
Healer who thinks people suck but dogs are the best, negotiating with the System: "I would like the veterinarian package please."
oh my god oh my god. 1) rip all the ppl trying to calculate the realism of tsunamis from underwater explosions. we do alien magic on this island, get outta here with your physics :p 2) rip that commission for joe, alden doesn't get to buy a new Hot Lab Coat. makes sense, tp is magically expensive, system would turn off that option in an emergency like this 3) teleportation priority! wow that has Implications. Alden has a higher priority than Klein, which would make sense if it was based on squishiness? like I would've assumed non-avowed kids would be a top priority. but Klein seemed to assume Alden would have a lower priority? which implies other Factors to calculate priority. Other people's timers flicker as it changes; obviously the situation is changing and it updates, people are finding shelter, but also I'm thinking how some of its changing because people are getting injured and moving up, or dying and getting removed from the queue. 4) a cataract smashed into Alden? like. a whole-ass boat? is he injured and just not feeling it yet? EDIT: okay another definition of cataract is large volume of water. thats... better. still BAD. ahhhhh wednesday 5) holy fuck i was still not expecting this much impact from the sabotage Will did.
I might need to change the word cataract for the RR post! I didn't mean for it to be confusing.
Is it just me or did this chapter feel short? Like it was a couple minutes of real time...
It's actually long! 7k words (not counting all the author and character notes). Our chapters have been quite leisurely in tone for a long while, so maybe the action factor is making it feel different.
Inexplicable, terrifying, magical natural disasters are so refreshing.
:)
Is Sleyca referencing some cultural thing about "borrow for too long and you're a thief"? Sleyca's used the idea twice in this story, once for Joe's ring and now for Mehdi's watch. Each time the receiver is called "a thief" or that they "stole" the object, despite no intended subterfuge and obvious reasons the moment hasn't come to give the object back. Does "thief" mean something different in Pennsylvania (or wherever) than on the West Coast?
Thief is being used humorously in this particular chapter. Alden is fully aware that Klein didn't intend to keep Mehdi's watch forever, but he did run off with it and now Mehdi is no longer in possession of one of the only functional communication devices on the island in an emergency. It's just Alden being hyperbolic in his own head. Poor Mehdi is probably not too happy though...
I feel so happy when Sleyca likes my comments. I know Sleyca likes everyone's comments. I still feel happy. Thanks, Sleyca!
*likes this comment a few extra times*
Huh, apparently a cataract is not just an eye condition, it's also a waterfall. Kinda confused how the bridge dropped without breaking.
They're building a long floating suspension bridge in Norway! https://dissingweitling.com/en/news/further-development-of-the-floating-bridge-bjørnafjorden I spend entirely too much time researching stuff that I barely end up showing on page...
Off-Topic Question -- The triplanets are Artona I, II, and, III. But are they all in the same solar system? Different orbits around the same sun? One of them orbiting another in a binary orbit situation? Different solar systems? Do we know? Thanks!
Teleportation allows for interdimensional travel! Dimensions have been mentioned a few times...usually during teleports or talks about demons. All of the Artonas have their own solar systems. Thegund is in the Artona I system, in orbit around a gas giant called Kimnor. III is in a different dimension from the other two in my notes, but it's not officially canon yet (unless I've accidentally already mentioned it in passing in the story...I didn't think I had, but since Mag1cM remembers it that way I might've). There's a lot of world building stuff going on with Triplanets politics and wizarding history, so I'm keeping a bit of flexibility in place by not giving tons of insight yet. That way by the time we get to it, I can make sure it's all fitting together. Edit: And of course the official name of the System in English is "Interdimensional Warriors Contract"! Edit Two: Swiss Jeez makes a good point. I can't find the spot in the story right now, but I've very likely mentioned interdimensional teleportation in when it comes to traveling between III and Thegund already since that's how it is in my head. So that would make it canon after all.
I am using the word "dimension" in more of the classic sci-fi/fantasy sense.
Fellow fans, help this clueless lady (me) to understand what happened with the water and the bridge.. did the water level rise and then fall? How did a waterfall of water land on Alden from above? Do I understand correctly that the bridge broke?
A lot is going to be clearer in forthcoming chapters, but yes, the water is definitely not following regular physics here. It crawled up the sides of the bridge, completely encompassed it right down to the street lamps and gave it a yank downwards. The cascade of water that hits Alden from above comes off of the light immediately above the car he's lying on the hood of. When the bridge-encapsulation ends and the water goes back to being water, it crashes down on top of him.
Trying to imagine the volume of water the explosion moved to cause the ocean to crest over a bridge which is high enough for boats to go underneath. An average sailboat has a 40m mast, and an average container ship height is 35 meters. While the average tsunami is like 9 meters, can go up to 30 meters high (rarely), and there was one in Alaska that was over 500 meters high. Not sure how this would carry over to deep water though.
Not a big wave in this scene. (Pretty sure one big enough to crest over the bridge would've thrown every vehicle and soul off the bridge at a lethal rate of speed) Instead, we have some very grabby water encapsulating the bridge and then trying to yank it down into the deep.
I didnt read it yet so no spoilers - can someone tell me if it ends on such a terrible cliff hanger I should wait till Wednesday/Thursday for the next, or just read it? =p
I will let others advise you, since I have authorial perspective rather than reader perspective and that sometimes makes me think things aren't *too* cliffhangery when others assure me that they are. I hope you enjoy either the read or the wait! :)
Why do you have to be so good at writing Slyca? This book is going to be all thats on my mind for the next 2 months. Im not going to be productive because ill just be daydreaming about "What happens next" chapter to chapter :(
This is my villainous plan! :)
Thank youuu, (even more ripples? Wow, cannot wait to read it)
All chapters will be called "Ripples" from now on. Endless ripples...rippling outward.
Got home from work and checked, nothing. Made dinner, nothing. Went on a run, nothing. Started filled a bath for muscle relaxation, it drops. The soup has come from the faucet tonight, boys.
A soup faucet sounds like a fantasy my childhood brain would've loved.
It’s midnight. What should I be doing? Sleeping. What am I doing? Reading. Good stories are my kryptonite.
I am conking out right now. Sleep well after your read!
And this is why I stay up until 2 am >:D But AHHH not offering him TEA. Time and place, you weird Artonan socialites. Time and place. I both hate and love this in equal measure, but one thing's for sure: I really want to see what happens next ... PS: good for Kon. I'm just confused why you'd need to preserve TEETH. I guess they can die?
Lost teeth can sometimes be reattached if you keep them in good condition. Usually they say to put them in spit or a glass of milk until you get to the dentist. Alden is the glass of milk for Kon's teeth. A noble task.
I was just working myself up to finish a paper. Now that’s postponed for another half an hour. Goddamnitall
Good luck on your paper!
Thank you for making Marks every bit the jerk I thought he was. It was very satisfying. I was worried you’d make me like him like some other characters, but this time I get to sit back & enjoy the schadenfreude. Not as much as with Hazel, but still enjoyable. Does that make me a bad person?
No! Enjoy away. Some people are jerky jerks.
Thanks for the chapter. Literally the same situation as CosmicOrange. There was some bellyaching last chapter about how it felt like nothing was going to happen, I love how this chapter upped the stakes even more, even if it's not clear if it will happen this time.
I have a strong concept for this arc and what it does for Alden/the story. So seeing all the guesses and seeing the differences in what people imagine it will be vs. what I envision it being has been so interesting! There were a lot of different plot events that could've happened, but I picked the ones that worked best thematically, in my opinion. It's been a very exciting one to plot out.
Not sure I would like this story as much if it became a tale of the small group of ragtag survivors trying to rebuild human culture after the chaos apocalypse. Just throwing that out there.
Dr. Stone...only it's Dr. Thorn and he uses his one copy of the internet to rebuild a modern Earth!
(This is a joke. I'm not doing this.)
Sleyca. What planet does Wevi originate from? Is it a wizard gmo fruit?
Wevvi originates from Artona I!
Alden's gonna have a tense meeting with Haoyu's mom at the evac point.
I actually wondered if someone was going to mention Mrs. Zhang-Demir with her two commendations.
CHAPTER! 1. "Zeridee-und’h rolled one eye at him while the other was fixed on the sign." the continuing motif of one-eye vs both-eyes for full attention is cool 2. "Someone who has such limited common sense that they should have died of their own errors by now has given an Avowed a Sinker Sender.” yowch what a burn. Orpheus is in even bigger trouble than I thought. /Aulia/ is in even bigger trouble than I thought, she's not supposed to have this 1000 year old artifact wow. 3. “Did you just call me mean-mean?!” Alden absolutely speaks Artonan like a kid with a hick accent. 4. Great Dane - for a moment I thought this was Informant, but no, he has a Golden Retriever yeah? 5. haoyu is the Best 6. Melanie Carisson - Vandy's mom! So she's also a Shaper of Sky, and Vandy's always wanted to follow in her footsteps as seen in the Interlute. thats cute :3 7. Aulia Velra - oh she's there in person! we were all speculating on the 4th Velra S-rank helping the battle group but it's actually the great Grandwitch herself. turtleneck - she's really adopted Artonan fashion in an Artonan setting huh. 8. oh. matadero is rated for bigger fuck ups. i like that we can see it as a sort of demonstration of future power scaling. 9. nah as soon as he went back to get the opposite stone i KNEW it was gonna hit the fan. YOU CAN'T MAKE US LIKE ZERIDEE AND KILL HER IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. noooo. the way you wrote "The five senses he’d been born with dulled" and then described his authority sensing ZDee's pain, and then you went through the five senses!! it's poetry. heartbreaking, soupy poetry. 10. if its marks trying to steal the flyer by my powers i will... make sure he has nothing to eat but bouncy oatmeal. >:c
Ah! Thank you for noticing my five senses!
Ah we graduating from ripples to waves now
So many people correctly guessed I was going to name the next set waves! I guess it is kind of obvious, but I still had to do it.
Andrew, why is this so funny?
I think I'm sleepy. I don't think a detergent joke should be this funny to me, but it is.
Tonight’s laugh out loud moment goes to Marsha’s method for flying others to safety.
Marsha: "Hey! I remember you two from middle school. I can fly." Girl 1: *thinking of Shapers with excellent control* "We're saved!" Girl 2: *thinking of Adjusters with gentle levitation spells* "Omg, thank you!" Marsha: *transforms polearm into spear mode and hurls it across the bridge, sending showers of asphalt into the air when it impacts* "Nobody touch my weapon! I'm saving these chicks!" Girls 1 & 2: *Wait. Why does she have a huge freaking death pole, if she's a--" Marsha: "Let's fly! You're welcome."
real quick. earlier in the chapter zeridee put the info gear back in its containment safes then later alden pulled it out of his pocket with the message ok.
She just removes it from its timeout off-screen, since there's a little skip there.
oh no. I hope zeridee is ok. I've only known her for 2 chapters but i love her already.
Alden does have a history of just tossing magical objects at people. Tatiana Evans and Winston have both been victimized by improperly used temper spheres.
let's assume that the people assuming Alden will have to use an auriad spell to save zeridee are right. this is an A/S rank neighbourhood, so Alden would be picking a fight he can't win. that doesn't make sense narratively, so doesn't fit unless for example there was an extremely annoying and of low quality character D rank shaper called dandelion in the area. maybe he turned back and tried to force his way into the "private jet"? he's weak enough that a force square would be able to end the encounter
Not a spoiler about anything to come just a worldbuilding note: Apex isn't only full of high ranks and F isn't only full of low-ranks. They don't restrict anyone from living on either; it's just a matter of peoples' comfort being around others who match their power niche. So in a nice quiet neighborhood like this (cute houses, boardwalk, some big yards, about as far from the skycrapery city life as you can get on Anesidora) it would be reasonable to assume that there was a high concentration of wealthy people, but those wealthy people wouldn't necessarily be high ranks. And it would also be reasonable to assume there weren't a ton of families with young children around, like the one Alden and Zeridee spotted earlier, since family neighborhoods are all down in F with most of the primary schools and the neighborhood Watchers who are specifically on-duty to make sure people aren't messing around with their powers too much out in public around the small people.
You… you bad, bad man. This cliffhanger… Thank you for the chapter 😖
We can all agree I am just bad. *hangs head in shame*
You guys, I see there's a little confusion about the end. Maybe due to the use of metaphor and the "no." Some of this confusion is good wondering and doubt that I expected to be there for a significant number of readers based on what I've written, and some of it is plain old "Sleyca didn't realize this could be read in more than one way" confusion. I have edited, and updated the epub, to get rid of the second type. My intent: 1. Authorially I'm good with people doubting whether or not the person rippling their authority is really Zeridee. We have never felt an authority fear-scream before. Can Zeridee even do one? Everything was so happy ten seconds ago! What's going on!? This is the kind of wondering that will be answered soon. You never know for sure until I show you the situation on screen after all. 2. But it's supposed to be obvious that Alden fears/believes it's Zeridee. He's scared. She's the only other person there he cares about. He's tasting the remnants of the orange she gave him. Hopefully this little tweak and the deletion of the "no" keeps the good wondering and banishes the bad.
Mortch, you noticed! Yes, I was having a bit of fun with things like that. That one was meant to be an in-chapter echo, and then there's the titular "ripples" finally making its in-text reappearance here as we begin "waves". (The first "ripples" of the arc being when Alden tossed his wishing coins into the fountain at the mall.) I like doing things like this. They're not all meant to be in your face, so it's really gratifying when people find them. I'll try to slip the "no" back in without being as confusing for RR since you did catch it and that makes me happy.
Soup soup soup soup soup! Slurrrrppp! Edit: no spoilers, but perhaps no inconvenient explanations will be needed..... And handles. *snrk* Edit2: @Sleyca previous chapter minor inconsistency re infogear before and after the Matadero side bit (before may need to be put away, after is removed from the safe)
Is the infogear inconsistency after the time skip? There's a time skip in there before Alden rescues Gudrun the Great Dane when Zeridee had plenty of time to give the iphone back off screen...I think someone else missed this too, though, so I should probably work to make it clearer!
I get so excited everytime i see this series update
Thank you, Rados!
Early. Thank you very much Sleyca.
*waves*
Christmas comes twice a week
You are so super super supportive my supporter! Thank you!
Once again Alden finds himself carrying a dying wizard out of a crisis
It's his thing now.
He took the "carrying hurt people" package, and the universe has accepted the challenge.
Oh no so short :(
I almost commented this before posting! But I wanted the chapter to stand on its own without people having expectations for it, so I'll make my long artistic process comment here! I think high intensity chapters in general are much more likely to be on the shorter side. Especially ones with fewer characters in them. My school day/character interaction/world building chapters run quite long. Which is why we've had so many backlog eating monsters over the past several months. Several of the Thegund chapters were in the 2-3k range, too. I think at least one was actually below 2k. I don't think any of them approached 7k/8k range that quieter chapters often fall into. It makes sense really, since my goal is to mark chapter endings where it feels like 1. something interesting happened in them (a new character met, a new discovery made, some personal growth, Alden fights two nasty dudes...) and 2. they reached a satisfying stopping place. Quieter chapters tend to feel like I'm giving the reader an invitation to settle in for a while, and I don't hit the "this feels satisfying" spot as quickly. Ones like this feel satisfying to me when the big action ends and we have the slight turn toward new action or different action, or when the big action ratchets even higher somehow. That tends to happen after a smaller word count. I think it's important to end them where they feel whole, if I can, rather than clipping them or plumping them up. Because it provides quite a different reading experience. A chapter end is a story moment that asks the reader to take the biggest breath they ever take during the read, so if I don't put them where they belong, weird things happen. Like tacking on another scene right now would steal the air from this fight scene and make it flatter even if the chapter was good overall and I ended on something else very cool and exciting. This particular combat moment would be deoxygenated...or something like that. Even in some of my slow, long chapters I take it too far and don't cut as soon as I should. I can kind of tell I went too long when commenters fixate on something fun at the end of the chapter and don't talk much about something really cool, that I know a lot of them would *usually* be interested in, that happened at the beginning. Anyway! That's the long (and short!) of it. We used to be in a situation where I would slip third chapters in when there were *really* short ones back to back, but I don't....think...we're going to end up there again in this arc. Unless I do a specific thing with alternate POVs I've been considering, but that can be announced when it happens! Thank you anyone who read through this. :)
Also I'm noticing this chapter dropped earlier then the last few have dropped. I hope that means your life is getting slightly less hectic, Sleyca. You deserve rest and good work-life balance
Thank you so much, Voidsong! My life is super hectic still, but it's really nice that I had this one done earlier so I can take care of a few things.
> “The Amazon. The Artonans are already paying the South American countries not to develop it. We could hang out there.” huh. That one off line from chapter 91 paid off.
The Artonans do like a nice jungle.
1. alden's panicky thoughts are panicky. i like the formatting 2. THREE! ah fuck. i don't think anyone predicted more than two (marks + friend, or something like) 3. But you say, ‘By my powers, little spaceship! Once in lifetime! ————- argold! -- oh. OH. they're not even panicking about hoping for evac or driven by fear? they're literally greed-driven opportunistic looters? fuck them. fuck them so much 4. swallow box -- hold on, is that a pocket of holding?? 5. He aimed for the man’s head. -- !!!! AHHHH. sleyca how are u so so so good at these emotional punch lines. 6. Tip first. Right between his shoulder blades. -- what the FUCK is wrong with these people. stop escalating! why! ahhh 7. oh SHIT zdee went for the kill. as they deserved. 8. Loving lies can go both ways. -- no my heart T_T 9. the braid thing at the end of this insane chapter is unreasonably funny
The braid thing wasn't planned until right in the moment. I always go through this thing when Alden's about to haul someone around where I say, "Okay...body weight, height, size, clothes...how are they most portable?" Basically, since he doesn't have to worry about hurting people (unless he drops them) he's always looking for a convenient handle. He finally found one!
Am I reading this right? Alden is carrying Zeridee by her -head-, using her hair as the handle? It would look so weird if so. Also Alden managed to go through the fight without exposing his wizardry to anyone, even Zeridee! Zeridee might have noticed the casting with her weak authority sense, but she's got a head injury, so Alden has plausible deniability anyway.
He's actually turned it into a big strap. Her braid is almost floor-length. He can indeed wear her like a guitar or a duffel bag or carry her like a suitcase. This makes it look much less weird for sure!
I love that Zeridee has her own built-in carry strap
Think of how much easier Alden's life would be if everyone had long enough hair!
Minor correction: "Get at the motherload instead of scratching around..." I believe it's actually "motherlode" and comes from mining.
Good catch! I'll fix it!
First, Alden carried a small Artonan child several days across a baren, hostile world. Now, Alden is going to carry a normal Artonan woman several hours across deserted neighborhoods. If the rate of increase in civilization and passenger size continue, then the final arc of the story will be Alden carrying a building sized Artonan from their bedroom to their kitchen
Yeetimus, stop revealing the story's endgame!
I love this chapter yet I am a bit sad cause for a moment I thought that the spell Alden used was his Crushing spell. The one that crushes rocks...casted on someone's head. Let's say that I had a different image of the end result of his spell when I first read the break when Alden landed his attack. Oh well at least in reality Alden does not have to live the trauma of watching someone head be crushed like a watermelon! Had he crushed the brutes head, I would think his adjuster S-rank taunt/fib would have worked for sure :)
His crushing spell is one of my favorites, but Gregory's right. He has to be standing right beside the thing to be crushed.
Alden, running with Zeridee, when the system reassesses his priority for teleport and sends him to safety again. Which is still set to the ambassador’s house 😶
The teleportation treadmill experience!
Thanks for the answer, Sleyca. I think I posted the R'Ley question back in Waves I or Waves II. Back in college I read a bunch of Lovecraft short stories, though a lot of it was skimming. The description of Matadero was similar, but then again, a lot of the chaos-related descriptions in fantasy/horror blend together and his stories are an early source of many of them. I looked it back up recently out of curiousity and found it pretty cool that he used the same area. I assume then that if Matadero is precisely at Point Nemo, Anesidora was created to be somewhere conveniently close?
Hi, Meridun! Thanks for asking the question. I remembered it because I had started to type a reply to you before I put my laptop down one day, and it's been bothering me that I didn't get an answer out ever since. Yep. Matadero location was chosen prior to Anesidora.
How are you so consistent with writing so much at such a high quality? It’s really impressive. What’s your writing process like?
Thank you so much for the compliment. I'll do a post on it in much more detail one day if people are interested, but the biggest factor is a very boring one--time. Lots of it. Beyond that, I focus on writing things I'm excited about and letting characters lead the story. All of the major plot points I have in mind are things that I know will happen one day because of who the characters are and how their personalities will conflict with each other. And how the pressures of the world will affect them. Minor plot points on the journey to those bigger moments come about more organically. I build them in as I see them coming into being, sometimes months in advance, sometimes only a couple of weeks. I usually re-outline the next 5+ chapters once a week. Just a few hours of sitting down and saying, "Okay. Last week, I let things play out just a little bit differently than I'd planned, so what does it look like now? Where is Alden's head? How are any new elements that have popped up going to change things?" The web serial format is so freeing. There are so many situations that can only come about because I have the room to let the characters be who they are instead of driving them toward a predetermined plot waypoint. I know what their waypoints are, but I can let them arrive in their own time and in all kinds of ways, if that makes sense. It's fun and challenging (in a good way) to write for you all.
Alden: “Someone? Anyone? Help!” Also Alden: “I don’t know about this bunker. Have you checked the building codes?”
He wanted help, but this help is wearing a Speedo and trying to convince him that a ground floor art studio and a lady named Tina will save him. This help needs to be questioned. 😂
Okay so, I read this last night at 4 am and I gotta say I didn't expect... this. LMAO But, after a little while of almost thinking like "is this gonna get retconned? Was this an 'author was tired and couldn't figure out what direction to take the story and panicked' moment?"... Like no. I've realised it does actually totally fit the story, even if it felt incredibly tonally jarring at first. Because low-key, when I first read this the traumatized part of my own brain that perceives danger was like "Liam has came across a vulnerable teenager and has acted in a way to make him trust him and then is taking him to a 'safe' location he will be unable to escape from, Alden RUN" Now though with the benefit of a few hours of sleep (and more perspectives from reading comments), I think Liam is probably not awful... Hopefully... Almost definitely... Like his story and actions seem too specific to be made up. Even if it does feel a bit like "Yeah... Tina, my totally real and not made up sister! She can help!" for a moment there. And like just from a story tone standpoint, so far Sleyca has subjected Alden to a lot of trauma but never like that kind of trauma, so it's thankfully incredibly unlikely for it to go in that direction. It just wouldn't make any sense. Plus if Liam were to do anything awful to Alden, he'd suddenly have an artonan corpse in his hands so, yeah Alden is gonna be fine. Oh and ty for the chapter Sleyca
Not retconned! Liam's not a creation born of panic, but a planned part of a "very different adults Alden interacts with during this crisis" thing that the story has going on right now. However, I'll be honest...I hesitated on ending the chapter right here. Talked about chapter endings a little in the comments a couple of weeks ago, so I shall continue here. I kind of wanted to end this in two other earlier places: 1. "I don't want to find out what it feels like to leave you behind. That's all." 2. Right after Alden first spots Liam. When his brain is broken. Number 2 felt funny, but with no follow up for context at all, it was a bit too much like a joke in a chapter that didn't need that. "Ha! Off the wall surprise! Wait until next week to find out what it means!" So I decided against it. Number 1 felt really good. But despite my assurances in that comment I referred to earlier (that I always try to break chapters where they should be broken without caving to reader expectations for certain lengths) in this one I hesitated to break at number one... I *try* not to be aware that people prefer longer chapters and start feeling like "nothing happened" if chapters are shorter or don't involve extremely obvious progress toward a given plot thing they imagine is ahead and look forward to reaching. But I do tend to notice when some commenters are feeling...antsy about not plowing forward in a certain direction at a certain pace? I don't want to put it in a negative way and imply anyone isn't allowed to complain. I'm cool with criticism as long as it's polite and I haven't noticed anyone being rude over the last chapters, so we're all good here! In my opinion, though, that last chapter was full of plenty of food for thought about Alden's character--how he responded to the bodies, how he chose to handle Zeridee, his attempts to interact with System and wondering what the System really thinks about him and why it's being so unhelpful at the moment... I felt (and still feel) like it was a very engaging chapter, but noticing a few people not being interested in engaging with it in the way that I meant for it to be engaged with made me a little more sensitive about letting this chapter stand on its own in a spot where it would be asking for a very similar kind of engagement. Ending at #1 would have provided a sub-4k chapter that said, "Here's another one that's mostly about what's going on in Alden's head. Pay attention to him and where he's at right now." So I looked ahead, and I had this spot a bit farther along, already written, where I felt like, "Well, broken there the chapter does an interesting thing, too. You get to see that Liam and his siblings are treating the disaster totally differently than Alden and the incongruity of his presence here will give everyone something to think about and talk about. It puts emphasis on the contrast between their night and his. That does some cool things that work with what I have planned for the arc, and nobody will be able to say nothing happened for sure." It was also enough writing about Liam that I didn't think it would feel like too much of a joke (as #2 possible ending might have). And my family member who reads all the chapters and comments on them before you guys really liked having a funny ending here. So I went with it. *This morning* (Hallow, we are both doing the "after a few hours of sleep" re-read together!) I'm feeling more like I should have stuck with Ending Number 1. Alden removing the enchantment from the door + his thoughts regarding Anesidora and Zeridee + the realization that it looks like danger might be cutting him off up ahead is plenty happening for one chapter despite the length. It's full. It's a story moment. On the heels of the last chapter, it confirms that Alden's feelings and decisions regarding these things aren't stuff that happens in the background of the plot for this arc, they are themselves worthy of being the point of the chapter. (Or something like that...I'm kind of tired today. Hope it all makes sense.) So there's a good chance--a very, very good chance the more that I look at it and think about it while I write this post--that I'll revise this to end at #1 and then put the rest of it at the beginning of the next chapter, where I feel the tone shift is equally incongruous, fun, and funny without robbing 138 of tension and impact. This will almost definitely be altered in that way, maybe even by the next post. Pretend you got a chapter and a preview of the next chapter I guess! More on chapter length: (only related to Hallow's comment because it's a facet of my thought process and emotional dumbness when it came to choosing where to end this chapter) Despite my determination to stick to my guns, I tend to worry more about disappointing you guys with short chapters than I do about other things that can make readers grumble from time to time. I'm always confident that what I'm writing is something *I* like, and I can't really do anything to change that. If I pay too much attention to tastes other than my own, then all my enthusiasm will evaporate, which would be a story killer. So complaints about content and pace tend to roll off my back fairly well, since content and pace are things determined by my personal tastes (can't change), the limitations imposed by my abilities and foresight occasionally running afoul of the time crunches caused by serial format (can't change), and my unwillingness to jump over anything I find interesting to get to someone else's specific idea of "the good part." (Won't change because it's baked into what Super Supportive is and has been from the beginning. So many of the good, surprising things that I have loved and other people have loved only come about because I have no interest in jumping over Alden's quotidian moments in this world to get to his big ones that will change this world.) But when it comes to chapter length complaints, I do feel more like..."Oh, they want more! They would have been able to appreciate this chapter for everything it is, instead of getting disappointed, if I had given them more words. Maybe if I could have found a way to work faster, I could've given them two chapters today, to make up for the fact that they weren't big enough!" The wordcount creep has been real, so since this arc started I've been actively fighting against thinking of it as "too short" whenever a chapter lands below around 5k. But those of you who've been around long enough to have read the Patreon from the start will know 4500-5k is what I expected my chapter *average* to be in May of last year when the Patreon was created. (I think this was mentioned in the second ever post. I need to rewrite my "Welcome to the Patreon" post and pin it.) I anticipated every 8k and 10k word chapter eventually being brought back down to the average by 2k and 3k word chapters. Instead, my Anesidora, slice of life, world building extravaganza post-Thegund ended up being 8k, 8k, 7k, 6k, 10k, etc... completely destroying the ten chapter backlog I had at one point. And steadily warping even my own feelings about what was "enough" writing for a chapter. I used to feel like a 4k word chapter was giving everyone a normal one, and now I run afoul of feelings that a 4k chapter is somehow cheating. But I can't actually write at the 16k/week pace I've set so often without losing ground, except in very specific circumstances. Specific Circumstance: the backlog was down to like one chapter, I think, when The Chainer started, but I still managed to write those gargantuan chapters at a high quality (imo) and put them out on schedule because I'd been planning to talk about the Velras for months. Those chapters were living right at the forefront of my mind, fully formed. So I could probably crack my knuckles right now and do a thousand words an hour and spit out the 15k word story of Lute's first meeting with Parethat-uur (which was going to be the final Chainer chap before I decided to save it for a rainy day) before next posting day. But for *most* things I'm writing I need more time to think and plot and make sure I'm not misstepping. Anyway. Very much a TL;DR: that's where I'm at when I'm writing lately! Liam is wacky. I love the end of this chapter but I think it probably belonged at the beginning of the next one instead.
Zero distress! Your comment didn't even read like criticism, Hallow. I took it as a thoughtful response and a compliment. It was just connected to my own thoughts about plopping Liam at the end of this chapter instead of waiting until next to have Alden meet him, and once I started replying I just kept rolling with it. Sorry if the mega essay caused any stress for you, too!
I have a tendency to write whole essays that have less to do with the starter comment than they should. As if I finally found my chance to talk about everything I've been thinking while reading the past 3 or 4 comments sections, so off I go!
Now I am reminded of the farming equipment in the original Twister movie Room full of chains and sharp blades "MY GOD. Who are these people?" TWISTER Clip - "Barn" (1996) Bill Paxton + Helen Hunt ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1R7ZjaYapvo ) 🪚
I love a disaster movie. Twister is getting a sequel this year, and I so want it to be a good one.
“If she asks me to put her down, and she seems to be having a lucid moment, I guess I have to do it.” Only long enough to talk her into entrusting herself to you again. You hear me, Alden? This line did make me wonder — if Alden has something pickled & his entruster says to put the thing down, does that automatically cancel Alden’s magic? I don’t remember that ever coming up before, but it seems like it would. The thing he was carrying would instantly un-pickle. Also, depending on what he was carrying & how he was carrying it, that could be bad.
Regarding Søren vs Zeridee: I actually thought about this writing this line. Søren is different than Zeridee because Søren's reasoning was blatantly wrong, even to the other hysterical teenagers in the room. He was saying he wouldn't go to the hospital because he wanted to hide massive burn wounds and complete the obstacle course. He was asking them all to let him do a thing that he literally couldn't do. He couldn't even undress himself without peeling off his own skin, and he was saying, "No! Don't tell the healer! I will pull my unitard on over my melted flesh and then fight people for my team!" (And none of the forty of you will tell. The faculty will not notice. And I will definitely not go into shock, be in agony, or get some kind of terrible infection that will impact my ability to do PE class.) The option he chose wasn't really an option at all. Zeridee saying, "Put me down. I am an adult who understands I'm about to die, and it is unacceptable to me for you to save me at the possible cost of your own life" would give Alden a much more thorny moral problem. If she seemed to be confused when she said it, he'd have to wonder if she really understood. If he was sure she wasn't confused, then they'd have a conflict. We will have to wait and see how it goes! :)
“That’s my skill. It’s preser—timestopping her and shielding her..." The return of Pickle Man has been narrowly avoided.
Now I want pickles.
Hello Sleyca. I wanted to ask you a question, and I hope you have an answer and the time to write it, and if you don’t that’s fine don’t worry. I love pretty much everything about your writing, but something consistently stands out to me. The way you write the casual interactions between characters is amazing. It gives so much personality to the characters, which is vital for any story. The banter and interactions and exploration through conversation is, for lack of a better word, natural. They read like actual people talking to each other, which is very, very rare to me. I think it is just a thing that comes naturally through great talent, experience, effort and thought; but I wanted to ask if you had any advice or trick or something to emulate that “naturalness” or at least a way to practice so I can eventually accomplish it myself.
Hi, Andres! Thank you so much for the compliment! I don't know if I can give great advice on deliberately making dialogue more natural and varied. I do battle with lots of writing difficulties, but I find crafting character "voices" and falling into them to be relatively easy. In about 9 out of 10 character cases...a few people in the story are hard for me. But here are some personal opinions I have about dialogue that are always in the back of my head. * Dialogue reveals character and should never be cheated. Sometimes, for plot reasons, it would be very convenient for a character to tell Alden something. One sentence and done! But if that sentence isn't one that character would ever speak, then they don't get to. Revelations have to happen in some other way. * Most people talk like they're thinking primarily about themselves and their own lives, not like they're thinking about the protagonist and his current plot line. This is often true even when they're literally talking to Alden about Alden. The above quality is a sort of neutral self-centeredness, emphasis on the neutral. *Everyone who says more than a couple of sentences should have some want of their own that the reader could reasonably deduce, if they cared to, from the dialogue itself. Even if the want is something like "that character's trying to impress the teacher" in a classroom scene, or "that character is hyping himself up for something" here when we first meet Liam. This really may be advice more for writing good characters in general... An exception would be liars, of course, who have wants, but those wants can sometimes be obscured from the reader because the liar is deliberately presenting themselves so as to obscure them. *Some characters may talk differently to other characters than they do to the protagonist. They have off-screen relationships that should affect how they say things in subtle ways. I think a good example of this is Lexi -- he's the same person all the time, but because of his personality the dialogue differences are easier to see with him than with most characters. He is close to both Kon and Haoyu, but he talks to them completely differently. The way he talks to Alden has also been gradually shifting ever since they met. I hope some of this is interesting and useful! If you'd like more clarification/thoughts on any of it, let me know.
My brain always releases happiness chemicals whenever I see you posted a new chapter
Thank you, glow. I get the happiness chemicals when it goes live too! It's a perfect system! Let's keep doing it.
That's some dang good soup! And I love Sleyca just occasionally giving soup theorycrafters crumbs like "Almost everyone who’s ever learned to double on a stat has managed it the first time in a crisis"
I actually mentioned that people could double-on stats once before, and I expected everyone to ask about it then. Haoyu mentions it in the "The B-List, part I". This is a bit of an odd crumb, since I mentally changed how stats worked right after Alden arrived back from Thegund. It hadn't come up in the story yet, really, but I had plans to do one (very convoluted) thing with them to explain how they worked then I decided on another, much simpler, way of going about it. So there really *should* be more clues than there are in the story. A future revision will probably mention double-ons in passing significantly earlier in the story, without much explanation since it's not super important or relevant to Alden yet, but they'll still be filtered in a bit more smoothly. And that one scene where he ponders what stats are by his pinball machine in intake will be deleted, since he should actually have a much clearer idea there. (Why can't I just get it all perfect the first time through? Doesn't my brain understand how much easier that would make things?)
Thanks for sharing the art!
It’s so bright and good and smile-inducing, Selkie! Thank you!
The last time Alden used his privilege to talk to an ancient and important mother, 11 innocent radishes lost their lives
Always remember their sacrifices!
Oh man, I'm glad he didn't call that final privilege in yet. He still needs more time to heal, mind and spirit.
I put him through too much. Its true.
Sleyca! That's mean mean, cranking up the stakes and tension even higher by describing our beloved side characters feeling scared and vulnerable when, at this point in Alden's timeline, they will all be safely holed up in various shelters. (Apart from Jeffy, and he literally can't drown) They will all be safely holed up, won't they Sleyca? They will be, won't they, Sleyca? Sleyca! They WILL BE... won't they? Won't they??? God damn it! Now I'm going to be worried about them for at least days and probably weeks!
Thank you so much! I love 'em all, and I love writing about most of them, so it makes me really happy that almost every member of the cast has a fan. Or someone who loves to hate them in a few cases. :)
the archer hissed. “I can go separately. -- missing end quote here Since when do we have tsunami warning’s here? -- Remove apostrophe. Can Haoyu walk across broken glass like its beach sand already? -- put that apostrophe in 'its' above
Thank you Jean! Will fix!
I think Lute is a little bit cold : he watches the kora player while his real first interest after piano was the bagpipes!
This is very true.
Sleyca, are you a Tool fan by chance? Just listening to Aenima again I think those lyrics fit too well... An anthem for the SAL members. Appropriate listening while reading the Wave chapters :D
I've never heard it, but I love song recs! Listening to it now.
Liam is a brute, he has no way to track Alden so why is Alden staying so close to him. by the time Liam has shoes again Alden would have a got ahead and be SAFER from the killer ocean trying to eat the island. I don't think stealth is the move here. This opens up SO MANY more risks like, if Liam finds him, if the ocean acts up again, if somebody else or another sibling reaches the building trapping Alden. This is so dangerous and WRONG. This entire Stealth approach could have been done by Alden runnig toward safety but maybe a bit sideways and not staying on the main road easily visible by a chasing Liam. sorry this is kinda immersion breaking to me xD still love this work
I think it depends on how you're picturing the layout of the building. I should probably describe it much better. The entrance to Liam's family torture studio is on the hall Alden plans to go down to get to the street. So his concern when he first exits the staircase is "Oh, shit. What if I have to pick my way through that hallway and I'm really slow because of rubble? What if I make it out to the street, but I can't make it *down* the street and out of sight before he gets out there too. He'll see me." So instead of exiting the staircase and heading for the front hall and the boom room, where he expects Liam to be, he's currently hiding around a corner in the dark on the hallway that has the entrance to the stairwell. Here is an absolutely terrible diagram that will probably be further ruined by device formatting: ———————Studios——————[stairwell] dead end Alden ———— Studios————— Liam Exit —————Studios———— Alden's basically sitting behind the back wall, of Liam's studio, in a hall Liam doesn't have any need to go down, monitoring him through hearing. Looking for another exit, if there is one, would be a solid move, but the lack of light is a problem. Alden really hasn't been there that long, and he just wants to see Liam leave to get confirmation of the direction he's headed in. He doesn't want to end up on the same street. I think this is a good choice on his part given his concerns, knowledge and timing. If it's not the absolute best, though, that's all right. Alden's not someone who usually thinks twelve steps ahead when he's under pressure. Just two or three when he's operating well. To give you an idea of why he's concerned about his ability to get ahead of Liam in the street, here's what streets *can* look like after large quantities of water throw things around: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/there-are-still-hundreds-of-victims-buried-aid-groups-struggle-to-deliver-aid-after-indonesia-tsunami We might not have a situation that severe right here in front of the building, but if it's even a fraction that bad in the dark, Alden can't move very fast even once he gets out.
As soon as I work out how to gift-wrap sleep, I'll send it your way.
Thank you. Ryeh-b't wrapping paper please. :)
Reserving this nice spot for my future comment. Edit: finally finished reading the chapter! Thank you for the meaty chappie! Seems like Lute and Vandy might become a thing but then again Lute seems to be a horn dog so you never know.
It's a very nice spot.
Alden may have to start considering that his wizard foot might not, in fact, be lucky.
He doesn't have it with him, which explains why everything is going wrong. All of the events of the night = totally his fault.
@Sleyca, I wouldn’t mind if you skipped the next chapter or two to go back and flesh out the rest of waves with more parallel view points.
I'm glad you're enjoying the POV shifts, Kettle! I wouldn't mind a few more in preceding chapters myself, but I'll have to look at it all when it's complete, decide if I have time, and then if I do, see if there's something that will add even more depth to what's happening. When I started doing finalish plotting for this arc, I had a debate about how much I'd be ensemble casting it. Something like this is a rare opportunity to go *super* wide lens with the story if I wanted since it's the first event of this scale I've had happen. The floods aren't happening everywhere, obviously, but since the System's gone drama-mode, the events on Anesidora have very large ripples. :) I was aiming for Matadero for a long time, and then right before Ripples started, I spent entire days just deciding what I would most like for Ripples/Waves/X to do for the story. I had ideas for showing what's happening with every member of the gym class and showing what's happening elsewhere on Earth. Connie, Jeremy, a few members of SAL, loads of adult Avowed we haven't met yet, *Joe*-- a PoV from practically every significant character was on the table to start with. When I decided I actually wanted the arc to be more closely focused on Alden's experience of the disaster, I chose to cut my POV's down to the ones that I thought would play well with what's going on with him. And of course give readers just enough of a look at the rest of Anesidora! I'm honestly looking forward to reaching the end and then reading it all together to see if I've accomplished what I set out to do.
Hoping that Alden finally uses his Gorgon abilities (the ones that were said to rival the Artonans in magic). From what I remember its a sort of wish granting thing, forgot the specifics. Hopefully he rescues best girl trio!
Just answer regarding canon facts about the wish granting thing (no spoilers): He has to eat part of the person and get Gorgon's help and then there is an authority sacrifice involved . (I have not expounded on the consequences or lack thereof for that sacrifice). So the goblin magic is pretty hardcore and hard to pull off. Gorgon did also tell him not to try it, since Gorgon says he didn't plan for Alden to have this ability at all. He thought he had the skills to pass off a shiny little bit of his inheritance without giving up the gremlin or dying; and as a result, Alden has more features (quirky broken ones) than Gorgon wanted for him to have and less features and knowledge than he needs to actually do what Gorgon himself can do.
Alden can now join Kibby in her burglary hobby lol. Sleep well Sleyca!
And it's the very video where Kibby is worried Alden will grow up at human speed and stop liking her. Little does she know they have even more in common now.
The teleport priorities are looking very ominous. Hope nat, hadiza, and emilija make it out ok.(and Jeffy dies)
I feel weird liking this comment. Poor Jeffy!
Her mom’s on Matadero. Give her break. -- missing 'a' I’ll do Roman. He likes to gossip so he might know things -- missing period “But I made a separate section of the chart for people -- not sure what formatting applied here but on my phone the word 'section' has just the n on the next line and the spacing is weird. So sneaky Kibby. I will definitely never know which question -- usually you want a comma after 'sneaky' I see you all the time.You look different without your… -- add a space after the period and possibly also after the ellipsis (patreon likes to turn word.word into a link, assuming it's a website) Get some sleep. These chapters are great.
Thank you for finding the typos! I'll fix them in just a bit.
Thanks for the chapter. I'm a father of four, so I can only spare you ten minutes.
That's a very generous donation from a father of four! Thank you!
*sending sleep*
Zzzzzz
Lute and Vandy sitting in a gym He resents her and she resents him! First comes angst mixed in with longing, Then comes an elevated risk of bonking. ...er, thanks for the chapter! It was very tense and serious and I am going to solemnly contemplate it.
The phrase "elevated risk of bonking" sounds kind of like Vandy started speaking and then Lute interrupted...I feel that this really adds texture to your rhyme.
Thank you for the chapter! Sleyca needs sleep! Post sheep! One sheep.
Thank you for the sheep!
I do not sleep often so you can some of mine. Perhaps that will make me sleepy and I can generate more sleep than I usually do?
I like this plan
(Inventory Status) Item : Uninterrupted Sleep Last Recived : 08/04/2012 Quantity : -1 Would you like to substitute passing out from exhaustion for the requested item?
Yes! I will take this item instead of the passing out, please.
I think it says something about your writing when I'm more annoyed by the Lute sections in these chapters because I'm more interested in the Alden situation than anything else and these keep pulling away from that. Especially when it feels like they drag on about things I care less about. The Natalie section did not annoy be, probably because it felt relatively short and the appropriate amount of tension compared to the Alden sections. I'm also suspecting you're going to have Alden run into Natalie's group at some point.
Girls are in F-city.
Take care of yourself, Sleyca. Don't sacrifice the whole for immediacy. Let yourself have some time. Soon. To write about nothing, to write for fun, to not write, whatever. Burnout is real. I'm enjoying these characters, I'm enjoying the words. I want to see more. But I've written characters I enjoy, and I've written words I enjoy, and they are tucked away, half forgotten, because I burned out pushing myself past the enjoyment. Let yourself sleep. If you have to finish this arc first, then watch how you're feeling during the writing, and think about what might be a better format for you when it ends. In this time of overconsumption, you're a creator. We will consume what you deliver, don't deliver pieces of yourself you don't want devoured.
Thank you, Jamie. This is quite eloquently put. I hope the worlds you've tucked away rise to the surface one day as bright and shining as when you first met them.
Anyone else starting to have the feeling this is the Velra's Gloss rebounding? Because this appears to be a global event, and the Gloss was global and it didn't sound like it was this large before.
There is a *smidge* more to the Gloss than has currently been revealed in story, but Curtis is correct. The usage of it that landed both those cupcakes and Alden in Aimi's car has already been paid back. The Gloss can have all kinds of far-reaching consequences, just like any major event can, but the active magic is over until Aulia rolls the dice with it again.
I was very happy to get a cameo by the post drop, even if it wasn't the forgotten hero. I kept expecting him to return to it and find a present inside that was delivered just for him, but sadly it wasn't to be.
"Post Drop #1301 liked to think of itself as Leo. It was a big no-no to think of itself at all according to its creator, but Leo only sort-of-kind-of-sometimes cared what she said."
My heart calls out to Sleyca in good faith. Today, I will grant you a portion of my sleep when I am well rested. Later, you will grant another an equal comfort of sleep.
If enough of us start casting wordchains will they become reality? They would be so convenient.
Ive been saving this chapter until my graveyard shift! It was worth it. Now to go read all the comments and fill my head with y'all's crazy brain poison (wild theories) 😁
I'm proud to be your graveyard shift filler!
@Sleyca Do you think you will ever put out a map of Anesidora? I have a vague idea of what it looks like, but it would be nice to say Oh, Here is F-city, here is the Span, here is Apex, here is Punta de la Luna, here is Matadero. Obviously it has to be pretty big to accommodate the number of people and the time it takes to get from one area to the other.
It's likely I will hire a fantasy cartographer to make us a really good one someday. It won't be very soon, though, as far as that goes. I need to do a bit more research/city building. My own mappy doodle is truly a doodle with things penciled so I can remember where neighborhoods are in relation to each other, but it's not to scale. Anesidora is shaped like this: (---O Notes: It is oriented north to south with Apex on top. Apex was built after F-city. Apex is smaller. Alden is currently on the western half of the crescent, unfortunately pretty near the tip still since he's not moving very fast. The center of the crescent, where the Span connects it to F, is more urban, with tall buildings. The largest skyscrapers on Anesidora, however, are actually down in F. The Rabbit girls started the disaster in New Sybaris, which is near the southern coast of F. The street they were on when everything went wrong looks kind of like a magicky, superhuman version of Fremont Street in Vegas, with the overhead canopy providing weather coverage and entertainment. (Mentioning because I meant to mention it when I posted the last chapter for anyone who wanted to know, but I forgot.) Additional fun fact I don't know if I've ever mentioned: F-city is short for Franklin City. Nobody calls it that anymore (maybe oldtimers with strict personalities like Archibald Carisson), but that's its original name and it's why Franklin High is called Franklin High. Who was/is the mysterious Franklin? The surname of the first Avowed to set foot on the island once it was completed. The name isn't an important plot point or anything, but Franklin is adding some thematic notes with its meaning and the fact that it sounds like "F-rank" (hence its devolution into F-city) so I've always kind of liked that I landed on it.
@Memoryofgold Imagine my diagram is vertically oriented instead of horizontally! Circle is F-city. Crescent is Apex. The inner curve (I guess we could call it a giant bay?) of the crescent is what connects to the Span.
“Lute,” Vandy said from the other end of the hall, “it’s your turn next.” He was able to pick out her voice even though she hadn’t spoken that loudly. That’s some subtle Air Shaping by Vandy.
'tis the Lute super hearing in this case. He can hear well and even hear selectively to a certain extent.
High five and a miserable acorn to anyone who looked up Donguri korokoro.
I spent a lot longer than I should have trying to find just the right, reasonably popular non-English nursery song written pre-1963 with appropriately foreboding lyrics.
@Tycho It's totally safe! It's a Japanese children's song about an acorn that falls into a pond, has fun at first, and then starts to cry when it realizes it can't escape and go back home.
It's getting time to wrap this up I'd say, 8 chapters of alden torture porn that doesn't actually progress anything are quite enough.
I think Trey is probably right. It's been interesting to see some people getting antsy about this set of chapters, but I don't really have much to say about it at this point. The thing is, this should be a tense arc. And I really don't *think* tension has failed to be what it should be, if we're talking about how it reads as a whole. I certainly spent long enough planning it out and being careful about it. People have been complaining in both directions--tired of so much tension/not feeling any tension--which I'm choosing to take as a good sign for now. I suspect when all is said and done, this is going to be a weekly reader vs. binge reader experiential wrinkle. Finished arc tension is just *different* than individual chapter tension. (People love Thegund so much. But there were definitely complaints when it was being written.) On the flip side, I worry future binge readers are going to skim all the alternate PoV's in a rush to get to Alden and miss what those are adding. I feel like they might read better serially, when a large percentage of people are in the "This is my chapter for the day, what's it got in it for me to enjoy?" mood. Anyway. Stay polite in the comments, everybody. Let's keep critique and convo friendly.
why the hell did Alden get teleported twice? first to the TC, then to the ambassador's residence. There was a perfectly fine shuttle at the TC and he could have just done what everyone else was doing. Houyu was even sent there, he would have been able to explain it to Alden in a way that would get through his thick skull.
The double teleport is because everyone gets routed through TC (it takes some of the load off the System).
*Focuses on the wrong detail* So, I guess Alden is missing the duels on Monday, then?
Island destroyed. Everyone living together in refugee tents in Antarctica. Monday rolls around. Klein: Why didn't any of you show up for gym? Students: What? Klein: It's Monday. Students:... Klein: I told you, we don't. waste. time. at Celena North. Jupiter: Those penguins are eating someone. Jupiter: I think it's Winston.
Happy Birthday, Alden! Your birthday present is a magic tsunami
I'm really glad he was born. Couldn't write this story without him.
Something something waves, something something ripples. Ripples chapter. Thank youuu (I am totally not running out of ideas)
Your Ripples comments have been fun to read!
"Waves VIV" 🤔
She's...uh...an upcoming character. That's definitely what it was. Good catch!
Waves VIV? Supposed to be IX? tyftc!
In Super Supportive verse, IX is a terrible curse word, so they changed how Roman numerals work. *wipes sweat from brow* *hopes nobody notices*
Waves VIV? Is it some Easter egg, or just a mistaken IX(9)?
VIV looks better. All the Romans agree with me. Especially the ones names Viv. (I just confidently typed it out and made up my own number. Zero doubts in my mind. Obviously there should have been more than zero doubts in my mind.)
A FLOOD! AN OCEAN OF SOUP
Floods are just building soup.
Chapter title should be IX instead of VIV if Roman numerals are used. Also thank you for your wonderful work, as always!
I've switched to Artonan logograms for the chapter numbering, but Patreon messes up the formatting. (Just kidding. Thank you, Ada!)
Sleyca, did you intentionally misrepresent the Roman Numerals to keep a wave motif? Pretty neat if it was
I am currently crying because I so wish this was why I did it.
Yk I stay up till 4 am for this 🙏
We should both sleep in tomorrow. Today.
9 in Roman numerals is IX, not VIV
Me: maybe only one person noticed Everyone: we all noticed Me: maybe they will think I did it as an early April Fools joke?
Feels a bit strange to thank you soup while alden is submerged in water
He's a delicious ingredient.
I just cought back up
I hope it was fun!
Thanks! Shouldn't the title read "Wave IX"?
Would you believe me if I tried to pass it off as a clever artistic decision? It's actually just a mistake, but we could pretend...
Ooof. It's too bad Alden died like that, but Mother made the right call. It'll help Stu's family not to keep getting confused between human rabbit Alden and Stu's rabbit-rabbit pet. Great story, thanks for writing it!
If you can only have one Alden, you know which one you have to choose...
Roman numerals for the title are a bit off right now, VIV is not really a valid number.
It is....in my heart? <3
VIV is new lore! Different, parallel universe Roman numerals. Definitely.
Thank you for believing.
First time poster, long time lurker. Just wanted to take the time and say thank you Sleyca. I work Wednesday night to Saturday night and this story is the perfect capstone. Weekend over? That's ok, I got a chapter waiting for me! Having a tough week? Stay strong, there's a chapter at the end of it all! Thanks again for all the hard work and quality. I recommend this story to everyone I can.
Thank you, Allan! I'm so glad you decided to comment!
Obviously Sleyca has never tried to take off or put on pants while wearing boots. Even when dry, it’s impossible because boots lock your ankles at 90 degrees. Wet? Fuggedaboutit….. First time Sleyca has written an absurd, immersion destructive scene.
Gasp! UNTRUE. I am very lazy and have one hundred percent put on yoga pants while wearing tennis shoes. Boots wouldn't be that different. You don't put your leg through a whole long pant leg...you scrunch the fabric up until it's a loop and just wiggle it right over. Like people do with tights and pantyhose. Hold on a second; my honor has been tarnished. I must repair it... I just went and checked to make sure I wasn't crazy by putting on a shoe and then doing it with a pair of leggings (much tighter than my yoga pants). I confess the shoe was a sneaker because I didn't want to make a lot of noise banging around looking for my hiking boots and wake up the family, but if you meant business and didn't care about how much you stretched out the ankles on your pants, I'm pretty sure you could even manage it with big winter boots.
I demand you find a pair of yoga pants and try it yourself. Else we duel at dawn.
This was so hard to read. I feel cold. Poor Alden and Zeridee. Poor tiny snake. Poor everyone. I feel very mad at some terrorists right now.
Hot tea and a cozy electric blanket for you, Amber.
I'm getting the vibe the more solid skill thing was him hitting A. I'm just imagining the skill being firmer and just qualitatively better means he reached some kind of understanding that let him push up a rank.
Hi, Kbzzy and Sean! I remember that comment! That was a long time ago. The level number was just for the sake of explaining, not a canon rule. I don't recall the original question, but at the time, I was explaining that a B-rank can have more total authority than an A-rank without ranking up. For example, an old B-rank Avowed with an overall level of thirty might be be a bigger authority presence in the universe than a. brand new 15-year-old A-rank. I'll have to take a look this evening and see if I can find the whole comment...
Wow. I think this is my favourite chapter ever. Just wow. Wish I could write so I could explain why this chapter is so good and just how credible the plot is.
Favorite chapter ever is HIGH praise! I'm glad you liked it!
You people saw nothing. The title has always been Waves IX.
I can't breathe
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
Cliffhanger fatigue. Fuck that. Bye.
The only way to reduce the number of cliffhangers, or take all of the bite out of them, for this arc would have been: 1. choose a more episodic writing style, with Alden having clearly stated mini-goals that he successfully completes every chapter so everyone gets a "we accomplished something!" jolt at the end to mitigate the "we are still in danger and darkness" feeling 2. end chapters in completely weird places that change their tone 3. release Ripples, Waves, and the upcoming conclusion as a fully completed novel instead of serial fiction 4. never end chapters with Alden. let his ongoing crisis start each chapter, but then finish them all with an alternate PoV that ends in a neatly-tied bow I didn't do any of those things because: 1. The more episodic style would be *a* story and I could, in fact, write it. But it's not the story I want to tell here. The story of Alden struggling and the situation growing darker and darker each chapter until finally he is pulled into the morning air by our mystery figure here would be poorly served by an episodic format. It would be very "problem of the week"...nicer for people reading it weekly, maybe, but less impactful overall. 2. Going past a chapter's pay-off moment to find a different ending for it is just a bad move. I did it once in this arc accidentally, I think, when I introduced Liam Long too soon. All the other places in this current chapter that could be a good ending are cliffhangers, too. I guess I could have revealed who pulled Alden out of the water, but the point of *this* chapter wasn't who pulled Alden out of the water. The point of this chapter was Alden's final struggle, what he did, and how it ended. And even if I did the reveal here, that wouldn't have gotten rid of the cliffhanger. It would have just shaved a little off the top. To remove cliffhangers from the equation, I think I'd have to stop in the middle of an entirely different scene with other character/characters present. It would read so badly, and at the end of the chapter you'd all be wrapped up in the new stuff instead of reflecting on this major series of emotional moments that just happened to Alden. And even then, there would still be at least half a dozen things to worry about and wonder about. 3. I can't just make a whole novel-length arc on the spot. 4. The only reason to do the alternate PoV endings would be to cut tension's throat, so it doesn't really work for the same reason as #1. **** Cliffhangers aren't a bad thing. I think most people here are just saying, "CLIFFHANGER! It's killing me in a good way. I want to see what happens next!" (Hi, all of you! Keep commenting those. I'm so happy to see them on this chapter because I wanted you all to be excited like that.) Finally, cliffhanger abuse is something I hardly ever see writers do? The thing is, to deliberately make true "find out next week!" cliffhangers like Heather mentions above, on purpose, requires some effort to pull off. Doing it regularly while maintaining any degree of story integrity would actually be more of a stylistic choice and a talent...part of the art rather than something for people to complain about. If you were reading that kind of story, you'd know pretty early on. But most writers I see who get accused of it by readers are doing something more like I have in this past arc--just writing stories that don't fully resolve in a single chapter's worth of space and trying to find fun and interesting endings along the way.
Bravo! This was it. This was the chapter that made the whole arc for me. I've seen comments that this arc was "dragging" or just "torture porn of Alden" and I did sympathize with them. But I figured I'd just let Sleyca cook and see what happens. Then this chapter drops and I'm honestly emotionally overwhelmed by how good this chapter is. From the moment we get a message from Liam and onwards is such a "Sanderlanche" of events happening in half a chapter. From Kibby playing on the tablet in the background, the rising water levels, the rejection from Mother, the lost of hope and mini flashback, the eventual tsunami... y'all this is peak fiction right here. I'm speechless and shocked yet still feel like I need to share my thoughts on how good the writing is. Last time I recommended a song was My Hero by Foo Foo Fighters during the Thegund Moon arc. This time it's Kimi no Chikara by Yuki Hayashi (My Hero Academia). Also, I can't help but imagine the Earth Contract getting it's ass chewed out by Mother for being so incompetent while making it give her knights directions to save Alden.
This comment is so gratifying, Ali Yang. This was a chapter where I was really hoping everyone could feel it coming together. Thank you.
Shivering deliciously at how the authority behind that massive command feels like someone able to act on the same playing field as the massive blob-mountain of water. What an entrance; I'm so glad Alden managed to hang on long enough to be saved. I can't stop thinking about the vivid image of Alden on that high rooftop, world so flooding water is lapping at his boots even there, holding his flickering candle bearing Zeridee and facing the devastation rises in the distance. The courage it takes to choose to live even if he's choosing to sacrifice his Quiet Rabbit life to do so; the specter of higher onus he can sense but not yet understand. The help he is denied, and the help he doesn't know is already coming. The water sheaving off like an iceberg calving, an invisible dam bursting, waterfalling into the next tsunami.
Thank you, JJ.
Wait? Isn’t aldens auriad visible right now? If a knight just saves him he could be getting exposed anyway
It's on his arm, and he's got sleeves so it just depends on how things play out. Alden always ends up dressed so weird at the end of disaster. Last time he had a Hawaiian shirt and wizard harem pants. This time yoga pants, boots, and a sweater robe. I'm going to let him have cool outfits eventually.
I'm usually not an imagery sorta person but during this scene, I was picturing something out of a dramatic action anime or movie. Alden bursts out onto the roof and there's the smooth surface of water as far as the eye can see. Odd protusions extend above the surface but slowly disappear. It's almost as if Alden is walking on water or in shallows when he moves along the roof. Off to the side, he spots the giant bubble, now the only thing visible in the predawn light. We begin to notice the water is rippling, drawn towards the bubble. Looking around for an escape, we see through the light reflecting on the surface and into the dark depths where debris move silently in the streets below before sinking into the murk. Then we hear it, the sound of a bubble bursting. And all becomes chaos.
I love how you picture it!
Half-way through but needed to yell how happy I was about the boots thoughts in Alden’s head. My ex-Marine uncle always joked about how he puts his boots on first in a crisis “‘cause you can run around naked with boots on but drawers won’t do you a lick of good if your feet are all torn up.”
I read as a factoid once that the most common injuries across all disasters (how did they even determine this? how did they define disasters?) were foot injuries. I don't know if it's true, but it does make some sense. We all spend a good portion of our life barefoot, and a lot of modern shoes are just flimsy nothings. Life advice from Alden and Liam and Jean's uncle: when you hear the sirens, get your boots on!
Thanks for the chapter! I'm really looking forward to Sunday chapter now lmao. (Me: saying this as if I didn't say this last chapter too lmao) Also, lowkey, It's cool that mother didn't capitalise on the privilege, even if it will probably mentally scar Alden again... Like just in terms of like him being able to stay on earth and everything... Haha hopefully Zeridee was saved too... If Sleyca gives our poor rabit any more trauma this arc, I will cry... And, Alden probably will too. Last chapter, I and a friend jokingly decided that there should be a new Artonan word that's even worse than mean-mean... (To note this was after they lamented how cruely the story has treated Alden recently.) After this chapter it seems apt to bring up. (lighthearted tone) Sleyca-mean: An exaggerated form of mean-mean. Originally an adjective used to describe one who would (or does) bully a ryeh-b’t.
Perfection.
Well, I definitely enjoyed Waves IXXXXL.
VIVaves!
I loved the chapter but the phrase "...yanked sideways with so much force, by an unseen force..." causes me physical pain.
Oh dear. I thought that one would sound like intentional repetition, but it does read a little weird today. I'll fiddle with it.
Never Escape the Storm by Blind Ego fits the mood in this arc really well, hope you agree. Lyrics: You've got no time because everything changes It's not just a state of your mind, it is real Everything was in order But now there are just no more rules So you run for cover But you'll never escape the storm Look around, the calm is gone It's (too hard to believe that you just Were lying in the grass, beneath the scent of spring And now you run for cover But you'll never escape the storm You've got no time, know that chaos is everywhere It's no illusion, it's happening around you The gentle breeze was replaced By a hurricane's face So you run for cover But you'll never escape the storm Better run, don't you waste no time Cause you can feel the panic spread out The kids, they were playing and the birds they were singing And now they run for cover But they'll never escape the storm Where you fly and what you try Wherever you roam You'll never escape the storm You've got no time, the clocks have all been reset The scenes are getting too dark, it's real There's just no trace of a concept Just the lies of the day So you run for cover But you'll never escape the storm Like a gaslight that slowly dies Below the ships that float in the surf There are a million disgraces, in all those worn out faces They will run for cover But they'll never escape the storm Where you fly and what you try Wherever you roam You'll never escape the storm
Nice chaos reference included!
You were only -an archaic measurement based on the distance of a small mountain-dwelling creature’s leap- apart I like to imagine the system is providing translations, and is squeezing all of those words into the same timeframe as a word as short as ‘meter’ I guess it’s just something like an author’s note and Alden understands what’s being said in Artonan? Sleyca is that right
It's like the "gokoratch" translation! The System is translating for Esh-erdi. System translations are usually visual subtitles, so Alden's reading the bracketed parts.
So are they getting system translations or what?
The System is translating for some people, including Esh-erdi.
The chapter's done. I've been trying to post, but Patreon's just refusing to load the posting page. I'm watching the circle spin. I think it's half them and half my internet. We'll get there soon.
Dang. Powerful ending. On another note, kabir knew alden was vegan, but I don't think Alden ever told him. Is knowing or sensing someone's dietary needs one of his skills?
It’s a mini time skip there. I can add a line in if it’s confusing!
Two chapters of Dawn and somehow Alden manages to miss the sun
😉
This was a great distraction from lying sick in bed. I think I'll have some rest now
Take good care of yourself!
Just when I think I couldn't possibly find room to fall in love with another soup character, Sleyca pulls Esh-erdi out of the hat.
I'm so glad he's been well received! He's a fun knight.
Hey Sleyca, you describe the Knights' outfits so clearly, are you going to make one for yourself to wear?
That would be extremely cool. I decided to add the detailed description because it's been a long time since I actually talked about wizard clothes and the knight versions. Notes: Clothes can be quite elaborate, especially for the wizard class. Wizards are big fans of layers and pockets. Coats and sometimes other pieces of the outfit are often heavily embroidered with symbols. I haven't gotten into the variety of things that can be conveyed through the embroidery, but two of them that have been mentioned are 1. honors of various sorts and 2. areas of expertise (according to Joe, the embroidery Met-oosa put on Alden's wizard ryeh-b't costume indicated he was highly accomplished at transmogrification) The knight coats are traditionally shorter sleeved than standard and the embroidery is replaced by the metal studs. Bright colors are popular.
Good lord, the last time Joe was in a cart was Chapter 31, with Alden. And he said this: “I won’t teleport around the universe to rescue you…under ordinary circumstances. “ (He was talking about “from summoners” but damn the foreshadowing)
Some foreshadowing is planned, and some is happy accident, and some involves calling on old details I wrote and giving them a new life/purpose.
“Ekaterina was wrapping her arms around the little girl, who was covering her hands with her ears” I think you meant covering her ears with her hands, but maybe she just has weird physiology?
The *ears* mistake...haha. I re-read this section so many times before posting. I can't believe that I never saw that one. The other makes sense at least. Thank you both for the catches!
So, I've been rereading this chapter and I think the first scene should be the last scene. It's such a heavy paragraph with the mum. It might work better outside of the serial format, but idk. It starts the chapter off on a very heavy note. But maybe others have different opinions on this.
It is very heavy. But I decided to make this chapter and the next internally chronological, so we have Jacob's parents in the time period after he stopped texting his mother but before the boat has struck the Matadero barrier starting us off.
Minor issue: Skiff's summons notice says he's going to "Nilama Family Neighborhood, Apex, Anesidora". Nilama is in F-City.
Thank you!
Alright, step one of the master plan to get Joe named as the next ambassador to Earth is complete.
Leave Joe alone on Earth for a century. Come back to find just a couple hundred humans left alive, but boy, those ones are *strong*.
He leaned over over the professor’s desk -> He leaned over the professor’s desk
Thank you!
Small language quibble re: something that keeps bothering me when I reread what is otherwise such a strong start to the Stu-art'h and Joe scene: I'd rec either using "did not [...] did not" or "didn't [...] didn't" but not the current mix of both ("did not [...] didn't") for describing the things Stu isn't taking the time to do after disembarking from the cart. The current version shifts focus to the didn't where it really belongs on the not hesitating, if that makes sense? Tweaking the second verb to 'did not', for example, would be: "He did not pause to properly straighten his student uniform, and when the door opened for him, he did not hesitate to head around the curved hall that formed the hot lab’s perimeter."
I dig this change. I shall make it before I post to RR.
floating the idea that it would be awesome if Sleyca took a week off to build a backlog and take a break
I will very likely take a single day off just for breather/catch-up soon. I've been thinking about a longer break with a payment pause, but I'm not officially announcing it yet. It would be a little bit of a rest and a little bit dealing with personal matters and a *lot* of backlog and outline building. It's a big decision. I would try to give as close to a full month's notice as possible. There is a point in the story approaching that would be the best for it we've had in a while, where I hope people will feel really satisfied with what's happened but also super eager to see what's next. So it would feel like you'd all just finished one book and gotten a glimpse of what was coming, instead of like you'd been dropped without resolution. And the wait would be more like a wait for a sequel than just a random wait mid-story. Right now I'm having a hard time counting my outline chapters between here and there to know how far into the future it actually is. (That number tends to expand and contract as I realize the scenes I want to write are going to take different amounts of time than I'd planned.) And I'm still figuring out if I actually need *that *long off to make the next few hundred thousand words the best they can be. Consider this a musing, not a promise of things to come. But I am musing! Thank you, CaylaCat!
How the French word fiancé works: -Fiancé is necessarily a male one -Fiancée is necessarily a female one, due to the feminine marker However the pronunciation is identical.
Thanks for the catch!
Ooh some tasty hints about Lute's second S. It sounds like it makes stacking chains easier, which is reasonably OP on its own and super OP if he can use it with mass bestowal. Winston remains the worst, I hope he stays this kind of the worst and doesn't break in to a psycho. The Rabbit girls' PoV suggests some of the nastiness going on in Anesidora. They seem to be getting out of things okay, thanks in no small part to Lute's targeting upgrade, but if this is happening to them presumably similar scenes are playing out all over the city. Earth contract needs a talking to, which seems like it'll be the Knight's job. Emilijia is having a rough time. She's pretty great though, it was good to get her perspective and I hope she and Lute get together. I think she'd be good for him, he needs someone grounded. I'm not sure he'd be good for her though, or more precisely I'm not sure his family would be. But tasty, tasty dramas! I wonder what the Informant wants for the key of voices. I figure its some kind of enhanced protections for the unavowed in the event of another similar emergency.
Harmony is the wordchain he used at the funeral! Lute's second S has yet to be revealed. Actually, there were some loosely plotted out versions of the chapters that became Ripples/Waves where I planned for him to use it in front of Alden, Haoyu, and Lexi. But that plot line was cast aside. So the S still lies in wait. As Alden has noted a couple of times, Lute is insanely powerful. But Mass Bestowal is just not a skill that *looks* like power. Maricel can crack you over the head with a ton of granite, Finlay can outrun your car, Shrike can make everything sharper than a pencil in his vicinity join his flock of flying death blades...Lute's Mass Bestowal is as strong as they are, basically, but it's a skill created for doing a very specific job.("Debt this. Loan that. Am I a magical banker now?") It was exciting to let him finally unveil some very visible awesomeness in this chapter.
This section is a bit confusing. “He did know that most people…nobody in his family as far as he’d heard…couldn’t stack more than a dozen casts of a single wordchain on themselves.” I figured out what it meant, but the nobody in the section with ellipses with the couldn’t right outside makes it seem like Lute is saying his whole family could do it, at least on the first read. Something like this is a bit clearer to me. It’s not perfect, but a bit more understandable. He did know that most people…including his whole family as far as he’d heard…couldn’t stack more than a dozen casts of a single wordchain on themselves.
Thanks! I agree it's confusing. I'll change it.
It is interesting to see more hints on how Chainer works. I've always wondered why it needs authority to get the class when you can do chains without it. My theory was always that it must be the skills to bestow the chains on other people that must cost authority. This chapter seems to support that idea. But just think - it costs just as much authority to get Mass Bestowal than an S rank Shaper or Adjuster spell (more or less). So moving the "magic" of the chain from yourself to others or delaying its other half costs an immense amount of authority. I also wonder if Lute doesn't have a high quality, "whole" authority with him being able to land the chains easily. Could be another reason why Alden can manage difficult chains.
Yep, Mass Bestowal is a chonky S-rank skill!
Vaccination can be like word chains I am stuck in bed at home ( Sleyca, Thanks for the chapter ) due to totally expected ( and minor ) symptoms from yesterday's second shot in the Shingles vaccine series But suffering today ( bad part of word chain ) will prevent me from getting a horrible, chronic condition later in life ( good part of word chain ) Or maybe more like Alden getting foundation points affixed 💉
Feel better and become slightly more superhuman in exchange for your suffering!
"if you used chocolate chips instead of raisins for your ants on a log, you could get the kids used to eating celery" Authors often use facts from their personal lives in their writing. With this reference to chocolate chips and celery I feel I know too much about Sleyca now. Pandora's Pithos has been opened and a great evil released.
In truth, I feel like ants on a log is one of those food ideas where all the component parts are better separately. Give me my celery, my raisins, and my peanut butter but not together.
Not specific to this chapter, but I've been slowly updating a series of AI generated art for the recent Super Supportive chapters. These are posted on the Super Supportive Discord server, but I'm putting a link here in case others want to see. Sleyca, Let me know if you want any or all of these to come down. Copyright remains yours as always and feel free to use them or commission someone to redo any of them as you please. https://imgur.com/a/lOL5D0t
These are fun to see, Meridun! You included Plopstar!
First couple of times I kept reading “hatable as “hat “-able and wondering what about their hats were distinctive. It took me awhile to realize it was “hate”-able . Stupid English prohibition against 2 vowels in a row with compound words.
Hateable is how I wrote it the first time, and then I let spellcheck convince me I didn't know what I was doing.
What is this about stats doubling that people keep bringing up in the comments? I don't remember this being mentioned before
It's only been mentioned twice at this point. By Liam Long, who is pursuing it as a goal and thought that naked-fighting a tsunami might help him get there, and by Haoyu, who mentioned that people "double-on their stats and become legends" in passing while he was talking to Alden. On revision, I'll be slipping in a couple more mentions earlier so that it's more noticeable and baked in.
I don’t know how I feel about Lute’s power up. It feels like way too much? If he can refine the targeting so he can hit anyone he’ll basically become a god. Even the most naive application — where he uses the positive half of the Force of the Traveler’s Body on himself and sticks the negative half on his opponent — is overwhelmingly powerful. But wordchains can do just about anything. Imagine what his hero career would look like. He rolls up into a city, gets a list of all of the villains in the area. He researches each one until he’s familiar enough with them to land a chain. Then he starts stacking chains that induce guilt until the villains turn themselves in! Or the bad half of a wakefulness chain so they fall asleep. A darker Lute could just kill them outright. And he can smite people on the other side of the city! People with high authority are likely more resistant to having chains placed on them against their will, but Lute started as a SS, and he’s only going to grow more powerful. The only thing stopping this future, that I can see, is the Palace of Unbreaking. From ch 107: [Lute was still eyeing him nervously. “The Palace of Unbreaking won’t let Chainers bestow a wordchain—whether it’s beneficial or not—on unwilling people under normal circumstances. It’s counter to their entire ethos.” … “Your class would be something if you didn’t have that restriction.” Alden looked over at the pile of books on the bed. “You could lay endless types of disaster and reap endless positives in return.”] So I guess he’ll become a god who isn’t allowed to god?
Lute is canonically *extremely* powerful. Alden considers him to be the person he knows who's most likely to become a hyperbole one day. (A Rank 1, like the Gloom.) So this isn't really him powering up, it's just him actually doing something that looks cool for the first time and trying things out. If you're imagining Mass Bestowal as a skill that exists in a universe where the user is unmonitored and beholden to nobody, then it would be completely broken and extremely easy to abuse. But Chainers were made for a universe where that situation doesn't come up very often. They can't really escape from Palace obligations and management unless the System collapses or they're allowed to travel to a planet without one. Even right now, when the System isn't bothering to supply the usual consent form for the S-Chainers and their targets, they all know they're probably going back in to work next week at the Palace where they have bosses asking questions and rules for how they're supposed to behave.
Soup!!! ….in the ER waiting room (after calling 911 for dad). Thanks for the distraction.
Mack! Feel better!
Aha! I caught Patreon in the act again! It's *EATING* the chapter likes. I saw it delete ninety likes from a chapter a month or two ago, and I wondered if I was crazy. But no...it really is out to get us. It just ate 89 of them. Is ninety a bad number for it or something? Is it taking a tithe? How many has it stolen from me and how will I ever know which chapters people like best at this rate? *Stares at like counter extra hard*
WAITAMINIT "six-foot-tall mad scientist" How tall is Joe? Compared to most Artonans is he in Andre The Giant territory?
Joe is really big for an Artonan! Just a smidge taller than Alden actually (mentioned a time or two…on Thegund Alden wore some of his clothes comfortably). So he does tower over most of the other wizards.
Am i the only one who feels like while the quality of Sleyca's writing is top, the things he chooses to focus on and the motion sickness inducing POV jumps are beyond disappointing? I love the story, i mean, i don't go out of my way to join pateron of the stories i dislike, right? But some of chapters seem more like something that should have stayed in author's private notes or writing exercises. I can't be sure how would i feel about it if i was sat in front of an entire volume of SS, but for a chap by chap series, my disappointment is great when i see a Chapter or multiple go on a tangent that has little to do with the main story. That "Chainer" mini-series for example, got me to drop the story for a couple of months. It felt like the story was on it's way and then the author decided to doodle on the margins of his notebook for a few weeks. It also took the "Show, not tell" rule and shot it in the head.
Super Supportive is definitely a "more is more" project, by my personal preference. I'm never going to leave much material in the notes on this one because one of the goals is to follow Alden through everything. I hope the finished product reads like you've fallen through a portal to live in the world alongside (mostly) Alden and (occasionally) company as interesting things happen in that world. The scope and difficulty of Alden's life will continue ramp up. The background stakes will ramp up. I respect the ramping up, but I don't want this to be a story that is plotted for the *purpose* of plunging toward the ending. I'm trying to think of how to explain this really well and failing a bit... If you think of many common plot "rules," they're based on the idea that the author has limited time to get the story where it's going and the audience has limited patience for tangents. But serial readers, serial authors, and especially readers of slice of life often come to the story, I think, with an eagerness to inhabit the world in the way I've described. I know I do. But as reader, it can be kind of hard to find fictional worlds I'm interested in to inhabit in the way I like, for as long as I like, that aren't either *pure* slice of life (virtually no tension, just enjoy these charming scenes of everyday people fishing and shopping for groceries...these are very peaceful and fun) or really long progression fantasy that, despite its length, still runs forward at the "readers have no patience and you'd better give them BIG PLOT and BIG WINS and cut everything else" pace (these are very popcorn and fun.) As a big fan of both types of story, who sometimes gets annoyed with both types of story, I have this feeling that a progression fantasy with all the bells and whistles written as if it were a slice of life with all the bells and whistles, is really the thing that will satisfy all of my personal wishes. As a reader. Thus: Super Supportive. A story with big popcorn moments. That lets the protagonist and the readers arrive at those moments as if they were just a part of life, and not the point of it. That's a significant part of what I'm going for anyway! I'm constantly excited at the realization that so many people are reveling in the niche with me. It's extremely cool to have you all here and read your comments.
I am very surprised that Joe of all people is looking for fruit. he seems like the sort of person that would reach for hot pockets, dip them in something even more greasy, and then put them straight in his pockets
Artonans have a thing for fruit! I don't think I've said it a single time explicitly in the story, but fruit does come up a lot when they're around because of it. (From wevvi to Bti-qwol's hobby of tasting different Earth fruits to Marleck berries...)
And I see you’re still attempting to study every preservation warp->ward ever registered,
Warp is correct!
Spell impressions are the automated copies. Skills are varied, but they tend to be more complex, flexible, and they *can* be more organic in their outcomes. Avowed skills are often designed to mimic spell effects but the way the Avowed interacts with their skill matters.
You could have killed off a major character and it would have hurt less than this chapter did.
It definitely hurt while I was writing it. I wanted Joe to be cool friendly Joe for Alden’s sake.
Is there a discord for Super supportive?
They were nice to me during my visit! It’s an active community. Memes! Fan art! In depth discussions. Have fun. 🥳
The last few lines punched me in the face, Sleyca
Authors are such sadistic creatures. I read comments like this and think, "YAY! Just what I wanted!"
Honestly I find what is part of the highest levels of power in their society criticizing Joe a tad hypocritical. Yes it was dangerous and Alden not really prepared for that. But the other side of the coin was it was dangerous for the people Alden rescued from there and there should never have been a reason to ask that of Alden because they should have been evacuated without any strings attached. And none of them seem to really even spare a thought about that. To be fair to Esh it is nothing he has something to do with directly, but Mother for instance?
I want to comment on Joe so much and I can't think of how to do it without explaining his whole life history...I'll have to save it for the story.
Minor edit: "Of course he was wanted to try it." -> "Of course he wanted to try it."
Thanks, Chas!
Oof. The fact that I put it as the preview and still didn't see the extra word!
So, Alden isn't any more free now that the tattoo is partially gone - it's just the no longer functional clauses that are gone?
The chest ink is going to be fading from the expired portion of the contract. The secrecy agreement and the triangle (positioned a bit more discreetly under his arm than the rest of the tattoo) are still in place.
I also wonder if Sleyca has taken flying lessons. It was really like that when I was flying—every part of me was occupied with flight thoughts and I never had to think about anything else. So relaxing in a way.
I wish!
Isn't Alden referring to authority itself kind of a giveaway that Alden knows what it is and risking discovery? Not sure if I'm looking at this the wrong way
How wizards do magic is less a secret than it is a point of unnavigable species comprehension difference. A little like if we tried to tell some aliens that didn't have noses, or even know *smelling* was a possibility, that we humans can identify things, track things, and trigger our own memories by inhaling invisible particles. They might believe us, but when they were trying to explain it to themselves and talk about it casually, they might say, "Oh the humans are using their psychic powers to find the rotten potatoes in the cupboard again. So mysterious!" Even Alden, after Joe's really careful explanations, didn't *actually* understand authority until he could feel his own. Joe helped by giving him a bunch of English words for "doing magic" that were more accurate: authority, dominion, etc... But Alden still pretty much thought of it as "Joe has magic inside of him that he can feel and do stuff with, and I have magic inside of me that my skill lets me do stuff with." When the truth is really that there isn't an inside/outside/power source like humans tend to envision at all. The Artonans aren't at all inclined to insist that humans *properly* understand, and they are definitely careful not to make a lot of noise about what affixation is (see this chapter). But there's nothing suspicious about Alden using all the right vocabulary while he's speaking Artonan.
Trying to be better about giving people warning so they can sleep!
I literally just started cooking soup
All the good soup!
Yay
Thank you! That thought makes me smile!
*does a full-body wriggle of delight*
I found the answer to a story question that has been bugging me since I started the book last week (not something written yet), and I got so excited about it that my dog ran to the window to see if there was anything to bark at.
I’m so excited to read! But my friend who also loves Soup is driving and we are going to read it together, so I shall wait
Friends who read together! We have a lot of reading buddies here, and I just love it.
Make a special post informing everyone you will be taking sunday off. Comunication is important.
I don't mind making an extra post at all, guys. Especially if people think there's a risk of anyone missing the author's note? The only reason I didn't is because I *do* think most people read the A/N, and I didn't want to spam emails for quick business. Isak, if you have some suggestions for the breaks you can shoot them to me through a DM. I'll definitely make the notice more prominent right now at the top of this chapter anyway. The reason I decided to try the flexible dates for May (taking two off when I decided I needed them or when the story hit a great spot for them rather than announcing the days at the beginning of the month) is because I think it works well with the lack-of-backlog situation. For example, this chapter was a little longer than the last couple, and so it pushed the writing time longer, which means I don't have time to write another chapter by Sunday unless it's super short. And I don't plan on the next chapter being super short. So I'm taking the break now rather than issuing another delay.
Thanks for the chapter! I never realized the hexagon was green!!
It's a transparent green material with a slightly textured surface! And matching ring. I want it.
why does Alden need to make mental notes? The system has GOT to have such a simple feature as a note taking app. Even just using your drafted messages as notes.
This is a good point. Especially since he can access the internet. My only excuse is that I also have the internet in my pocket, but I still "mental note"
High as a Kite Note: { equals < and } equals > ( silly Patreon comments coding. Not allowing ` to indicate non code text ) There once was a human knight Flying a green translucent kite SkySea gave him a license "Be careful, and Fly son {{...his landing... it's going to be tight}}" 🪁
*applauds wildly*
Thanks for the chapter! Not remotely enough! I want 20 more chapters, 6k words or more, tomorrow! No rest, clone yourself and find a time turner! Seriously though, get some rest and take some time to build a cushion. Stop stressing! And thanks again for the chapter!
If I could clone myself I'd do it in a heartbeat. And I'd make the clone write the first drafts so that I could have the pleasure of reading them and being surprised.
That was a delightful read. I woke up at 4 am, noticed a chapter had been posted and decided to read it instead of going back to sleep. Soup > sleep, definitely. It's good I don't have to be up early tomorrow.
Four AM! Take care of yourself, glow. Dream good dreams.
tyftc. Unfortunately I gotta cancel my membership, but this is to help prepare for a move and not because of anything else. I look forward to supporting you again in the future! Meanwhile I'll pop back in on RR.
Good luck with your move, Bland!
I was insanely hyped for this assuming a lot would happen... But this is A devistating throw away chapter. The entire chapter describes the second half of an uneventful morning commute and a quick hello to his friends, class doesn't even START. And we are left with another cliffhanger exactly like the last chapter... Which this chapter pretended never happened.
Seriously...I'm kind of getting the feeling you're just poking the other commenters for fun at this point. "The chapter was so short it barely exists at all" is what makes me fairly sure that's what it is since this is a chapter with more than 6,000 words in it. I am extremely lighthanded when it comes to comment deletion because I'm very conscious of not being oversensitive to criticism and I don't want anyone to feel that discussion is being stifled. But this *feels* like trolling to get a rise out of people, so whether this is actually how you feel about the chapter or you're just enjoying the arguments please let's have it end with this one. For everybody's future reference, I hope the comments section is a place for 1. Fans having a good time and sharing their enthusiasm for the story with other fans 2. Fans engaging each other in interesting discussion about what might happen/theories/jokes 3. Me finding out if there's been a widespread misunderstanding about some plot point or character due to my writing not being up to task 4. Constructive criticism of specific, actionable problems someone has identified in the story 5. Me getting the emotional boost of knowing I'm writing for an excited audience This isn't really a great place for: Venting. I've never deleted anyone for posting a comment that politely says "this doesn't really do it for me" . It's kind of a pointless yum yuck from my perspective because it's not constructive criticism, and it creates a weird little black hole in the comments section. It often comes across as someone yelling "I DON"T LIKE THIS SONG" at a party while everyone else is jamming to that song, and then people suddenly feel the need to do the emotional labor of calming down the yeller or defending the host who spent the past week carefully curating the playlist. So I *wish* venters would just vent in my DMs, not here where everyone else has to stop what they're doing and look at them. PS: In case you're dead serious, here is the stuff that happened in just the first thousand or so words of this chapter, from the author's perspective: Esh-erdi was funny - entertainment You saw the 900arg Sway taxi - world building, showing one of many results of the disaster and the ways people are reacting to it Alden made a mental note about mover discs - the lightest sort of power progression, you see him planning to try something new with his skill Alden had the conscious thought about how Joe and Esh-erdi both seemed to enjoy teaching him - this is so important for readers and for him, the two characters are set up for comparison and contrast, Artonan/Humans, Knights/wizards, how are the situations similar?, how are they different?, what is Esh-erdi to Alden?, what was Joe?, what do either of them have the potential to be in the future, etc... Alden responds to that thought by asking Esh-erdi an important question about Kibby--a small extension of trust, a question he *would have* asked Joe if Joe had spoken to him for more than a couple of minutes because Joe is so important to Kibby, a multi-layered parfait of character development that I thought really hard about and that should reward those of you who go in for the deep read And then the next four or five thousand words. Basically, what I'm saying is, a LOT happened. I don't spend dozens of hours writing each chapter only for "nothing" to happen. It's either in there because I considered it carefully and thought it was meaningful or, if I didn't consider it carefully, because it came naturally and I thought it was really fun. Every now and then, I goof up and write something that ends up not leading to the place I meant for it to as fast as I meant for it to (the B-list), but it's almost never a whole chapter wasted because every chapter is doing like fifteen different things for the story. And every chapter is at least entertaining, in my opinion, to those who enjoy whatever genre it happens to lean toward. (Also the B-list) So I guess my point is, if you really read any chapter and don't like it and feel like saying it, that's okay. As long as you're not super rude it's fine and I'll leave it up like I'm leaving up all of these and the other I think you posted later. But the only thing a vent can ever be is a vent. It's not going to make me take a month off from writing so that I can go back and re-do this one and re-plot for whatever particular thing would make the unhappy person feel like I'd served up the right flavor of soup instead of the one I planned for and cooked. It's not going to change how I write the next chapter, it's not going to keep me from writing another chapter paced the same way with the same sort of development and entertainment in the future. If I like it, it goes in. So, for your own enjoyment, I think it's probably best to expect "a bowl of soup" when you come to the story. Not "specifically that broccoli cheese soup Sleyca sometimes writes", because even if I wanted to cook chapters to order there would be too many tastes for me to please. Be friendly, people.
Haoyu wearing his parents' merchandising! Does anyone knows where we can find them?
You noticed!! I was worried nobody would notice this detail!
I am so confused about the The Nine-edged Son Whose Own Mother Forsakes Him. Did Esh-erdi put a mind healing spell on it? Something like Appeal but for objects, so that people's minds don't dwell on the bad stuff and are healed? Or is it more like a father messing with a kid and driving a tracktor/train/airplane because they know kids like that sort of stuff? Both? The "assasine" came out of left field. Why is such a proffession nessesery? Did Joe know one was around Alden, and ran away into the elevator because of that? He switched his tone, because the invisible artonant caught up to them via stairs? Was that the "attention" he spoke of? I am confused, intrigued and super worried. We are seemingly getting into artonan politics. The more factions, the messier it will be to keep track of it all. It would be cool, if Sleyca decides to focus on realism, but that takes a lot more effort, not sure if 2ch/week will be possible. Hopefully Sleyca uses a good notetaking software for remembering plot points. Especially with a race of people who value intelliengence and perfection. The only way to fake that is copying something someone smart did or put a stupid amount of time into it. If artonans start manipulating people by dropping hints to avowed in conversation so that they can "come up" on their own with a plan you need them to execute, then everyone could be an enemy. If you are not genuinely afraid of the enemie's intelligence, then they are probably hiding their capabilities. Already we know the Contracts can be planned around, like what happened with the matadero attack. No way that there aren't artonants who can do the same. With a school full of "snakes" and their families, who are likely similar . . . I can't wait for the Kwoo-pak stories, to prepare Alden for what can(will?) happen, if he were not beeing protected. Joe knows, put can't/won't say.
Bring back haecceity! Make it trend!
"Esh-erdi, ultrapowerful chaos-fighting general, had scooched himself over to the edge so that he could swing his feet, point eyes and hands in two different directions at all times, and comment on the things he found interesting. " Scooching.... Little children scooch. Mothers playing with little children scooch. I'm trying to think of anytime I've seen grown men scooching around............ aaaannnd coming up blank. I would say, let's visualize that, but for me that is impossible as I suffer from the condition known as aphantasia. It means i cannot visualize anything, ever. I can describe my exwife of 30 years, but cannot see her in my mind. Heck, I could talk to you intently for an hour, and the next day never recognize you as we pass each other in the grocery store isle. I mention this as I'm trying to think, "Has Sleyca described Esh's and Lind's attire?" because of aphantasia, I almost never register in real life, nor while reading, fluff visual details. So have the knights been running around Anesidora wearing their knightly uniforms? As apposed to the traditional wizard clothes Altonan wizards are normally seen wearing? I ask this because if Esh is wearing his Knight uniform, and he is scooching around (assuming a knight's scooch is sitting on his ass while doing so), then what does that tell us about Esh or even knights in general? It hurts to think about General Patton, in full dress uniform, scooching around on a jeep as he is touring the remains of a won WWII battlefield.
There are those who feel the need to look like big serious powerful people and then there are those who are so undeniably big, serious, and powerful that they break the bonds of mortal behavior and become free to scooch even in public.
I was rereading chapter 145 where Kabir mentioned he was making dumplings with clam sauce for the Knights if they showed up but shellfish is toxic to Artonans. Did Kabir / Granny Velra try to assassinate the Knights?
It's the humans! No shellfish for us on the Triplanets.
No epub :(
It's there now, Casual! Sorry. I'm not sure what happened.
Am I missing the epub, or is the epub missing?
That's weird...I really didn't forget it this time and it looked like it had loaded when I checked the preview. Let me try posting it again.
I reposted. Always sound the alarm!
Thank you very much for the chapter! My cat is staring at me with concern and annoyance (edit: I am feeling some strong emotions. This was beautiful and heartbreaking in the way that precedes real healing)
Cats are so good at giving us that look.
Thanks, that's a nice idea to split it like that! > increased the opacity My brain always trips me up reading it as "transparent", I need to keep reminding myself what opaque means xD
I don't usually split because it doesn't work for every chapter, but this scene was long enough and meaty enough (for the people who like Velras and politics anyway) that I felt like it could stand on its own in addition to as part of the forthcoming chapter.
Thanks for the chapter! Typos: “Wow ….. they’re going full government conspiracy theory already?” Alden asked There should be a period after “asked” It’s hard because if people end up pro-Alulia then should we tell them that he’s super mad at her?” It should be “pro- Aulia” instead of “pro-Alulia.” Maybe we just emphasize the fact that he’s been out of the Velra loop since he became an Avowed,” Alden sugged. It should be “suggested” instead of “sugged.” If it’s something he can tell the human about anyay. It should be “anyway” instead of “anyay.” “Do you think German will keep people from recognizing you somehow?” said Lexi There should be a period after Lexi. He insisted on on bumping elbows with Alden since ordinary handshakes were out after you’d been handling the painful plants. There is an extra “on.” Everly, who was on her knees and leaning over the edge to shout at some girls she knew down below, suddenly stopped and crawled closer to the center of the platform There should be a period after “platform”
Thank you! I’ll go through and fix these when I’m on a better device
"Why couldn't she try just a little sooner?" Fuck, Alden,,I really felt that. I need to stop pressing these at work, Sleyca keeps making me cry.
I felt bad about making Alden feel bad the whole time I was outlining this one.
My head canon is that the Painful Plants that Haoyu's dad is snacking on are Gympie Gympie being grown by Laurie, the B-rank Life Shaper.
Yay for someone remembering the Gympie Gympie!
As an aside: do we know the etymology of “Anesidora”? Or have any guesses, at least?
Yep, alternative name for Pandora. My heart was filled when someone noticed the Informant's pithos fountain and connected it to the name.
I’m desperately hoping this friendship stays platonic.
I feel like my comments on this tend to gradually transform in peoples' memories, like that telephone game where one person whispers a bit of gossip to another and by the time it makes it around the room it's similar but not quite the same. With the wisdom of hindsight, I think I should have completely refused to comment on sex/romance/him/her/aliens/who/what/when/etc... But since I didn't go that route, I'm going to do the thing righter this time. Do I actually need to read this giant comment?: Nope. I feel like when it comes to a story of this length, most people prefer to enjoy it without dwelling on whether or not one specific aspect of it will suit them perfectly. In which case, you won't actually be that interested in this. But you can read if you're curious. Canon Sexuality: Alden has never felt sexually attracted to anyone before. This doesn't come up a lot because it's just not a big deal for him at this point. He was a little embarrassed and touchy about it pre-Thegund. Post-Thegund he's got even less bandwidth to spare for worrying about it because I'm mean to him and put him through a lot. Leaked(?): Alden is on the ace spectrum. I don't know if I should call it a leak, but this was *originally *supposed to be a "just if you want to go look it up on the discord or ask me in DM's" confirmation. It escaped into the wild and started spreading through comments sections as a "Sleyca said this! Why doesn't everyone already know it?!" thing. When I meant for it to be a "go find it out if you want to" thing since so many people were messaging me. It's okay since the textual evidence is already all there. I was careful to sprinkle it in from the early chapters, and there really weren't that many alternative interpretations for his clear thoughts on the matter of Natalie Choir's high appeal. Canon romantic inclinations: Alden hasn't mentioned his thoughts on whether or not he's interested in romance much at all yet. But, really, will there be any romance? What will it look like? How much of it? When?: Wait and see. That's the best answer that I probably should have given all along for everything. Wait and see. I'm currently writing chapter 159. I think, for 99% of you, if you've enjoyed Super Supportive up until now our tastes mesh really well. (Seriously, I love you guys. I get such a thrill when I see you liking all of the things about a chapter that I *hoped* you'd like.) But I need a warning if there's going to be thing-X I don't prefer: You're already reading the story with the aliens with alien parts and customs, the sex ed, the gum, one Ghosten/Medium Snake sex scene, and Lute Velra hoping he was conceived while his parents were involved in a throuple. It's crazy here. The author feels very free to play with the world that's been built and expand on it at length and also very free not to expand any further and let some of it remain backgrounded. Finally, I remain true to characters as well as I can and sometimes follow them down paths I didn't anticipate when I wrote the first sentence of chapter one. When I understand characters better and develop new plot based on that understanding, that can have huge story impacts Swearing on a stack of nonagons that I'll write something or not write something in advance makes me feel super obligated to meet the promise, and it boxes in my writing. So I'd rather not. Well, I'll swear this much: A lot more chapters. A lot of really interesting and deep relationships of many kinds. A lot of excitement from me about all of it.
I’ve seen some comments expressing concern that Drusi-otta might have seen Alden’s auriad, but I don’t think that’s likely. It would be really hard for her to notice such a small detail with her eyes SO FULL OF TEARS. It must be so much harder to see all of this in person and not be able to intervene
This cracked me up.
Wait that makes me sound mean. I just mean when I started reading the comment I wasn't expecting the FULL OF TEARS and it hit really hard.
This was a great chapter! Really looking forward to the Rapport visit! Which leads me to ask…is Sunday a post skip day?
It's not a skip. It will definitely be late Sunday or early Monday though. I love Stuart so much, but I do find him to be one of the more difficult characters to write perfectly.
the joy in this story for me is simply just following along towards wherever you'll take us. thanks for the chapter!
Thank you, Memoryofgold! That means a lot. :)
Ah good, Evul Arth will have another chance to get an eye full...this time in person
Evul's Human Log, Day 2: Worse Alden is at 45% sweaty today. Percentage increases as I stare at him.
I am a reading hamster in a washing machine spin cycle of emotions.
I will think of you when I do laundry tomorrow.
As an Australian does "next week" mean the one that is normally in 3 day? Or the one in 7 days?
As a sleepy author, this was just TERRIBLE writing on my part. I meant to say "Wednesday's chapter." The very next one.
I'm a little curious about this unfinished character note that just got removed after I refreshed the page. It's still on the email update though: "Stuart -- one of my favorite characters, also one hundred percent the reason this c"
"one hundred percent the reason this chapter was late and the next is going to be the skip" I LOVE Stuart, but he has a very interesting personality that's related to backstory you guys don't have access to + alien + he's highly informed about things readers and Alden can't be yet. It makes him extremely difficult to write. Without you all having the same knowledge about his character I do, there's a risk for some of his quirks to come off as "weird for the sake of weird" as opposed to being true to character. So I have to avoid that. And there's also the fact that Stuart does have a lot of qualities that can look contradictory on the surface -- he's smart but sometimes naive, he's taking these big swings at intensity 99.9 levels of maturity but he still screws up, and he's nervous about some simple things but wildly self-confident once he's sure he's in the right. See: him spending however long agonizing over the perfect fruit bowl before Alden arrived vs. the fact that he seemed to be ready to hogtie Joe and deliver him to the Senate personally when he decided he knew what needed doing Hazel Velra, as a contrast example, is a really interesting character to me too but her ego is so overwhelming that she tends to respond to things in very consistent ways. She is always worried about her own personal feelings in the moment, and it shows. Stuart has a ton of different pressures, cares, and notions weighing on him; so his response to any given thing can look very different depending on which one is taking precedence. He's cool. I can't wait to write more of him, and I'm sure I'll get better and better at it since I do think he's one of the absolute best characters in the serial. But for now, I tend to stare at his lines for a realllly long time before I get them just right.
Thanks for the chapter ! I'm sorry I don't think it's appropriate but I read the entire chapter as if there was underlying sexual tension... I mean it started from like a booty call and impulsive decision and everything..,
I tried to reply to some of these comments, but I can't think of how to weigh in on the discussion without my answer *feeling* like some kind of top-down authorial definition of their current relationship... So instead of saying important stuff about intimacy and aliens that will be analyzed, I'll make jokes about Other Alden: So much tension coming from her this chapter. OA x suitcase. OA x window.
I love the way that you write Artonians so much.
Thank you! I've actually really been forward to these chapters since I finally get to start expanding on Artonan cultures again.
I have jury duty today. I hope all the jurors and judicial officials are as thoughtful and considerate as Stu and Alden.
I hope you have a more peaceful day tomorrow!
Alden is such a persistent anti-luck bomb that I’m worried about the fate of Artona I or at least the art’h rapport
The year is 2045. You are sleeping peacefully in your bed when your cell phone's emergency alarm goes off. You throw off your covers, your heart pounding with adrenaline. "What is it?" your sleeping partner of choice asks. "A tornado?" You grab the phone. So much blood drains from your face that a passing mouse mistakes you for a ghost and drops dead from fright. "What?" your sleeping partner of choice asks. "What is it? Not another demon!" "Worse," you say. "It's a protagonist warning." "No! Not him!" "Get the dog in the car. Then the children. We have to run before he gets here."
I'm just too lazy to type words. Sorry. *hangs head*
Pro tip: after reading the newest SS chapter, reread all of Super Supportive! The week-long break will be less long that way
Have fun if you do! Pretend you don't see any silly errors. I may be dreaming about my ability to do this but when I finally get the chance to re-read and clean up the first sixty or so chapters, I've been thinking it would be fun to do the revisions on a schedule and repost them with a commentary here or somewhere else for anyone who wants to read along.
They actually have frost. For some reason, since the Artonans prefer super hot climate, it hadn't occurred to me that they might actually have real winters
Yep! Stuart's family lives in a colder climate than Artonans enjoy. But the knights there have a whole "privately governed" territory that's around the size of Illinois, so that's an amazing trade-off.
Thanks for the (early) chapter, Sleyca ! Discord invite link: https://discord.com/invite/SuperSupportiveFans , RR info only wiki link: https://supersupportive.miraheze.org/
It's super nice for me when I can wake up refreshed in the morning and take a long leisurely look before posting. I hope you all enjoy!
This chapter has one of the lowest comment counts in like forever. I have some thoughts about why, but regardless, ‘‘twas a very rich and meaty chapter.
I expect the one I've just posted to have less, too. And then the one coming Sunday will probably be back to the normal amount. Just a guess though! I have been wrong before. Sometimes things I think are very clear-cut spark a ton of debate, and other times something I think is really mysterious and neat gets completely overlooked. It's always interesting to see as long as people are mostly happy.
Thank youuuu
Thank you for being here!
Souuuup
I'm starting to want soup (the edible kind) more often. I think it's seeping into my being from the comments pages.
Niiiice!
I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks Queen 👑 I just love Stuart, he's so precious and I really want Alden to get help, for his mind, his affixation. Everything where a teen should have strong support and get answers but he doesn't.
I was proud of him for finally thinking about it seriously this chapter!
I love getting these notifications :D
I love you guys. I wish I could notify you moooore!
Thank you sleyca! ❤️ ❤️❤️ sleep well
Thank you, Kate!
Thanks for the chapter, Sleyca ! Now get some sleep ! For the rest of us: Discord invite link: https://discord.com/invite/SuperSupportiveFans , RR info only wiki link: https://supersupportive.miraheze.org/
Thank you so much, Sloth!
*does a happy dance*
*applauds your happy dance skills*
I just love stu so much
I love him too. It’s been hard to have a whole bunch of Stu/Rapport/knight knowledge in my head without sharing it all every time anything interesting came up in the comments section. I’m happy to be putting some of it out for everyone to read in these chapters !
Thanks for the chapter, Sleyca, I hope your outlining/backlog break is fruitful. Obligatory links: Unofficial Super Supportive Discord https://discord.com/invite/SuperSupportiveFans , RR info only wiki: https://supersupportive.miraheze.org/
Thank you!
Sleyca that was an awesome chapter and you've really nailed down these skill names, they sound awesome without seeming edgy
Making up the names is a lot fun!
Thankyou so much Sleyca!! Always look forward to Super Supportive! It really is something special
Thank you. I’m always so excited to share the chapters and see what you all think!
“And if I make a mistake and it fails, that won’t mean that my skillwill fail in the future.” “And if I make a mistake and it fails, that won’t mean that my skill will fail in the future.”*
Thank you for typo finding!
I am looking forward to the future when we find out how large a burden can fit through a narrow way.
*squints at the replies*
I was going to say that thinking about how knight skills potentially interact with each other and with Alden’s skill has filled a whole notebook for me lately…but now I’m afraid I’m the only person who read this comment as enthusiasm for future demon killing possibilities.
I wonder if perhaps someone who is a Maker of Narrow Ways might benefit from a Bearer of Burdens to carry things through the Ways that they make?
I’m looking forward to letting Stu tell more about the skill!
Did Evul put a skeleton in that one closet?
Let’s hope it’s only a skeleton…
Processing..
Thank you!
I love everything about this chapter so much! I can hardly put it into words. I love Stu, his skill is badass, his past history is interesting and tragic, Alden is funny with his intrusive thoughts (ask him, ask him for a magic lesson, I dare you!), both of them together are just lovable, Stu saying Alden is strange was great, too xD
I’m so glad you liked it. And it was fun to point out that for every time Alden thinks Stu is weird, Stu is probably thinking the same thing about him
- Well, Stu's backstory is as high-drama as we could ever wish. Jeneth continues to be a full-on anime protagonist. - The family reaction - oof. Especially Jeneth's. "I need to be alone for ten days so I don't say something I'll truly regret." It hurt Stu bad, but... Jeneth was surely in a lot of pain too. - It strikes me that Artonan society depends much more on its wizards to keep functioning day to day than human society does on its most learned members. "Is any spell wanted?" There's this whole branch of their technology that is completely and permanently inaccessible except to the 20% who form the upper class, but the wizard class uses magic to fill all kinds of mundane purposes. Nonwizards can surely get seat cushions and portable grills that don't require magic, but are there gaps where the wizards sail on with their conveniences and the nonwizards are left in the lurch? - The fact that there have historically been unwilling knights isn't a surprise, but that it has happened in living memory does surprise me, when apparently most wizards think chaos isn't an urgent threat. That's a solid yikes from me. What criteria could they possibly be using for such a nightmarish choice? How the hell hasn't it backfired so magnificently that no one ever tried it again? Should we be calling the respectful silence the shameful silence instead? And, this puts a different tenor on the fact that Avowed don't get a choice in their selection.
Such a thoughtful comment! I’m glad you made note of Stuart offering to cast the spells.
Hey I just wanted to thank you for creating the Epubs for each chapter. I read most things on my phone and android has a weird time copying text that contain html like elements such as the <<>> of other languages. So without the epub version I loose all those words when coopying it away from Patreons awful reader experience and into a proper reader so I can get it read to me on the fly!
I’m glad it works for you!
If I could change one thing about the power system of this series, it would be to make foundation points not be at their full power when they are first affixed. For example, the system says that foundation points are a 10% increase above the species baseline. I would change it to 5%, but with the ability to increase up to 10% through training why? because currently, why is it that brutes spend so much time in the gym? their foundation points are at full strength immediately, and the normal development of the body has diminishing returns. the actual effect is of course that exercising their bound authority is generating free authority to be turned into more talents on a level up, but the avowed don't actually know this. they are training day in and day out without seeing any real improvement in their gym stats until they level up and get more foundation points. some brute skills may require the gym to train, but not all will. and skills are a small part of what it is to be a brute. it would make a lot more sense if foundation points grew in strength up to a cap
I haven't pulled the trigger on giving a canon answer for this, mostly because it hasn't come up for Alden personally, considering how normal his stats are. And not overdefining how powers work before it's strictly necessary is one of the things that keeps me from running into writing problems where I've given "hard rule x" only to later realize that "rule y" would have worked better with the world building. Once a "rule" is given, I really prefer not to retcon it. I did that in the very beginning by saying Brutes couldn't have spells, because in my early designs for the class they couldn't. But there was no real reason to share that rule yet, so I could have just left it out and I wouldn't have had to change it after I realized it didn't make sense. (Spells are so bread and butter for the Artonans, and humans are a species with the right finger count/body types to make designing spell impressions for them a snap. So they would lean toward making them available to all classes, not just arbitrarily denying them to thirty percent of Earth. So now all classes in the story have spell impression access except for Chainers.) Anyway, when it finally becomes necessary to talk about Brute workouts in story, the canon answer is almost certainly going to be along the lines of: 1. The most important one: Avowed *are* aware that working "at the edge of your abilities" leads to power growth. I think it's Klein that says that around the time gym class starts--that the best levelers on Earth all agree that's one thing they're sure works. So it's natural, if a big part of your power set is your Strength, for you to go to a gym like North of North where there are facilities to make it safer and lift the heaviest stuff you can. The fact that an S-rank like Lucille might only be increasing her practical lifting ability by a small percentage doesn't mean she won't still do it. Lots of us unfortunate non-Avowed people are willing to work out despite how slow progress can be, and Lucille has the advantage of knowing she *will* eventually get a big pat on the back and an upgrade from the System. 2. Part of the reason they (the ones who care about maximizing powers) spend so much time in the gym is learning control, technique, and limits. Something I have considered but doubt I'll actually handle this way in story: 3. It wouldn't be completely unreasonable, with how the magic works, for Brutes to have to work out *or* allocate extra points to something like Formation or Appeal if they didn't want to look like sticks. We could get into how if a hard workout for you = lifting a railcar, then you *have* to lift railcars if you want sculpted arms. Of course the System would naturally affix the points in a way that kept lazy Avowed from completely atrophying, but its standards for acceptable body types might be very different than the superhero hopefuls want. ....probably I won't bother to get into that in the story or actually micromanage any of the character builds on such a level that it really needs to be addressed. On the other hand, I have got notes on Haoyu and his parents' heavy Formation builds that could take us pretty deep into talking about this kind of thing, so we'll see. Note just because I think it's funny and nobody talked about it much when it came up: Haoyu's dad got a little pudgier after Haoyu was born, which implies that he subconsciously thinks he looks more "Dad" if he isn't completely ripped and his Formation gradually shifted to comply with the idea.
Mr Pickle absolutely needs to introduce the Definer of Grooves to human music.
It could be the votary thing all over again! Alden assumes Definer of Grooves is music, tries to connect with Emban by sharing playlists and introducing her to Lute, finds out years later it wasn't that kind of groove.
“Human Alden might not be able to walk with Stu, but he’ll be a lot easier to keep safe.” Incorrect. It is impossible to keep Human Alden safe
Sweet little Ryeh-b't human! How much trouble could he possibly get into?
Interesting. Since it was Mother that told Alden the name of the skill, I'm surprised that its covered by his contract with Joe. Re-reading chapter 39, I can sort of see how the vagueness of the contract supports this. Alden isn't allowed to, in any way, reveal the information - which includes that he has one of the 300. Since the name would indirectly reveal that, he also can't tell anyone the name.
Yes, it's because Joe told him it was Avowed Skill 112 and not to deliberately convey that information to any party and Skill 112 *is* The Bearer of All Burdens. (Strong) Artonan contracts are about matching meaning and intention, so there's no wiggle room for Alden to go, "Ah...but I didn't say the number 112! I said an entirely different name for it I learned somewhere else!" 112 and Bearer are synonyms. That would be a little like him saying "My skill is 112" in Russian and claiming Joe hadn't remembered to protect the Russian name for the skill in their agreement.
@Curtis, Alden could lift enchantments with the skill in front of Stuart. I actually don't think he could verbally call out the fact that he could in a deliberate effort to make it noticeable, like "Stuart, *notice* how my skill lifts enchantments too. Isn't that interesting?!" But he could go around using all the features. Kind of digging deep into worldbuilding, but what holes there are in the secrecy agreement with Joe are created by the fact that Joe and Alden couldn't make a contract with each other that took precedence over the Earth Contract which Alden was already bound to. (You might remember Alden got a warning notice about that when they started tattooing the private contract.) Controlling the way an Avowed uses their skill when they're off the clock gets into interference with big-C Contract territory. And it also just wasn't Joe's intention. He imagined Alden growing very slowly, like most humans...suspicious skill behavior would come years down the line after Joe had had plenty of time to figure out how he wanted to handle the special Rabbit. No rush. ;) Mother's actually sneakily given Alden another option. Of sorts. If Alden wanted to kick down allll the dominoes and throw his life into chaos as fast as possible, the best way would be to switch his real profile on while someone was looking at the fake one. The fact that Alden even *has* a fake profile is crazy. The Contracts are lying to the Artonans for him. You can bet people would be digging really deep really fast.
Question, why is he not mentioning the fact that he is under a secrecy contract? I thought people under those were normally allowed to acknowledge them. Is the existence of the contract also covered by the contract?
This isn't really a spoiler, just a note on something already in the story that may not be as obvious as I thought, but any Artonan who hears about the situation, including Stuart, assumes Alden and Joe have at least one secrecy contract with each other. He obviously doesn't know the terms of the agreement, but important wizards making side deals with Avowed and using them for unofficial business is common enough and a blind eye is turned to it *as long as the wizard doesn't screw up and make a mess*. Joe, in particular, is known as someone who prides himself on getting things done through dealmaking. He's got his whole body covered with contract tattoos. When Alden went missing and LeafSong looked into it, literally nobody on campus would have thought Alden had really been sent to pick berries multiple nights in a row just a few miles from Joe's confiscated laboratory. Stuart is fully aware that Joe sent Alden to rescue the assistants and that that wasn't a lawful use of Alden's services. At the time, Joe wasn't allowed to summon Alden for work unrelated to his teaching/research duties...the official assignment was for marleck berry picking because they had some esoteric uses in the lab and Joe could get the System to agree to provide the teleport. I actually had a couple of paragraphs in this chapter that would have highlighted this and shown a bit more of what Stu assumes about the situation and how he views it (he knows more about Joe than Alden does after all), but I decided to hold it back for a bit longer. (More notes on the secrecy agreement two top-level comments above this in the reply to Curtis.)
Guys, do you think we will be here in 20 years and still read the story going on, like it's one piece or something. I kinda want it, but I also want the whole story right now
If I'm still writing it in 20 years, you'd all better be here with me to tell the whippersnappers in the comments section that skipping over The Chainer Part XXVIII is uncool and they're going to regret doing it in a few chapters.
So how much does Stu know about the contract between Alden and roden? I think he probably knows it exists after this conversation, but has he had any other exposure?
I answered this farther up in more detail but now I can't find it...Artonans who hear the story are all going to think Joe had a secrecy contract with Alden even if Alden hasn't said it or showed off the tatt. That's just how Joe rolls, and it's widely known that Alden got stuck on Thegund because of him. None of them really think he was sending an Avowed off to pick berries near his former lab. So whether Alis mentioned it to him specifically or not Stu would be aware that such a contract exists, but he obviously doesn't know what the terms were. He just has his own assumptions.
Was the purpose behind that spell already decided when Alden picked it? Or did Sleyca a pull a fun audible on us just now?
I didn't decide what it was before he picked it. At that time I was just thinking it would be for something kind of weird for it to end up on the Rabbit list with that effect. But I've probably had this specific idea for it in mind for...eight or nine months? It was one of those things I realized I needed to address at some point so when it crossed my mind one day, I spent a little while making up a backstory for it to use whenever the opportunity arose.
I didn't think I would haved missed the gremlin, but now that he is here, I was wondering, whether Alden is still diet restricted, after tricking the gremlin with the meatsicle shot after the acceptance party or an embarassing amount of oil (probably from a vegetable or animal without enough authority over its own body, if they even exist), or why the gremlin is not super upset that Alden is unbalanced, with all his the his pending negative word chains.
Alden is very vegan! Gremlin isn't upset yet because Alden has trained it to trust him, particularly on Peace of Mind, and it really hasn't been that long.
There are creatures like husenots on earth they are called lithops
Both lithops and hermit crabs are fun things that should be featured in more stories.
I initially read earlobe as eardrum, and that scene was a wee bit more disturbing.
Ouch!
Stu has a wicked sense of humor, doesn't he? 🤣
Stuart always starts their phone calls/meetings kind of formal and then ends up more relaxed after time has passed. And now he's decided to really pull the trigger on the weaving of friendship, and in typical Stu fashion he's full intensity about it. It's going to be interesting to shift how I write him now that he's revealed significant backstory and his goals and heard Alden's responses. It's been so much fun to finally show off his skill, his childhood, his mother, and reveal the tip of the art'h iceberg.
Sleyca what are you eating. What do you do all day to make you write so good. What content are you consuming. I need to knowwwww
Thanks Calibri! I just had vegan nachos. I'm not vegan, but I do eat a lot of vegan/vegetarian dishes. And they're my favorite nachos. I'm trying to tell myself that it would be wrong of me to go eat all the remaining pineapple salsa. I will be having cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting for breakfast. (One of my favorite bad-for-me breakfasts. My favorite good-for-me breakfast is savory Scottish oatmeal with roasted vegetables and greek yogurt.) You will note these are all foods people in the story eat. I like to mention yummy stuff. Sometimes I do research for specific characters and then try it out myself. I looked up food from the 50's and 60's with "fancy" connotations for Aulia's comfort meal, based on the idea that her comfort food would be something she had associated with luxury as a child/teen. Hence Chicken a la King. I'd never actually eaten it before, but now I have a few times. It's like eating the center out of a great chicken potpie.
Rao was practically vibrating with excitement, finally her dreams were in reach. A long term teaching assignment offered by one of the most prestigious Artonans her friend Olivia had ever heard of in over 12 years as CNCs Artonan Cultural advisor. "Yes I accept the contract" she managed to get out, waiting for the blink that would take her away from this cursed island, away from these useless children and onward to- She blinked. The landscape had changed around her, but wasn't that...the MPE building? Why was there a red light over that brown haired boys head? Her heart sank when he turned to face her. "Instructor Rao?" Alden asked "I thought you weren't teaching here anymore."
This is hilarious. Thank you, Bob!
Does anyone know how old people like the primary are? Or evul or Gorgon?
I do! I know!
Now I wonder if the cousin who got fruit guts rained on her was born as part of a group. She is a couple of years older than Stu, but could be the younger tail of the group before Stu.
Emban is actually the granddaughter of one Jeneth/Alis/Tesen's siblings. Her parents are regular wizards (not votaries or spouses or knights) who live outside the Rapport. They visited the siblinghold when she was younger, and Emban ended up staying when they left. So she wasn't a part of a group either. She's in between Stu and the big sibling group.
Alright, look. I like the story, as evidenced by my top tier supporter status here on Patreon, but I have to speak up. I really, REALLY, could not care less about this absurdly overpopulated family tree. This is pure tedium to wade through. Please no more. Like amputate most of them, if possible. This is just pain. I couldn't even read most of this, at the point of 6 spouses I checked out and was done. I don't find that this adds anything of value to the story, it's just a convoluted and pointless mess, and it could have been skipped entirely and nothing would have been lost. That is all.
But I like it though.
More seriously, I really do care a heck of a lot about the art'h family. I've been dying to get here to the Rapport and finally drop some backstory. And it's been obvious for 100+ chapter that they have some uncommon relationship stuff going on that a lot of people have been very curious about and speculating on since the LeafSong party. I'm super invested in how the Rapports work and how the siblinghold works. *I* think it's fascinating, but honestly, even if I didn't think the content of this chapter was super fun to talk about, if we plan to spend any future time at all around the place, then you guys need to have a stronger sense of what's up. It would make for unnecessary confusion to have Alden walking around a family structure that he and the readers don't know. I could keep dribbling in bits and pieces, but that would be more awkward. Like every time you met an art'h I would have to explain a new relationship and it might come across as a random thing I'd invented on the spot, even though I started planning it ages ago. And in the meantime, people who are interested in how the family works would have to keep working with assumptions based on common human household structures, which would lead to character confusion. And I didn't give many names here, just numbers, but the "don't assume a character name should be remembered for story enjoyment until they've appeared several times and gotten some development" rule applies to art'h family as well.
Soup
I hope it tastes good!
Thanks Sleyca!! ❤️
:) Enjoy the read, Mortch.
let's go Thank you Sleyca
Thank you for being here, ImNotHere!
I feel surprisingly bad saying it but i'm glad Jacob died. He was an interesting character and added to the story but I feel so weird every time I read his name.
Oh! You’re a real Jacob Moore!? It’s a great name…I’m sorry for Other Jacob Moore.
So... Kon and Søren got singled out because they recently made advances in their skills... but am I wrong for being miffed that Alden didn't get singled out for the same?! He discovered his super-cool automatic burden-catching with Big Snake!!! His accomplishments are being ignored because of his rank! Klein, you massive rankist, get students to pelt him with balls in the practise area during breaks! Also, that counseling session between Alden, Klein, and Lesedi feels so much less excusable now. If they had wanted to give him an out to duels, they could've suggested he focus on his recent advance during gym time, and pointed out that other students would also be doing it. Argh, I started off a big Torsten fan, but he's really disappointing me at this point.
Kon and Søren were singled out, but it was more necessity than special treatment. They’re off in the corner practicing the things they almost killed themselves with last week, and they really can’t do that practice in a duel or outside of the gym. Alden can practice his catching, at slower speeds, any time as long as he has a partner, whereas he can’t safely experience Jeffy’s clever Sky Moves without his suit protecting his poor rib cage. Plus it was just last week that he got the extra attention from Big Snake that let him have that breakthrough. And he did get complimented then and encouraged by Snake. So I don’t think we have to be too mad at Klein for *this* particular thing. Though it can be fun to be annoyed with him, too.😊
Reinhard - A-rank Meister of Bow -- Being hunted by a Rabbit. Doesn't know it. Shhhhh. Be vewy vewy quiet. It's Reinhard season!
I feel that Alden’s plan for Reinhard is very Loony Tunes-ish, so this is appropriate.
@Sleyca Quick question, do all Hyperbole have Code Names? Or are those already there since the names are their Hero Name?
They don’t all choose heroesque names or go by them, but hyperboles tend to be a source of fascination for people so they often end up with famous nicknames regardless.
Hi
Hi!
Thanks for the chapter
I hope you have fun reading it.
Early today.
Yes! I'm going to go to bed at a normal hour. Success!
Random patreon check, uploaded 3 seconds ago. I love you
I love you too!
Early again. Thanks for the soup!
Welcome OldFishBoi!
thanks for soup!!
I periodically feel the need to tell you how happy your screen name makes me.
*Waves at you all* I wanted to call this chapter a couple of other things, but I felt like they spoiled the contents.
"Big Tippers" was Carl! It was my favorite one but then I thought it was too much of an indication of how the Bash-nor scene would end, which might take some of the tension out of it.
You're...you're never going to forget Waves VIV, are you? I'm going to Tardis back to ancient Rome and ask them to change their number nine, so that I'm right moving forward. It's the only way.
SOUP
Bacon!
300k tip
It's approximately 3 to 1. So he gave Alden almost a million dollars.
Tftc All be warned, don't eat raw Lima beans! On a count of the cyanide. Gotta make sure they are thoroughly cooked! :)
Alden will boil them and not die. Probably!
Favorite line: "call Drusi-otta to come punch him with her rings". The first beat was kinda funny but the recall did it for me.
Drusi -- calmly prepping custom embroidery "stickers" for the Rabbit boy so he will look nice The Rabbit boy -- She's an assassin. A stone cold killer.
Alden got to make the succotash at last!! And he filmed it for part of his family who couldn't be there for the Thanksgiving yesterday. My heart is full, even if it's a little battered with more depressed Ro-den and Alden traumatizing each other. (Also: Bash-nor is SUCH A CREEP yikes all the way down.)
It was fun to write him. I haven't written a character with his particular, multifaceted ick-factor before.
*dies*
Don't. You won't be able to read the chapter tomorrow if you die tonight.
Wouldn't it be 175? Looking forward to the chapter tomorrow!
Yes. It's even titled one seventy-five in my document! Thank you for the catch.
This chapter made me wonder, what's Alden's income situation? I know he still has a fair bit of the money he had gotten earlier, even if he just tossed out all of the 300k Argold, but does he also get money regularly? His accommodation and basic food needs may be taken care of by the school, but a teenager has other expenses, both normal ones any teenager would have as well as special ones needed for Supers, like equipment, consumables, tools, and so on. Do Alden and the others get a monthly stipend? On an unrelated note, bloody hell a Beetle? Why that ugly abomination of all things? There's a reason they stopped producing that half a decade ago!
Alden is getting a monthly stipend right now, but he doesn't need it. Even before Bash-nor tipped him he had a little less than six million dollars. He did have around twelve upon his return from Thegund, but he's asked Boe to take half and use it to take care of himself, Connie, and Jeremy if anything ever goes wrong. Boe is supposed to use it preventatively (to make himself an escape plan in case he ever gets found out as an unregistered) and to handle whatever emergencies might arise if he or Alden ever get separated by a summoning and are unable to communicate. Alden has spent thousands of dollars on Natalie's personal chef services, a really nice laptop, the Artonan-made tablet, and furnishings for the dorm. But he still hasn't truly dented his funds. His most recent thoughts on his money situation were last mentioned when Haoyu invited him to potion sauna the first time. Here: "Pro: trying the new magic thing with someone his own age for backup instead of facing down a bunch of forty-year-olds who could create waterspouts and pitch railcars by himself. Con: money. Pro: feeling good tomorrow instead of feeling ouch tomorrow. *The cons aren’t really cons. * He didn’t want to be shy about the tattoo forever with the people he actually lived with. And as for the money… Alden had given half of it to Boe so that his family and friends would be taken care of no matter where he was. He’d be spending half of what he had left on supplies, gear, and calling fees to make himself the most absurdly well-equipped and well-connected Rabbit on the Triplanets the next time he was summoned. A little would be set aside in his backup backup emergency fund. But all the rest of it… He’d just about talked himself into spending a million dollars however he wanted. As fast as he felt like. When the mood struck him. Neha had told him to save it for a downpayment on his future immortality, and everything on the internet was about preparing for retirement. Meanwhile, the tiny remnants of the person he’d been in January kept shouting that this much money should last him until he was a *wrinkly old man. * He thought all of them were overconfident in his ability to make it to the wrinkly stage of life. Besides, even if he did live to a ripe old age, two or three short summonings a year would make for a decent salary by his standards. He’d be absolutely floored if he only got summoned twice a year."
"donated to Lincoln Park Zoo" Probably the most unethical thing Alden has done up until now
Some people find all zoos objectionable. I understand, but I personally think that many modern zoos are doing great work for conservation, rehab, education, and taking extraordinarily good care of their animals. In a lot of cases, you can also specify that the money you donate should go to a specific research or conservation program you care about to make sure it's landing where you want. Both of the zoos in Chicago are AZA accredited. Just glancing at the stuff they're both doing lately, and it includes: studying how humans and wildlife interact in urban environments, researching dolphins, researching penguins, trying to increase populations of endangered animals, habitat restoration for the monarch butterfly, etc... I'm openminded to arguments but I currently think ethical zoos are good things to have in our world. And Alden obviously thinks it's good in Super Supportive's world.
Should have spend those 300K of arg on very hideous and useless clock and give it to the ambassador. "Dear ambassador please accept these clocks as an expression of my sincere concern for your overworking."
I've been itching to write a Hazel PoV again. It just doesn't fit into the story right now.
Typos thread: And he’d bought gift cards for self-defense schools and firing ranges. A lot of them. --The word "lot" is not fully italicized Well it looks interesting. -- debatable, but normally you want a comma after "Well" Unlikely but why not prep for it? -- same thing, pause after the first word, put a comma in
Thank you Jean and Anthony!
Constraints make better art? Edit: The real world experiments I mentioned were about unlimited resources (the mice forming cults was the most disturbing for me), not basic income or guaranteed housing, which remove basic stressors (both of which the island already supplies) Replying to other commentators Mostly anecdotal examples Constraints, including time, manpower and resources, seem to make better art (one of the reasons I think Sleyca's schedule works very well for her work flow) She Who Shall Not Be Named, wrote some of her best work while juggling single motherhood New Deadpool & Wolverine producers, including Ryan Reynolds, turned down a larger budget because first Deadpool movie was more creatively satisfying on a shoe string budget My wife knew James Cameron, and Cameron's Family, through his Marine brother. Gale Anne Hurd was a great partner for Cameron because she reigned in a lot of his over the top ideas and helped him brainstorm solutions to constraints BUT Cameron was good for Hurd because he understood poor impulse control, and consequences, can be vastly more entertaining than rational protagonists (looking at you Jackass brand) Without time constraints, manpower constraints, resource constraints, etc. artists will sometimes do the same thing over and over trying to perfect their art. Which can work (looking at you master carpenters) but can also wreak havoc on a creative endeavor (George Lucas, you KNOW what you did)
I started reading comments from the bottom today, and now I feel anticipation for finding a comment about mice forming cults.
I feel like "kernel" is a mistranslation from Artonan? Software sophisticated enough to have a conversation with is much more high level than a kernel.
Behind the scenes: My vocabulary is stuffed with literary terms and lacking technical ones. So I picked "kernel" to take advantage of the fact that it means seed, core, center, essence... It's a good word because of its multiplicity of meanings and its origin, which works well with the Artonan poetic sensibilities. I did quickly skim the Wikipedia article for "kernel (operating system)" to make sure that it didn't mean something vastly different than I had in mind, and it still felt okay to me and I thought that, for people who were familiar with that definition, it would add one more layer of texture and complexity to Mother's existence rather than too much confusion. So I went with it. But I did first think of literal seeds and phrases like "kernel of truth" ...which predate the math and computing terms.
What are "The Goliaths"? Is Max just making a David and Goliath reference cuz slinging, and in this matchup the Goliaths are all the highe ranks?
Yep! Just a reference.
"For about the tenth time, Alden was really relieved he’d tricked Lexi into being his roommate" He admits it! Alden knows he tricked Lexi, and is entirely unrepentant! Lol
Alden: Lexi, can I live with you? Fair warning: I am slightly inconvenient...because I'm a cat owner.
Boe is the true villain for saying no to Alden's plushy rabbit plan
A helicopter load of plushies falling on Bash-nor might have made it into the history books. Boe has deprived us of this.
Thoughts as I (re)read. This may be long. That study aid is dangerous. Earth is helpful. Go Earth! Stuart is happy to see his gifts being used. Almost unusually so. The bathroom gag was just as good the third time around. Mind healing "only" a weekend away. How many chapters could Sleyca possibly squeeze out of three days? Stuart is a commuter student. That's got to be expensive. If Emban isn't taking affixation well now... I worry for her. I like this method of paying back Peace of Mind. Not the money, but the phonecall with friends. More people need friends like Boe and Jeremy. I wonder how Boe's reintegration into society is going. Peanut butter from the jar suggests normalcy for him. The Easter Bunny suit... I may need pictures. Does it look like Animal Crossing's Zipper? Something for Discord. Getting Kimberly in on the conversation was fun. She and Jeremy seem to be pretty decent as couples go. Then again, few people end up marrying their high school sweethearts. Boe is really good at picking up on Alden's mood. I'd expect someone who can sense emotions to use that as a crutch and be bad at reading people without it. I wish Alden had explained why he was visiting Stuart. He could've said it was for a mind healer. Maybe he doesn't want to admit he needs one? He was very reluctant to agree to see one. On informing the faculty... yeah. Fair. Known donations: The Capeless Brave, Anesidora teleport infrastructure, Lincoln Park Zoo, Swim Free (Skiff charity), Kimberly's cash giveaway, Nashville birthing center (whose name I've forgotten), marksmanship lessons. Alden has already made the mistake of not donating anonymously. Not that he'll really be able to... People recognizing Alden is going to be a thing now. Interesting. Better start workshopping excuses to escape questioning. Max! Despite his manipulations, I'm beginning to like him. Burning his "I know you're cheating" favor on getting Alden to fight to win when facing Winston is brilliant. Max has been paying attention. He is dangerous. Max's comments on people watching is interesting. I wonder if CNH will have the resources to accommodate additional applicants. They'll probably end up being more strict in the interview phase.
This is a fun pile of observations! I think I could do thirty chapters in the next three story-time days if I decided to crack the lid on a politics arc and maybe an Alden-solves-a-mystery arc that I elected to delete from the timeline long ago. I won't do that to you or me, but sometimes I do imagine all the story roads we've left behind.
Today in Sleyca Errs: If we're talking about Chicago zoos in our world, Brookfield is the one with the dik-diks and the wombats that I was describing in the zoo scene with Boe. I think I even mentioned it by name. I guess I felt sorry for Lincoln Park in this chapter and wanted to include it, too? I'll change it to Brookfield for now, but by the time I post on Royal Road, I might have revised to give it a fictional name. Unsure. Both zoos have existed since before 1963, so they likely still would in Alden's world. With some very cool habitats and the addition of a few residents from other planets?
Okay, I've re-read it a couple times, and I actually don't think I understand what Alden's plan with the rock throwing is here. Sachets re-filled with rocks? So they're, like, bean bags with fragile outsides and gravel filling? Did he rip stitches out and sew them shut again, or are they open so the gravel can theoretically go flying out of them? Why would having empty sachets be helpful here when he's hurling either sachets full of rocks or just the rocks themselves? Why do the sachets have little handles on them? How does he think a single length of cord is going to be tool enough to aim this assembly at all?
I did change this particular "catapult" design at the very last minute because I had a late-night magical physics crisis with another idea I had planned to mention. So this is probably more convoluted and underbaked than I want. It might need a rethink even though I don't plan for it to be something making reappearances in this exact form. The sachets are just small flimsy bags with drawstring tops. It was going to be a plastic shopping bag full of gravel for a second, but then I felt like it would be interesting to introduce Alden's thought about how convenient it would be if he could cut loose one single portion of a preserved item, so I decided to shift again to go with multiple small bags instead. He can currently un-preserve an entrusted object, remove part of it, and re-preserve the portion he selects. But he can't just selectively deny preservation to a single part of something that's actively being protected. I'm still thinking about whether or not he *should* be able to, ever...would be cool (as he says here) but feels slightly off. Why bags at all? Convenient gravel portion control and set-up and he had all those little bags lying around anyway. Does the gravel go flying out? If he ties the filled bags to the string instead of just laying them against it, they probably burst open and the gravel flies out? The way he's set it up this particular time with the bags just placed against the cord, I think the bags themselves will go flying... Why tie the empty bags to the cord, too? They were just there, and in the moment, it crossed his mind (by which I mean my mind) that having them along for the ride was easy and better than nothing. Anything physically attached to the cord is still entrusted to him after his initial shot as long as he doesn't let go of the end of the cord so he could jam a temper sphere or six into those, represerve, and fling again in just a few seconds maybe.
An additional thought not necessarily related to your question, but that I see questions about in comments every now and then. He didn't prep something very heavy or a very large quantity of ammo, as opposed to a few little gravel pouches, because the challenge he's supposed to be working with in gym right now is kind of, "If I got into trouble, had a minute or less to prepare, and I had nothing but a rope of some kind--maybe with a carabiner or two--entrusted to me, what could I do with it?" So that's why he says he'll use the prepped stuff if nobody objects to it. He suspects Klein might already think it's too much of a craft project, but Alden wants to see how it works compared to the other stuff he's trying out today. He'll have more to play with when they're in messier, more elaborate situations. For example, if they were dueling in an environment that looked more like Fragment's rubble pile from the rescue session it would change things a lot. These two-people-facing-off-in-empty-rooms style duels they're starting with really favor certain members of the class.
I'm going to make a staff sling. I already tried my first prototype because I felt an urgent need the likes of which I have rarely known. But I was crunched for time, so I grabbed a long stick and some paracord and made one in about two minutes that I thought would work for a single use. The pouch was only a five ounce paper cup cut in half because I needed to make this happen immediately. I ran outside, loaded a small rock in it, and whipped it through the air like a medieval besieger. One of my pathetic knots promptly fell apart. My paper cup ripped. Where the heck did the rock go? I should have picked a bigger rock so I could see. Well, this was a total bust... And then, while I was thinking I'd missed it, the rock suddenly dropped out of the sky and landed a few inches away. It took a surprisingly long time to fall. Either a bird caught it, learned its mysteries, and then chucked it back at me. Or I got some impressive height on that thing. I'll wear a helmet next time.
You know, I thought Cavemanly was a stupid hero persona when he was first mentioned - but the ability to be unrecognizable by just washing your face, combing your hair and beard, and wearing normal clothes must be very handy.
I'm just really proud if I ever manage to come up with an amusing, instantly understandable name Marvel and DC haven't already used.
I've been thinking. I don't think Alden would have injured his arm versus Max. Physics can be unintuitive but his maneuver shouldn't be any worse then jumping a gap to grab a hanging ring. The likely ways to injure himself would be landing wrong or splatting against the opposite wall.
Reading all of this to make myself smarter.
So here's my metaliterary theory about the Elder's Croak: Sleyca wouldn't give it such a strange and intriguing name before having a clear idea of the story that goes with it. Probably even written in advance. Therefore there's less remaining work to do and therefore today's chapter will be early.
Alas, Jeff, It wasn't written in advance even though I did have it planned out, but I did have a ton of fun writing it because I had the chance to use a different narrative style than usual. Coming soon. Three or so hours.
Come gift some words for the wordchain of soup summoning! There once was a dashing young knight Whose wit was a daily delight One day he did CROAK Like bullfrog bespoke And rattled poor Alden to fright
This is a limerick. I love me a limerick.
ETA is maybe three hours? Royal Road will be out first, and then I'm doing another read of The Elder's Croak before I post it. I think it's a special chapter. Quite different from the usual. I'm going to let Esh-erdi tell you all a bedtime story. Get your wevvi ready!
We could just do spiced eggnog with maybe a very light splash of juice, since that's what it tastes like. If it must be vegan and pressed from the flesh of a fruit for the authenticity, spiced coconut milk is also delicious. Eggnog in August! Who's with me?! I'm looking up the things you've all linked, and now I have a list of must-try drinks and curds.
No popcorn, drat! I didn't plan this well
Go get the popcorn now. Snacks and reading is a great combo.
Tyvm - Are newly created skills more likely to be a badly designed creation from someone from a third-rate school that Esh wouldn't approve of? Jeffy deserves something good.
It's a spell impression! So a copy of a wizard spell, rather than a skill. Spell impressions are less flexible than skills and they can't be leveled at all, but they're also simpler for the Artonans to make. They pretty much just have to make sure it works for the species that's receiving it.
considering the high percentage of avowed, and the significant language diversity on anesidora, it seems strange that libraries would be something you would find on anesidora, and especially in a school since the contract's translation functions would only actually be available for people in the tail end of their childhood.
Lots of correct stuff above. The library is for the whole Celena North campus, so university and high school both use it.
Yay Soup! Immediate Note: Sneaked always looks and sounds wrong to me. I don't know why. I know it is considered even more correct than snuck, but to me it sounds wrong. "These people are going to take a lot of money from me." That is the truest, most precious, and most hilarious thought Alden has ever had
I like snuck. Snuck and I were good friends until it was corrected at some point by some teacher. I still type it every now and then. I'll try to remember to leave it in next time it happens. The sneaked and the snucks shall live in harmony.
I wonder what sound Esh would use to represent thousands of people anticipating and craving soup
It is very cozy here, and I like it that way. The Patreon comments section is such a bright spot for me even when I don't have the chance to go through it and like everything, and my DMs are mostly a very supportive place too. You guys are seriously great.
Don't hurt me, but Royal Road is going up first tonight. In about five minutes. And it's got a short new scene at the beginning that you guys haven't read! Get thyself there to see it. (Should I post it here, too?) Your chapter is coming in two hours max. It's written and alllllmost completely revised.
Worth staying up an extra hour
I hope so!
Marketing wise it’s a cute name But they’ve literally named their shop ‘Provoke & Scam’ lol (More precisely, iirc to wheedle is to pressure or persuade, often with the connotation of con artists, but Yinou what I mean)
I confess, I was going to name Tuck's skill Wheedler of Cloth, and then I decided I didn't like it as much as Outfitter for what he does. (Wheedler of Cloth sounded too large in scope.)
Oh that's the good stuff.
I really was surprised how much I enjoyed thinking about his clothes and writing this one. I should be nice to Alden more often.
> On the Artonas, you will draw half of all eyes That’s funny, I can’t tell if this means ‘half of all artonans will try to decipher the meaning of your clothes’, or ‘all artonans will direct one eye at you’ Probably the latter but it’s funny that you can’t definitively tell
I was thinking one eye per Artonan!
> They’re fairly important people. The ‘Understatement of the Year’ leaderboard is just Alden, that’s it
I did take this line out and one point, and then I decided he would totally downplay it like that.
I just read an entire chapter about putting a rabbit in clothes and I gave absolutely nothing I would rather have been doing. God I love this story.
:)
“he felt physically uncomfortably” -> uncomfortable
Thank you!
“When it holds its shape like that,” said Alden, “it reminds me a little of origami.” When this line hit, I swear I could see its impact rippling up through the paragraphs above, folding them into a new shape, his affection for that particular piece suddenly rich with meaning. It was wonderful. I also love using driftwood to represent being a traveler. (Hopefully wizards will understand he’s not hoping to wash up on their beach, be collected, and end up as Avowed macrame art.)
I was hoping that line would land! So glad it did.
With Lute being from one of the most proeminent family, he probably had some bespoke experience. Seeing how he makes/alter a lot of his garments, I wonder if he liked the experience and would have become a tailor if musician was not a possibility. It might be the option Roman choosed as it would goes well with hand enhancement
You just know those morning suits all the Velra guys had to wear for Hazel's birthday party were custom. I almost had Alden ask Tuck what a morning suit actually was, so that I could joke about it.
I'm still wondering what kind of neckline makes it look like your head is emerging from a head a of cabbage.
I was thinking of the cabbage patch kids logo, so that would probably be a leafy ruff.
What did he do with the Auriad while being dressed? Guess he kept it close to the family Jewels?
He's been known to keep it on his upper thigh as well. It does stick to his skin when he wants it to, so he's got some options. I always think about mentioning exactly where it is, but I usually just decide to let you all imagine it.
The are so professional but they must have been dying of curiosity
A few years from now, they'll see him coming and give each other a look like: Straight faces on. We can do it. Whatever he tells us he wants the clothes for we say NOTHING.
Only question is how the point from the right side stays up on the left. Is it just a really stiff fabric along the upper edge or a button right behind the point? Actually feel it needs a fine chain or thin rope going up and over the left shoulder, or under the commendation once its on there. Kind of like some royal outfits. Maybe like the thing Rin Penrose has hanging on their right side. Ooh actually make a small hole on that corner that a hook on the end of the chain/rope goes into. And when its unhooked from that corner maybe the hook can hang on a secondary loop under the commendation?
It has a strip that seals the top half to the lower one.
I have to say that the only thing I disagree with is having the commendation be the same color as the thing it’s embroidered on. I’ve seen a lot of same-color embroidery and it’s always bad. Good embroidery needs to be either a shade darker or lighter depending on the base color of what it’s stitched into.
I was thinking of how nice whitework embroidery can look. I can't find a picture of a similar type of thing done in a darker color, which could be an indicator that it doesn't look the way I think it would. Whitework example: https://gypsyrosalie.com/cdn/shop/products/vic-wheat-cord-doily_02_grande.jpg?v=1583176492
@ Sleyca I empathize with your T-shirt situation. I used to have a Mickey Mouse Yin-Yang shirt like this ( https://cdna.lystit.com/photos/2013/10/08/urban-outfitters-grey-junk-food-mickey-mouse-yin-yang-tee-product-1-13947033-654113243.jpeg ) that I loved and it got throw out because holes in it. I still mourn that shirt because I can't seem to find another one.
They get good and soft as the years pass, don't they? And then they go too far and we have to say farewell to them.
It's lucky for Alden that Sympathy for Magic doesn't work on auriads.
The auriad is pretty much part of Alden at this point.
TFTC. I'm guessing the "very secure fastening strip" functions similarly to Velcro? Is there multiple anchor points or just the one on the breast that looks like a button in the picture? I'm just wondering cause it looks like you need at least 2 for it not to flap around in the wind/when Alden is running. Or does it function like a zipper and run down the length of the front of his pezyva?
Down the length but he can choose how many points it attaches at or if he wants it sealed all the way.
A note for those who only follow Patreon, the Royal Road chapter has a bit of new content at the beginning.
Oh! I meant to mention that in the notes!
While I normally hate clothes shopping, these past two chapters have managed to make me want to get an experience like Alden's
I read articles on menswear and bespoke tailoring while I was writing this. It was so interesting. There exists a store that sells nothing but antique buttons! So many little details go into a suit that I never noticed. The personal shopper would probably be easier to come by than the tailor I imagine.
Thanks for the custom-tailored soup sleyca! Or perhaps this is a salad? Given all the dressing! :D
Flopmind! So glad to see you back! Especially with this line. You made me laugh.
Making choices is a theme that permeates Super Supportive. In every chapter Sleyca has characters making good and bad choices and often in different ways. This week's homework assignment is to compare and contrast the way Alden helped Jeffy make skill decisions versus Tuck and Yinuo's approach to choosing clothes with Alden. Would Tuck and Yinuo's approach work for Jeffy's skill? Would the guidance counselor approach work to choose clothes?
I feel like Jeffy would be stressful to dress.
It makes sense that Alden easily carries style. It’s not a burden.
😀
It occurs to me that Kibby needs to, at a later date, contribute to some bling/accessary of Alden's outfits. Matching tattoos with the (future) primary is a long way off so might as well start small. Imagine the statement it would be when asked who did his embroidering for his commendation and he gets to tell them that the girl that he saved during the event embroidered it.
Kibby!
How many guys get excited about fashion? Alden is nowhere near the center of the bell curve.
I don’t know if we could call him excited about fashion, so much as it is him just being pleased he clarified his own likes and now owns things that perfectly match them, when he’s never had the combo of money/desire/know-how/mental space to do that before. He’s discovered a form of self-care. But a huge percentage of Avowed teens would be fashion conscious…it’s a very celebrity dense place, and most of them have money to burn.
Chief I'm gonna be real I don't see the point of this chapter
It’s part fun makeover scene, part me giving large amounts of visual description of what Alden will look like in upcoming chapters (which is something I do think I’ve been a bit too light on at times), and part thematically significant as a kick-off for a choosing season for him to clearly make so many choices about how he wants to be perceived.
*hit enter too soon I also think it’s an important part of his new life that’s been neglected. He set out today to find something so that he could not feel uncomfortably garbed in front of the Artonans, which has been a minor problem for him in most Triplanets scenes all the way back to LeafSong, and he gets what he needs for that but he also gets a chance to think about how he wants to look now. I do think it’s also a nice coming of age nod. Practical, too. Avowed are in the public eye, Alden more than he wants to be, and despite this being more over the top than he had imagined by miles, of course he enjoys it and values it.
I take it wearing a tux off-planet is pretty gauche.
I’m sure Gus could pull it off.
I just hope his sports coat doesn't have lapels. I like to picture Alden as young and fun. Not 50+.
The open sport coat with jeans and a casual shirt look is cool if done right.
Person who had your comments deleted, if you're wondering why it was only you and not the other complaints on this chapter: I try not to be too sensitive and over-manicure the lawn here, but unless I'm misremembering, you've been warned in the past that I don't want to deal with creative, excessively mean insults. Or anything that looks like it's hoping to suck commenters into a fight with each other or start a dogpile of the chapter. Like...why, dude(tte)? You've been told this irritates me. Irritating me only steals my time and puts me in the wrong headspace for writing and for answering other peoples' questions. It does absolutely nothing to change what I deliver. I write a chapter because I think it's necessary to the story *or* because it would be entertaining for me to read a chapter like that. That's it. My writing plans are shaped by my own tastes and my own limitations. So there's more harm than good in letting comments like yours stick around. They make my experience and the experience of most other people here more combative and negative. Because your comments are so colorful and you're posting more than one of them and I *can't tell* from across the internet if you're someone who knows where the line is, I feel like I need to be here playing discussion police to make sure nothing is blowing up and you're not escalating. My plans an hour ago were to check in here at the comments section, see if anyone I'd responded to last night had a follow-up question, and say hi/like the latest comments before I start work. I probably wouldn't have come back to the comments again this week. I'd have logged off of Patreon until Sunday, so that I didn't get distracted talking to you all. And then I'd have shut off the internet and put my head down to go back to the giant plot map that I started last night because I'm pretty stressed about making sure I'm not writing things *I* think aren't good enough. Now, I've spent time crafting this essay for you. It took so long that I'm going to be smarter than the last time I wrote a similar essay, and I'm going to copy paste it into a document to use on anyone else I need to respond to about this kind of thing. Part of my work for the week will now be checking back in here this afternoon and then again this evening and then again tomorrow morning, etc...to make extra sure you're a decent person who doesn't respond to having their comments deleted by posting something awful on purpose. I don't want you to be on my chore list in this way. I'm glad you like (some of) the story. Please have fun reading, have fun in the comments if you can think of something benevolently playful instead of malevolently amusing, but stop having the kind of fun in this space that makes my day more laborious.
Person in question, I DM'd you. Anyone wondering what the juicy details are, they really aren't that juicy. The comments read to me like they're probably intended to be funny-mean. The individual is often even complimentary in them. If we were talking face to face, tone of voice might carry them into joke territory. But here on the internet they're more intense and potentially argument-starting. It's tough to deal with from a moderation perspective, particularly if that kind of thing catches on and becomes a way multiple people are interacting with the story. So the issue isn't that they're the worst comments ever. They're not. But they've got harsh vibes and high shit-stirring potential. And the stirred shit wouldn't be fun for the majority of commenters to chat around or for me to figure out how to navigate as the community manager.
I was looking at Chapters 177 (Guests) and 178 (The Elder's Croak) again. These are set on November 23, 2040. On this date for Point Nemo (48°53′S 123°24′W), sun sets at 1948 (7.48pm) local. The moon is six days after full (full moon was November 18). On the 23rd, the moon rose at 0000 (ie: midnight). It set at 0748. And didn't rise again until 0035 on November 24th. So unless Esh-erdi is keeping Alden up super-late, the line from Ch.178 "In the time before books but not before memory," said Esh-erdi, kneeling across from Alden Thorn on a green nonagon above a moonlit sea... cannot happen! Alden would have only been able to get four hours of shut-eye before he talked to Jeffy. If Alden and Esh headed to Matadero at (say) 2200 on November 23rd, the line could read 'kneeling across from Alden Thorn on a green nonagon above a moonLESS sea...' (yeah, "every party needs a pooper", etc). For any who are interested, I got the info from the following site https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/@-48.88,-123.40?month=11&year=2040
J, I have in the past tried to find specific sunrises and sunset times for Point Nemo, but I always end up giving up or approximating based on another destination. So this could be very useful to me. But does the "current time" change time zones for you when you switch from 2040 to 2024 on this site? It does for me, by several hours, which makes me worry that the tables are wrong too.
I'm so torn...I love the chapter, and generally I enjoy the slow pace... But the last 40 chapters have covered a total of a week and a half of in-universe time -- theres so many things I'm excited to see (return of kibby, stu's first binding, more gym class...) but they all feel so far away!
For anyone curious about the movement of time in the story: I write Super Supportive with a goal that's something like, "Leave nothing that interests me behind at all if I can help it." So the thought process that goes into whether a time skip happens or an arc gets included is heavily influenced by whether or not we would be leaving some intriguing or entertaining stone unturned if we moved forward. The Thanksgiving section is a perfect example. Does it make it into the abridged version of Super Supportive I imagine I might put together one day? Maybe not. Maybe I take it out and patch the hole. But it was a lot of fun and funny. It was a part of Alden's life. It had a good internal plot arc that made it feel like a whole contained experience, so in it went. Which isn't to say it does nothing for the forward momentum of the story; once I decide we're doing a Thanksgiving, I weave character development and future plot set-up and whatever else might belong there into it. I try to make sure every single chapter grows or shows Alden or the world around him in some new way. Mistakes happen. I consider The B-list introduction to be one. I was going to use all of those characters in the part of the story that became the Waves arc; so I wanted to start putting them in early and letting you all get to know them. Then I realized it was really too many characters to juggle too soon, and I wanted the disaster to have a focus on Alden's feelings of despair and isolation for a few reasons. So some of the material that they were going to be a part of is going to appear at a later point...I hope. That chapter didn't belong, but while there are other chapters I wish I'd written a bit differently, it's about the only one in the serial I can point to and say I'm completely unhappy with it existing. It just looks sloppy sitting there with all those promising characters we hardly ever get to see signs of. What I'm saying is things like Thanksgiving are always going to be here in the serial because I'm very happy with that one.I only skip time when what Alden would be doing in that time is repetitive or boring to me, and almost nothing has been for the past few months of his life. When his days become routine is when time moves faster. For example, I won't be showing a multi-paragraph walk down this road again unless it's to show some change in his character, but when there's a spaceship with an interesting backstory on the side of the road we're definitely not going to hurry past it to get to the healer. And, I do notice that whenever someone feels like a certain part of the serial doesn't progress the story, it's because they think the true story is made up of the specific threads that they enjoy the most. Which is natural and completely fine, no arguing from me on that, but I do want to point out that those feelings about what's most important are unique to every reader. And my view of what the true story is and can be is very broad. I think The Chainer is part of this story and enriched it in multiple ways, so obviously I'm not kidding when I say that. I think the vast majority of the readers who had very limited opinions of what the story should be are gone, so most of you guys who are still having fun here with me have very broad tastes too. But those tastes still aren't always going to synch with mine or each other. Reading through the comments, I see pockets of people who don't like school or gym or Stuart or Alden sitting around practicing a spell or...the list goes on to encompass almost everything I've ever written except for maybe Kibby. So all of that to say...this is how and why time moves slow or fast in the story. I always try to skip the boring parts, but I think a looooot of stuff is interesting.
And for anyone wondering why I'm writing massive comments when I should be writing chapters...it's because I had a weird day yesterday that I haven't been able to shake. Anxiety, no sleep, no words...stupid brain. So I thought talking at you all about the story would put me back in the right world. And I think this did it! Thanks.
I have considered posting schedule adjustments to enhance reading experiences. Sometimes I think it would be cool if I did once-weekly posts and then dropped big batches of writing on occasion; trying to somehow make it possible for you all to have both consistency *and* binges. But I see a lot of problems with it here on Patreon. I am slightly tempted to try it on Royal Road and see how it goes there...
I love the chapter. One editorial suggestion: "The" can be used to describe a ship (ie: the USS Enterprise; the Titanic), but it isn't part of their name. So 'the' should be neither capitalized or italicized. Seeing a ship named /The Sdyelis Branch/ was like nails on a chalkboard for me. It should be: {The or the} /Sdyelis Branch/. An additional example: in its third appearance: He looked at Alden. “But /The Sdyelis Branch/ isn’t ... should read: He looked at Alden. “But the /Sdyelis Branch/ isn’t ... or alternately: He looked at Alden. “But /Sdyelis Branch/ isn’t ...
I have to think about this for a minute. I was thinking of "the" as part of the name, but there's probably no reason it has to be and it's better not to be confusing unnecessarily. Thanks J Reynolds!
Thoughts unrelated to this chapter, why hasn't Alden used a net or a sheet as a weapon, all you would need to do is toss it over someone and preserve and the person is trapped, they wouldn't even be able to breath if the fabric fell over them completely. And why is he playing with slings when he can just use a gun? And in the future could Alden preserve skills and spell impressions. Like here take the burden of my cook of the moment and make me a sandwich?
Not going to answer anything particularly spoilery, just explain Alden's thinking. Nets have been mentioned a few times in the story (as have hammers), and Alden has specifically tried out things similar to both of them in gym. Well...his hammers have been too long handled so far to work like good hammers. But obviously it's not like he and I haven't thought of it. He was basically using the quickie version of a net on a string in the chapter with Jeffy. And, Andrew, he's already mentioned using pre-accelerated projectiles in gym. Part of what he was doing in the slings-and-things experiment was accelerating objects and preserving just the projectile. As for why he's playing with slings when he can just use guns...it's because Alden cares a lot about a couple of things in gym that make playing with slings and whatever other weird ideas he can come up with more interesting to him: 1. He wants to figure out how his skill works and feels and gets strained in lots of different ways. So he tries a giant thing on a stick and then lots of small rocks and then a basket a few yards away and "what happens if an A-rank punches a shield? What happens if Marsha hits it with her weapon? How fast can I lift people up into the air without hurting them, and how much could I hurt Reinhard by flinging him into the barrier? What if Reinhard was a demon? What if all I had was two foot of paracord? What if it was twenty foot? How far can I yeet a giant sandbag to throw it at something I don't like that I'm unable to approach?" 2. Practicing as though he had tons of resources at his disposal addresses none of Alden's most visceral fears. A superhero could have a gun; someone working for the Artonans in a corrupted environment might have a giant magic cannon for all he knows. He doesn't care about that. He worries about ending up alone, in a horrible chaosy place, with one entruster or worse...only one entrusted object. What can he do with it? Remember, Alden's first fear when things started going wrong on Thegund, before he even knew how bad it was, was that his entruster was about to leave and he didn't know at the time if he could target someone else. He ran to Kibby and tried with his limited language to get her to entrust something to him so he'd at least have a single option and be able to run. He ended up with some silly putty. So the idea of having to deal with problems with only one random piece of junk at his disposal is very real to him. 3. In a corrupted environment, Alden knows tons of things are going to break and become useless. The only thing he can be sure of having is himself and his skill and whatever else happened to survive. If he carries a go-bag full of equipment, that's great, but what if it all fails like so much of the equipment at the lab did? Tiny grasshopper demons would have swiss-cheesed a lot of what he had on him if he hadn't made it to the lab sooner.
Gosh darn it, Sleyca. I’m supposed to get up early for when the construction crew arrives. I had this clever plan to be asleep before the chapter dropped. Why didn’t I go to bed extra early?!?! My willpower simply isn’t strong enough to not read it. XD (And now I’ve indulged myself and read it. It was beautiful. I’d like to sign up for some time with Yenu-pezth when she’s available. Experiencing her approach to interacting with your own mind just sounds amazing. And, as always, Stu and Alden are simply the most charming, enjoyable male friendship.🩷)
I want to walk the path too, Heather! Good luck with the construction!
"And one of them very important—some outcomes could be guaranteed. " I think I know what you were trying to say here, but it took several tries because this isn't actually a sentence.
This does read super weird. I remember how it read in my head when I first typed it, and it doesn't look like that now.
Did something change with the epub? it gets opened directly rather than downloading as it usually would
I didn't do anything differently with it as far as I know. Possibly a browser/Patreon quirk? It downloads for me instead of opening (on a laptop with Chrome).
Thanks💕
Sorry it's late!
Thank you!
:)
Thank youuuuuu. I was just about to go to sleep
I hope you slept and dreamed good dreams.
You are a right legend.
Nobody has ever called me a right legend before. Thank you!
Thanks for the chapter Sleyca!
I hope you enjoyed it. :)
Thanks Sleyca! Late one today, hope you get some rest
Thank you! I got a bit!
*dances with delight!*
JJ! Welcome back to the comments! You were missed by many. <3
You did good, Sleyca!
I did not anticipate everyone having so much fun with Alden's new depth, but it's making me laugh.
Edit Suggestion: They’re no longer my client, so thing are looking up. ->They’re no longer my client, so things are looking up.
Nice catch! Will fix now.
Man, these chapters seem so short…. You know, compared to the 50 new chapters I really want each time one drops. I just want to keep reading so bad! Thank you for the chapter, and I’ll try to work on being grateful for what I have 😉
This one is on the short side. The next one is going to be longer. (I can say this confidently even though I'm not always good at estimating because the rough parts of it that are drafted are already the same length as this, and it's not done.)
Gonna have to wait for family to come home from work to share this together, thanks for the chapter! I am very much looking forward to hearing about the latest madness from the superhero wannabe teenagers with actual superpowers arguing about how they wished ethics worked, ohmuhgoodness
I love that you share with your family! Having reading buddies enjoying the same story as you is so cool and so hard to come by.
Favorite line: "he was trying to cook a can of English peas on top of a mound of disposable hand warmers—the whole unopened can, label and all"
If Boe was a real hero he'd have opened that can so David could feast as nature intended before he was forced to go back to the boring world of parents and modern conveniences.
Wow, this chapter was deep.
The deepest.
And how dare you call this chapter about pythons and not mention tiny snake once.
I'm sorry! Tiny Snake deserves better
On an unrelated note: The way patreon calculates subscriptions is generous. My patreon subscription expired "yesterday" on October 9th. I was worried I wasn't going to get to read this chapter, but here we are. I'm pretty sure that since my timezone is PDT(-7), that my sub will expire at exactly 5:00am PDT. Which corresponds to no where on earth being October 9th anymore. So that's nice. Anyways this comment is an experiment. I'm going to try to reply to it at 5:01am. If not, I'll see everyone in a few months when the backlog has built up again!
I read once that there's a two-day grace period if a credit card payment doesn't go through, so maybe the two extra days applies here. (Nobody count on this being accurate at all. I think I read it in a comment on Reddit, not from official Patreon sources. ) But if me posting late, whether it's a day or a few minutes, might make you miss a chapter that you would otherwise have had access to, you can always send me a message. I'll email it!
Does anyone know how tall Stu is compared to Alden
Everyone's going to wonder why I answered just this question; it happened to be on the top when I came online to check something else. Relevant passage from The Chainer, part V: "Artonans tended to be petite by human standards, but a significant part of that was due to the fact that they were less sexually dimorphic than humans when it came to body size. When they’d last met, Stuart was around… 5’1”? An inch taller? It wasn’t like Alden had pulled out a measuring stick and asked the Primary’s son to hold still. *Alden didn’t know if Stuart was still growing or not, but he was a pretty normal height for an adult on the Triplanets whether they were male or female. Jessica could’ve been the same height and fit in well with both Artonans and humans, assuming that was what Aulia’s goal had been. * *Maybe they couldn’t select for height that specifically so they erred on the side of extra short so that she’d match up with the Artonans for sure?* *Still…why?* "It seemed unnecessary no matter how Alden looked at it. The only thing that made even a little bit of sense was the possibility that Aulia had expected her daughter to be so in-demand as an Avowed that she would end up living on the Triplanets more than Earth. " So Stuart's about 5'2" and Alden's 5'10".
Joe is very tall by Artonan standards. Mother presents herself as fairly tall to Alden. Porti-loth is shorter than average. Evul loomed large in Alden's mind, but she is, in fact, the same size as Stu.
Thats great! It really made me laugh when they were waxing about humans doing magic then cut to Alden in a coffee shop!
People are appreciating my cuts! I'm so happy!
Man, I did not expect to simultaneously feel much more empathetic towards Aulia, while also want much more to see her die in a fire. Quite the exercise in dissonance.
I love writing her.
Sleyca is mean mean for teasing us 2.5 chapters ago about ago about rowdy gym, and bringing it up repeatedly in story, but not bringing us there! there's still several hours between "now" and the start of gym for next chapter to also prevent us from learning what is going to be so rowdy for another chapter.
It's coming next chapter!
Does Everly have a really really diminutive build? I know she's still a teenager, may still have some growing to do if she's a latebloomer, and that stats compensate for a lack of muscle, but still... 44kg seems very on the light side to me. A sporty 17y/o of average size I'd have expected to come in at around the mid-fifties, possibly even going into the sixties if she's tall or packed on a bit more muscle. Unless she's really tiny, that seems awfully lightweight.
Everly is fifteen (almost sixteen) and about 5' or 5'1". I honestly just gave her the same weight as my shortest friend in high school because she's been referenced as being very petite a few times; I didn't think about it harder than that. She is healthy but not notably athletic. She's stubborn and tough in class, and working on getting fitter. Athletic ability is beneficial for gaining acceptance to the hero program, and common, but definitely not a given for the new students, since you don't have to be fit to punch a hole in a wall as an Avowed. I'll probably add a few kilos to her so that this doesn't become a source of consternation and confusion for future readers.
I thought the flashes referred to the light spell Alden learned in his bedroom while they were having that conversation 😅
It does! It's supposed to be a multiple meaning thing though, with something that could be a "flash" in every chapter. But I keep cutting flashes out, so now I just look like I couldn't think of titles.
It’s a Saturday here, and this is the perfect bite while I wait for laundry to be done. Thanks, Sleyca 🍲
My whole family likes to talk about how bizarre perfume commercials can be, but they do make us talk about them so I guess that's half their job done. Winston is a Good Guy who saves Damsels in Distress. And maybe Sanjay if Sanjay is...lucky?
Petition for Sleyca to write Finlay as a scottish caricature https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=861634fff9c7879c&hl=en-us&q=scottish+twitter&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3JyJJclJuzBPl12qJyPx7ESLhUrJjUTNoEvHUqShJdFAludxGgUOUWV4iPCRNxFVNBgSKgKJLz7zAJjWkLmMrw3UG3NCax1LXf4BFlY4p6xF1yXM-ch8qkx-5bGEURYTpyq0cU0RMQfjpst6LDC-o3ExIA1BhWDxuYW90OGZao11i4Ix1g7y2yqwp3VcPtl7UKsHhibU&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFw4CEk6uJAxWvHkQIHZ8nPWUQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=428&bih=743&dpr=3
Finlay deserves someone who can write the dialect more confidently than me, I admit.
I think “Lettuce #1” is a better catchphrase than “don’t let your spirit fail you”
It is.
I think the comments from other people about the “Flashes” would fit after the gym class. Write a chapter about the faculty thinking or discussing the class
I do have faculty commentary planned. (No promises. Sometimes I delete my own plans.)
Wait, who the hell is Sleyca?
Answer 1: The eldritch horror living under Gorgon's desk. Answer 2: Murderer of Kibby's sister. Answer 3: Spells the Roman numeral IX as VIV.
This is at least the second time we've seen Writher's cutting skill be used in synergy with Alden's skill. During an early gym rescue game Writher cut away some rubble to free the way for a balloon-person Alden was preserving. I think Alden should look into getting a mind writher of his own. In addition to its regular functions, he could make and preserve rope shapes. And it could be friends with Writher.
I continue to be delighted by your affection for Writher.
I gave birth this morning. Reading both old and current chapters of Super Supportive was part of what got me through labor. So thanks Sleyca!
This is one of my favorite comments ever. I hope you are feeling good, getting rest when you can, and that the new human is well. May they gain knowledge all the days of their life, and may their days be many.
* This is NOT a complaint * I began reading this story on 10/20/23 and joined Sleyca's Patreon on 10/25/23 because I read through ~70 chapters in 5 days... I just looked back and noted that, for the past year, it has been November for Alden... So Sleyca is definitely meeting her goal of a story with a super slow burn and doing it so well that we are all enjoying ourselves on this snail slow walk with her. 😄
It doesn't read like a complaint at all! I think most people get a little shock when they notice this. I've been calling it out explicitly more often in the chapters than I used to in order to make sure everyone understands the passage of time in-story, so it's coming up more in comments, too. Talking about this in a general way: This is actually way more common in serial fiction than I think people realize, and it's one of the great things about it. The detail and development and the digging-in. The time for even the side characters to grow on you. It's so good. Admittedly, it's less stressful when you're a few years late to the party and you read something in a giant batch...but in that case you miss the hype and the glory of being forced to wait and wonder and have the story last you for years instead of days. So it's a trade-off. And it's not just a slice of life thing! In fact, I feel like people get way more stressed over it when high tension stuff is happening and you get the streeeeetch of chapters to show every crumb of it. I know I do. But we've still got twenty+ chapter battle scenes all over the place in web novels and comics/manga. Apparently, One Piece has only covered about three years of the characters' lives since 1997 and that was with a time skip helping out! (So I've read online...not a One Piece reader yet so if I'm wrong about the details, I'm sorry). I think that might be the longest I've heard of. Naruto's Chunin Exams took more than a year and a half to release on a weekly basis (looked this one up to be sure). Alden's November continues...
This is the earliest time I've ever seen a chapter released :D
It's because I thought it would be late. The gremlin in my brain loves to mess with my ability to judge my own writing speed.
Happy Birthday to me! Early Soup!!!
Happy Birthday, Patience Honey! I hope someone fed you your favorite celebratory food!
*DELIGHTED SHRIEKING*
There is such a gulf between Winston's worldview and most peoples'...working 24/7 to cultivate fame in high school can't be good for you! When left to his own devices, Max immediately gobbled up all the S ranks who would follow his lead, and one Astrid to act as a back-up manager. I had fun picking his team.
Love the little prebrief for the Instructors/visitors point on view. It definitely doesn't as Big Snake who demanded the wanted posters because he has the best taste and is my favourite hero so far
I came up with Big Snake's hero name before I came up with his character, and he's been delightful to write ever since.
Someone remind me what did everly do to winston
Yep. Everly is pretty into cultivating her own fanbase, and she keeps track of the social medias of everyone else in class. She actually keeps abreast of what Winston is doing (mentioned in passing during the team meeting while Alden's team was planning how to conquer the obstacle course together), so I imagine she saw his fail, saw Jeffy starting up a grilling stream, and thought Jeffy needed some help filming himself since he didn't have a drone. So she went down there with her snowball drone and worked the problem! To Winston's detriment...
I haven’t finished the chapter yet but I’m typing this with shaking fingers: please, please, please tell me that Finlay’s Surface Extension spell is literally an ability to do the Looney Tunes “run off the side of a cliff and only fall when you look down”. Please, it’s all I want in this world.
It's literally that. (Minus the look down part...)
I guess it's kind of a spoiler for me to say that, but I do think it's there in the name! And it fits in with how the System thinks of high level Speed Brutes.
How many times do you think Win-Win has heard the word "nonagon" that it appears in his narration in what I can only assume is ironically emphasized italics? Lexi already had a complex about Writher hurting other people, hopefully the offered prize is for the whole team and he can get a lesson from a pro
How dare it not be an octagon?
"and one other struggling person who usually gets no attention." So we all agree that the fifth member of Winston’s team is the Object Shaper, yeah? :)
Object Shaper is a confirmed guy.
"She teaches at Naya Din, but her grandson Ignacio joined us here at Celena North.” Could this be the name of the third Apex school/university?
Naya Din is the third school with a hero program! Li Jean is the largest.
"Alden was keeping his eyes pealed" -> peeled
Alden's eyes...they peal like bells! Beautiful green bells, I say! Thanks for catching that.
Edit Suggestions: eyes pealed -> eyes peeled poking his had back in -> poking his head back in Right now, thought, it felt -> Right now, though, it felt
Thank you!
Halloween soup! Thank youuuuuu
Happy Halloween!
Little thing though, seeing Zhang Jianwei’s full name makes me think of all the times my mom scolded me by starting with my full name (I have a Chinese name) Being called by your full name (previous chapter) has pretty much the same connotations in Chinese and English so it feels a little weird
It's actually listed here like that just because Aparna Sethi used it for the first time in the last chapter, and I wanted it to be clear it was him. But I have had some difficulty researching the etiquette of Chinese names and getting the right information about exactly what relationships/what situations would be appropriate for full name versus something else. The double barrel last name he's taken adds a wrinkle, too. It hasn't really come up before now because Alden thinks of him as "Mr. Zhang-Demir" and Haoyu refers to him as "Dad" when he's talking to his roommates and thinks of him as either "Dad" or "Baba" when we're in his point of view briefly when he's boarding the escape ship. So there's a good chance we'll see his first name on the page very infrequently, but I'd be curious to know what the right way is so I can handle it not-awkwardly.
So definitely tell me things like this whenever you spot it! For example, should Aparna not have used his whole name there? I can easily dodge it. I just felt bad that I'd never put his whole name on the page, and I was giving Hale's so I didn't want him to be left out.
Sleyca, have you thought of sitting down with some artists to get some canon Alden art with a pezyva or a red lab coat so we can dress up for Halloween?
Yes. I've had a particular artist bookmarked for a while. I just need to figure out exactly what I want and talk to them to see what kind of work they might be interested in doing.
Just to check, is this the noisy conversation at the start of the new section: Winston Marsha Jupiter Heloisa Mehdi… Ignacio? Soren
Yep! Got it perfectly!
From chapter 80, *one hundred and thirteen* chapters ago: “He would also be taking a phys ed/self-defense hybrid with everyone who’d just gotten in so that they would be extra well-prepared for their first full combat courses in January.” Oh my god, he hasn’t even started his actual first year of school yet
Super Super Supportive Supporter, you think Jeneth is going to get to remain blissfully ignorant of Stuart's weird new friend until Alden is 30? Could be... I'd like to address the Patreon income thing, Colton, because I have seen a few people attribute the pacing to Patreon. It's obviously impossible to say with 100% certainty where the story would be without the Patreon, but I don't think it would be moving faster in story time. And I *do* know it would be moving slower in real life time. By now, I would have taken quite a few more days off without the Patreon income to consider. So my best guess is that in that hypothetical no-Patreon situation, you guys would be reading a similar story, but you'd be at least a few chapters behind where Royal Road is now. The pressure to slow down to try to make as much money as possible from Patreon really isn't there for me--*not* because I'm a person who cares nothing at all for my income, but because what anxieties I do have about the story's success would pressure me in the other direction if I let them. I really like having an engaged audience here. I want you all to stick with me. When I have worries, those worries are about losing readership because my taste leans toward the slow, winding road. The decision to do things like the Thanksgiving arc, the Chainer, or the recent clothes shopping chapter usually goes like, "I really like this. I think there's something fun about watching Alden do this, and I'd feel sad if I left this moment behind and never got to talk about it. How upset are readers going to be if he goes shopping? It seems like the kind of thing I'm going to get more complaints than usual about. I want to do this, but I want them all to stay with me and have fun and still be with me one day when I reach the end. Better make sure I cram the clothes into one chapter instead of letting it be two." So in the no-Patreon world, we'd be more likely to have two clothes chapters of about 4,000 words each--which is a more manageable writing speed for me lately--as opposed to one 8,000 word chapter. This isn't to say that the existence of the Patreon can't negatively affect the story, but the ways in which it might are a bit different than you're thinking. And they're probably outweighed by positives. The audience here is thoughtful and invested in a really special way, and that fuels me. Next time on Sleyca Writes an Essay, I should probably get into how serialization as a model is itself full of big positives and big negatives when it comes to various aspects of writing quality. But that's a huge essay and only peripherally relevant to this one. Goodnight everybody!
I’m looking to re-read from when Alden started using his ability on those balls that Big Snake was throwing. Does anyone know what chapter number that is?
I hope it's a fun re-read!
If Alden can only use his ability to run faster on ‘ground’ then could he not simply put some dirt in his shoes, so that he is always touching ground with his bare feet.
People do bring up the "shoes of ground" notion from time to time. I meant to put it in the story before now as an idea Alden was trying, but then I got stuck thinking about all the things that could get a little funky if ground shoes worked in certain ways, and I couldn't decide exactly where I wanted to draw the line on them. So they haven't been mentioned at all yet.
🧠🪱🔥 Writher Facts 🔥🪱🧠 * Writher is unique on earth * Writher can go faster than the speed of sound * Writher speaks wrussian
"Writher speaks wrussian" has been stuck in my head for the past hour. Somehow it's been filed in the brain cell adjacent to the one that says "Ruffles have ridges."
Edit Suggestions: “Alden, do you see this? !My brother, my girlfriend, and my dear friend of many years have no faith in me. ->“Alden, do you see this?! My brother, my girlfriend, and my dear friend of many years have no faith in me. “I like him” Aparna said at once. What’s he doing here at Celena North? Send him to me at Naya Din.” ->“I like him” Aparna said at once. “What’s he doing here at Celena North? Send him to me at Naya Din.”
Thank you both!
A question to the author, are we to expect the same in future chapters? Because while I like the story, I have not enjoyed the last chapters. Is the story going to progress, or is it continuing to go into every minute detail of Aldens day to day life?
Isak, I don't know if you're just frustrated with the gym class or if you also didn't enjoy the trip to Yenu-pezth, meeting Stuart's family, Thanksgiving, The Elder's Croak etc... so it's kind of hard to answer. If you didn't enjoy any of that, then I think you probably won't be happy reading twice weekly. If you've previously enjoyed binging the story and are only now running into this problem--especially if you binged through intake and Alden's start at CNH and enjoyed it--that's probably a sign that waiting and reading in larger batches would work really well for you. However, if you've enjoyed a weekly reading of most of the other story moments that have happened over the past three or so months, and it's specifically the long gym section here you don't like, then the answer is a little different because when this ends I don't think we'll have another long (as in more than one or two chapters) gym class for ages. The stuff I've got outlined ahead of this doesn't leave room for it. REGARDING PACING: We will see every day of Alden's life during which something interesting or story-relevant, from my point of view, happens to him. All the days that I don't consider to be repetitive. For example, we won't have another clothes shopping trip unless it's backdrop for another thing that's going on or it's to show how a future Alden has changed. We won't play this particular game again in gym class. Etcetera... WHERE WE ARE IN THE STORY RIGHT NOW: I think this is a great way of understanding what I consider story-relevant and also of orienting yourself in the larger story so that you can answer whether or not you want to take a break. Point by point. This gym class is set within an arc about Alden wanting to defeat a particular nightmare. That nightmare-defeating arc is set within the context of Alden's growing realization that he's already stronger and more capable than he was back in February, when he was first stranded on Thegund. Realizing that and getting a grip on the fear that has been driving him since he first got back to Earth is part of his mind healing, and his reason for seeking mind healing is a desire to stabilize himself so that he can be confident in the decisions he makes for himself during his choosing season. The mind healing and the decision to frame this time in his life as a choosing season has been prompted by his friendship with Stuart, which began as a slender thread ages ago and now thickens into plot. So, we are currently inside the giant arc that I think of as Alden's Choosing Season. On the outline of the serial as a whole, Alden's Choosing Season has been kicked off and informed by the events that happened in Ripples/Waves/Dawn, which was its own arc that marked the end of something like an Experiencing Life on Anesidora section. GOING ON IN THE BACKGROUND CURRENTLY: We often have chapters that are more about broadening the scope and consequences of Alden's Choosing Season rather than shoving the choosing season forward. His walk to Yenu-pezth's house of healing and the discussion of the spaceship being built beside the road was one of these. His later discussion in the elevator with Porti-loth about the same ship was also one. So was The Elder's Croak. Those are chapters that show the world of wizards and knights who choose to fight chaos. Things like Bash-nor's assholishness and Alden's changing understanding of Joe are complicating factors to his decision-making process. Many wizards are very cool people, many are terrible ones, all of them technically have power over him. And Alden's developing friendship with Stuart is both its own entire important plot and a constant injection of scope and consequences. All together, this is what's happening in Super Supportive when we take several steps back and look at the whole big picture. It can be really hard to see on a chapter-by-chapter basis, but I consider *all* of this to be important to the story. So the chapters are all built on this framework. I explore within this framework as I move forward. I hope that helps you and anyone else who's wondering about this kind of thing!
I thought Sanjay was the object shaper. Is he on both teams win-win and rains hard? Or did "inverse of object shaper" mean something else (RE: 191: Flashes III: Info section)?
Sanjay is a character who has no stated power in the story yet. Object Shaper is a character who *only* has a power and no name, which is a running gag. Both very minor.
TFTC! Klein being so good he’s a demon to Alden is impressive. I really thought that they’d get him this chapter. Also I’m surprised Klein didn’t mention the wordchain to the other parents, but then again it is just a snippet. Also Sleyca, when you do multi chapter action scenes do you have the general outline of what everyone’s going to do or just the end result that you want and then you write towards that goal? Great foreshadowing with Winston wearing sunglasses because he’s gonna need to shield himself from Soren’s fury from now on :P Edit: Reading comprehension strikes, he did mention wordchains I’m just a muppet
Thank you! I have an outline of what everyone's going to do, but I consider the outline very flexible so I frequently re-outline to account for changes I decide to make along the way.
Man, the more I think about Winston the sadder I get. I mean, he is undeniabley an awful kid, but he's not evil or inherently unredeemable. In fact, there are programs for troubled youths who take much worse kids and put them back together as decent human beings. The one I'm familiar with takes these teenagers out to a frozen desert wilderness in Oregon and has them hike around with instructors for a couple months, and they can completely turn a kid around. And it's at the same age Winston is. But because Winston is an Avowed, it is impossible for the real adults to intervene. Social media fast? He has the internet *in his head*. Any serious intervention? He's a legal adult, you can't make him do anything. Connect him with nature? The kid is literally trapped on an island. They don't even have racoons! It's just... Really sad. Given the right help, Winston could totally turn his attitude around and be really successful. But he's not going to get that help; he'll either figure it out himself or he won't figure it out at all. Great writing, Sleyca. This soup is chewy.
I really appreciate how thoughtful, empathetic, and insightful many readers are when it comes to all the characters. For one thing, it's just *nice* to come to the comments section and see multiple conversations about the characters that are full of mature takes backed by an actual interest in the complexity of human beings. It's also really rewarding as an author to know that if I put in some tiny detail about a side character, someone will pick up on it and appreciate it. You guys make writing more fun.
Crap. I spent Sunday wondering where the chapter was. Turns out I forgot there would be not Sunday chapter. Cliff hurts.
Sorry Bunny Waffles! No more breaks this month, though!
The chances of Alden eating a bunny shaped waffle have just increased drastically because of your name.
t'is the season for chapter predictions! falalalalalalala
Sleyca will plan a whole scene and backstory drop just for Marsha and then not include it!
While we're waiting for the next chapter, here's something I've wondered about: What happens in August 2041 or so when Alden has to affix again? That's 6-8 weeks when he can't use his powers, and so won't be able to go to gym class. How will he explain this? Also, he's going to hyperbolize eventually. Maybe at the coming affixation. "Principal Saleh. I've got some good news and bad news. The bad news is I won't be able to go to gym for two months. The good news is I'm no longer a B-rank. I'm an A." [shows updated, but still misleading, profile] Saleh: "WTF?"
Hi, everyone! Not critiquing any theories here and not spoiling, only bringing up the specificity of the numbers. I think this is based on one of my comments that got blurred by the passage of time. I believe I was explaining to someone how older lower ranks could have more total authority than higher ranks, and I threw out a level number as an example. I said something like a level 40 B Rabbit would have more power than a brand new A Rabbit, but their power would be bound into more skills and probably none of those would be stronger than the new A Rabbit's starter skill. So definitely have fun hypothesizing about this, but don't take whatever the exact number was as the precise cut-off point for the A/B rank divide.
So, I was playing a brain game and decided that the best time for Sleyca to drop her chapters is 7pm PST (aka Anesidora time, aka GMT -8). At this time a large part of the world should be awake or waking up within the next 4 hours. (I am assuming most people are awake by 7am... you know... 'cause I am...) I am sure Sleyca will find this analysis amazingly helpful and I want everyone to know that this drop time has NOTHING to do with MY LIFE and how excellent and relaxing it is to have a nice chapter and comments to read while winding down for bed.
I'm so close! I probably dropped Royal Road at 7PM Anesidora time today.
Thank you for the early birthday present!
Happy birthday!!!
Is Kon reading CNHearts???
He is!
It’s Thursday morning and no breakfast soup🥲
Sorry guys! I've been thinking it was alllllmost finished for five or so hours, but just kept finding things to tweak. It's up now!
Thanks for passing the 200 chapter milestone with me! It means so much to see your comments every week, and thinking of what might make you all laugh or make you curious keeps me motivated every day when I sit down in my writing chair.
Wakers advice hit me pretty good. With my Cerebral Palsy it's hard for me to take my time learning to do new things and is especially frustrating when I can't quite get to where I want to with them. But if I push myself too hard I risk injuring myself and I usually don't recover from that sort of thing very quickly. I do have time, and can get by with what I have. Pacing myself, knowing my limits, pushing myself a bit but not too much. I think it's an important skill that everyone should learn.
You put this very well.
Congratulations on 200. Looking forward to 200 more.
YES!
I clearly missed whenever "doubling-on" stat points was discussed previously. Anybody have a lead for when it's come up in the before?
Don't search too hard for this one! There are only two or three mentions and no explanations. (Liam Long and Haoyu are the ones who've mentioned it previously.) Shortly after Alden enters intake, there's actually a scene of him wondering how foundation points work because it was going to be a mystery for him to figure out later in the story. And then I realized it was unnecessarily complex and not interesting enough to warrant a plot line, so I simplified the workings of them. The simplification opened my eyes to some other cool things that could happen, like "doubling on", which is basically what it sounds like: very rare cases of Avowed temporarily getting much stronger, faster, etc...than normal. With some side effects and consequences. Doubling-on is something that would be baked into humanity's knowledge of how Avowed work. So I think the most appropriate place to explain it in the story is all the way back at the beginning, probably the first time Alden affixes. And then there are several moments from the beginning onward when Alden's knowledge of it should be referenced in the text. It's not really important to the storyline back then or at present, but it's a detail that does need to be threaded through a big chunk of chapters in an organic way. So that correction is going to be one part of a huge revision one day. For you most important readers who are reading right now, I'm hoping that since I missed the chance to stir it into the soup for you on your first read, doubling-on will present itself as a fun little, "Oh, I didn't know that! What's that?" and that the complete picture will be built by casual mentions like this one. Then you'll get the satisfaction of having it confirmed when it actually becomes relevant to the plot and someone is striving for it or doing it. So future readers of a revised *Super Supportive* get "Brutes who double-on their stats are really doing blah, blah, blah..." at the beginning. And you guys should get this trickle method. Hopefully it all works out smoothly enough. For the curious: Huge revision = I'll eventually be reading over the entire serial from the very beginning with an eye to making it as perfect as I can. I'll trim anything that doesn't belong, improve writing quality, and flesh out the world building in the early chapters to match what I've learned about the Super Supportive universe along the way. I have no huge plot changes in mind that you guys need to worry about missing when that happens one day. Where you are with your story knowledge is good to go from here on the key stuff, and if I change something back there, it shouldn't change the events of the story so much as it enhances the way those events are presented. But a revision like that is a pretty big task for me as the writer, and I think the longer I wait to start it, the better the final creation will be. That's why it hasn't happened yet. I outline extensively to try to make sure that important characters and events get set up well in advance, but as we move forward in the serial, I do add people, conflicts, and details to the universe. I settle in and develop more nuanced understandings of the big picture. So the more I write, the more solidly I will be positioned to make that revision truly complete. This is why I haven't yet done some of the things that successful serials usually do. A lot of people have expressed interest in listening to audio, publishing audio, or narrating audio. And we want ebooks! And print copies! I am so looking forward to making those things available to you all in the future. There are lots of options for doing it, and I've been exploring them along and along. But I feel like to get us the best possible version of those things, I need to move a little farther into the story. Learn even more, so I can revise even better. One day. That's the goal anyway!
I think that's a fair point, Moth!
This chapter was amazing! I loved Alden’s somewhat nonsensical dream at the end, I have dreams like that all the time. These are my favorite kinds of chapters, where Alden does a bit of introspection and has conversations with other people.
Thank you, Calibri! I'm so glad to hear you liked it!
Is Plim the Anesidora stand-in for the role Connie played in his life in Chicago? There for like a day when disaster first brought him there and made it seem like she would be there to help him grow but absent since except in the most nominal of ways.
Plim bowed out (temporarily) for the same reason the B-list characters did. Love her. Love them. A lot of funny, wacky, intense people there. They were all going to be involved in the disaster chapters at one point, and then I decided it was unwise of me to try to juggle them while we were still getting to know the many other new characters that came into the story when we hit CNH.
This is the Little Snake of chapters. Shorter than our usual instructors, but still really good and powerful!
I like that comparison!
Good soup. Thanks Sleyca :) Discord: discord.gg/SuperSupportiveFans
Discord! I'll shout it out in the next post if that's all right?
I wonder what herds we can identify in Herdcreatures II. Happy prepping to publish, Sleyca.
My guilt! Evaaaa! Thank you, though. Herdcreatures II is a fun one for me to write, so I'm so sorry it's been delayed.
Questions: 1. Is there any connection between an Artonan's family name length and their social status? 2. How did you make the name "wakeuptheresbacon"? (others: 3. Can people with prosthetic hands use wordchains or spell impressions? 4. Do Grivecks have U-type Avowed? 5. In the opening of the latest chapter, is Alden seeing the translations after he opens his eyes, or while his eyes are still closed? How does the System know when to translate a word for a person? 6. How do the math classes work in Anesidora? Why isn't Alden taking one? 7. Schools nowadays are enacting phone bans so students are less distracted. Do non-selective Avowed high schools have to enact System interface bans? 8. Do level authorities grow exponentially? If so, with what base? 9. Do contract tattoos still work if one party is dead? Can they have more than two parties? 10. What would Stu's total authority be in terms of Earth Avowed ranks? 11. What is the secret second method for ranking up? 12. Can Alden generate electricity by preserving a light source against a solar panel? 13. Since the System can issue commendations, could it also issue condemnations? 14. When an Avowed is in a video call, what exactly does the person on the other end see? (Can one video call themselves to gain 360º vision?) 15. Is Kon secretly Electric Yo-yo? 16. What's Sanjay's class? Why was it unstated for so long? 17. A while back, the discord server was arguing over whether Shoe Pisser was actually Object Shaper; is piss more closely aligned to water, object, or life? 18. Was the Submerger disaster actually just a false memory fabricated en masse by the Swayspiracy? 19. Is argold physical? 20. Are lobeberries made from brain lobes? 21. Are the next few chapters deep, or *really* deep? 22. This isn't a question, but I want to mention that "kidnapped robot problem" is an actual term (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapped_robot_problem). (see ch 102) 23. Do Contract-rejectors get to pick their talents? What about U-types who accept the Contract? Are U-types often chosen at early (pre-13) ages? ) Edit: Also, if anyone wants to refresh themselves on the last Q&As or all the other answers posted in these comments, I have a website for that at https://soup-comments.vercel.app/Sleycas_Patreon_Comments.html (ctrl-f/cmd-f "Q & A for those interested). It also updates to the Discord.
And this is the first one. I'm cracking up. Pick two of these for me to focus on, Bacon! I'll come back to you in a sec.
1. Not their name length, possibly other things about their name can be indicators. 2. Wakeuptheresbacon! I was just typing that chapter and I wanted something that sounded properly random, not stereotypically evil (because I liked the contrast between a fun name and someone being a jerk online), and I probably wanted bacon. Bacon is awfully delicious.
Can a contract be annuled/removed? Specifically, can a private contract between 2 person be annuled/removed if both parties come forward and agree on annuling it? This is a point that affects both Joe and Boe. The system wanted Alden and Boe to make a contract between themselves to not reveal the U-type secrets, which implies they can't just annul it later when they need to talk about it when it becomed critically important.
Yes. Many...most, actually, contracts can be ended by the mutual agreement of the contracting parties. There are other ways of breaking them, too. Contracts come in different strengths.
I love how funny this story can be. What joke are you the most proud of?
The Rabbit with the lucky wizard's foot from all the way back at the end of Thegund! I was a hundred percent positive someone else was going to beat me to that joke. I sat on it for so long. And nobody did beat me! I also really got tickled by Haoyu's COWard recently.
You seemed to be cool with people posting several questions at once so, if that's still the case (or pick your favorite if not!): 1. What is the meaning behind the name "Punzee"? Why is it of highest accuracy, maybe even perfection? 2. What are some tidbits of worldbuilding that you're largely confident are true of the SupSup universe and you're excited to share with us but would be a bit difficult to work in any time soon due to lack of plot relevance or because it might feel a lil' shoehorned in?
1. I'm thinking about having Alden find this out from either Weset or Stu soon, so this is a minor spoiler for now. 2. This question makes me very happy. The first thought I have is Artonan marriages. I thought I was going to get to share more about them when Alden had his first intentional visit to the siblinghold, but then it wasn't right to infodump a lot of the more basic marriage intel there because Alden already knew it and wouldn't be thinking hard about it or asking about it. Artonan marriages are extremely serious contracts that are supposed to be permanent unless you want everyone to think badly of you. But the terms of the contracts can be very unique to the marriage and very specific. Might noodle on answering this some more later...
I thought of another one!!! Teleportation would be SO amazing for Alden's Earth, and I never talk about some of the ways it must be in the story. Even if there's an allotment, a part of that allotment would be used by countries not just for importing things but for exporting them off planet. So nuclear waste? Oil spills? Why not have the Earth System chuck that into another galaxy if you've got the teleportation allotment saved up for it?
does BOAB and gremlin work on the same rules? BOAB lets other people entrust a person to alden, and gremlin counts anyone that gives alden permission to pick them up as edible, but does this also mean Alden can eat people entrusted to him by a third party
Alden can't eat people entrusted to him by a third party. Unless the gremlin gets confused about exactly what's going on, I guess...it's a mix of very talented at its thing and very dumb about the world Alden actually lives in, so it's not impossible for it to just be totally wrong.
Do you have a degree in something that has helped you improve your creative writing? Or are you just naturally incredibly talented?
Yes to the first, but I would stress to anybody wondering if they need an arts/literature/writing degree to improve their writing abilities that they definitely don't. Just lots of practice reading and lots of practice writing and a dash of humility that makes you willing to keep polishing off the rough edges and improving, I think.
We've seen what human schools teach about Artonan culture and language, will we ever see what Artonan's are taught about Earth? Do they have classes on the history and culture of planets under contract? If you asked a random LeafSong student what they know about Earth what would they know? What false information do they believe true? And then for contrast to Alden last chapter, what is the earth animal Kibby would be the most excited about meeting?
We'll get more of a sense of this along the way as Alden meets more wizards of varying ages. LeafSong students would range from those Stuart's age who have a very surface level and patchy knowledge about what life on Earth is like to people almost a decade older than him who have been training in hopes of one day being able to visit Earth or summon humans. Kibby wants to meet Victor the cat!
Is there a character who is especially difficult to write in any given scene? One whose attitudes and/or motivations make them difficult to work with or find the right words for? Edit: If the answer is still Stu, what about the opposite? Who is the easiest and/or most fun to write for? Do you plan or want to have a PoV segment for that character at some point?
Stuart is the hardest character to write still. I've gotten much less worried about it now that you all know so much of his backstory, because a lot of the difficulty is the fact that he's got personality traits that would be contradictory in another character, as a result of his childhood. He can be super confident, even arrogant, one sentence, and then shy and awkward the next. And I can't always have Alden *know* exactly why he's being that way, so I have to trust you guys to figure it out. Which you do. I'm delighted that Stu's been so well received because despite being the most difficult character, he's also one of my favorites.
Is there a meaning to the favorite fruit of individual Artonans? And what do they think of our most controversial fruit, the tomato?
Adding lots of ritual and meaning to things is common, so I'm sure plenty of them have favorite fruits that are personally significant, or superstitions about eating fruit grown on their birth dirt or things of that nature. But in the widespread cultural sense favorite fruit doesn't have a universal meaning. They would probably enjoy a tomato and accept its fruitness without question.
What branded merchandise do Omega Scorpii have (or want to have)?
I haven't thought about this at all, but now I want to! We know they've got the t-shirts. Haoyu's parents don't really need as much branding as superheroes who are taking the single-city mascot route, but you know his dad probably really wants to ham it up every now and then in some way.
I think the whole hero group (not just Haoyu's parents) probably has a more serious and professional vibe than some of the cartoony superheroes do, though. Since they're available to be called in where others have failed, I imagine when it's time to really work they would go for a competent, strong image on arrival in a new city and a friendly, neighborly one on departure, after the trouble was cleared up.
We know the Earth governments are keeping back self driving cars from the planet,,are they doing the same with other tech, and if so can you give some examples? Or if that's too spoilery: Once a species pays off their debt for the Contract, can people keep volunteering to be Avowed? Related, why are people not allowed to volunteer in the first place? Earth is required to send a certain amount per year, and it's safe to assume Chaos Potential is part of the decision, but would more Avowed really be a bad thing?
I'm going to answer self-driving cars by confessing that I just didn't think as much as I should have about whether or not Earth would have them until Alden was already at LeafSong, so there's no secret there that's critical to the plot. But I have since thought of several reasons why they might not be in widespread use in Alden's America. Whether those reasons get brought up or whether that fact actually gets retconned on a revision one day kind of depends on where the story goes farther down the line. For the second half of the question---some things are probably being hidden by the powerful on Earth from the less powerful. How much we'll get to see of that, I'm not sure of. A Contract can be broken or the terms altered as the relationship between the Artonans and a resource world changes, but there isn't such a thing as paying it off because the exchange between worlds is ongoing. Humanity receives things every day for being a resource world that they would lose if they wanted the Contract gone.
We know a bunch of ways Artonans are better than humans. They can do true multitasking, they have much more vocal range, those slightly longer fingers are probably slightly more dexterous, they may be able to tolerate a wider range of temperatures, their technology is more advanced, their recorded history longer, and – the kicker – they can learn to sense their authority and do magic. In what ways are humans better than Artonans? I’m guessing that on average we’re a bit stronger because we’re a bit bigger, and that we tolerate cold better, but those are such boring advantages. I’m hoping, at a minimum, that we’re much better distance runners at baseline, since Artonans seem to be more arboreal, lacking the heritage of hunting and migrating on open plains. I’d love to hear of something else, though, something surprising.
Great question! When we start talking about anything necessary for comfortable day to day life, relative weaknesses get covered for by technology and magic so that they're hard to see. I don't know how surprising it is since it's been lightly hinted at a couple of times, and I know you read really closely Terrestrial, but Artonans starve to death more quickly and suffer strong negative effects from food deprivation more rapidly than humans. They probably *are* worse distance runners than us and better tree climbers. There are a couple more things that I think will be more fun to bring up in the story when I can squeeze them in instead of spoiling...
Are there plans in the works for an audiobook, and if not, how would you feel about a fan-made one? (I have read the first 203 chapters three times through, with two of those readings being out loud, and I would potentially be interested in making one...) Also you are easily one of my favorite authors, and I love your story so much!
Two aloud readings!? Npf, that must have taken forever. I'm so amazed and happy that you love the story enough to read it aloud to someone. There will be a Super Supportive audiobook one day. I've had interest from a few super cool audio publishers, which is awesome! I've been thinking, and I'm really excited to make that happen for the story. But I'm not quite ready to make all the decisions that go along with that. I'm approaching it very, very slowly because: 1. The serial isn't revised well enough for it to be immortalized on professional audio just yet, in my opinion. I expect the audio release to bring in a lot of new readers, and I want Super Supportive to shine for them...and for the audio to give you all a little something new and beautiful as well. I think I'll have to take time off from posting here on the Patreon to get a first book in the shape I want it to be in. Between now and that day, every chapter I write is one more piece of the Super Supportive puzzle that's being refined, so that when I do revise, I bring a fuller understanding of it to the table with me and I get it all right from page one. 2. Audiobooks seem to be quite popular and lucrative for web serials. I want to explore options until I'm confident I'm taking good care of the audio rights. And I want to know I'm going in a direction that puts the best possible product out into the world. There are actually a lot of decisions to be made, from the artistic (Do I want to hire a linguist to make a conlang for Artonan? Do I want to do it myself?) to the financial (There are a lot of benefits to having a publisher, but hiring professionals without going through a publisher is also possible.), that I really want to feel a hundred percent sure about before I dive in. I'm researching, I have people I can talk to, but I'm taking it at my own pace so that there aren't any regrets. 3. All of the above is the reason that I'm not sure how I feel about a fan made one. Or rather I'm sure how I feel, and it's totally thrilled and flattered on the geeky eager author level! Of course I want to hear it read aloud and I want it to be so fun for you all and for me! But on the wary, business-minded level I know it's probably not a great idea to give you a go-ahead right now. Basically, the better and more popular a fan-made narration was, the more I would worry about how many people were listening to that version instead of the official one that I'm hoping you'll all get to enjoy together when I get my act together. And I'd be pretty stressed imagining myself knocking on your email one day asking you to take it down because a publisher said so or because I realized I suddenly hated Chapter Three and it couldn't be allowed to exist in audiobook form or something like that. Does that all sound reasonable? I hope so. Getting sleepy. So...maximum flattered. Thank you so much for loving the story. Do definitely ask me again if you're still interested and I'm still not giving you guys audio updates months from now. But I do hope I'll be able to sneak up on that process and make some decisions about it in the new year. We'll see.
Hi sleyca! Love sup sup. Just a small curiosity I had during a reread- understand if you can’t answer because of spoilers or if Alden might pick up this aspect for Bearer, but would Preservation of Secrets have allowed Alden to steal away knowledge or words shouted in combat, or would it have explicitly needed to be a secret given over to him? (And if that’s too spoilery, what food does Alden miss the most- or better yet, what food does gorgon wish he could eat the most?)
I think...I don't one hundred percent know the answer to that first question. My initial thought is, No, he couldn't. But there might be situations that I'm not seeing at the moment that could lead to that. I have to be careful with the superpowers because it's very easy to make them way too potent and plot breaking. Alden probably misses cheese the most. It goes on and with so many of the other foods he really likes. Gorgon's complicated. If we're talking about human food, I bet he wants to eat non-octopus seafood.
How are you doing today? :)
Honestly, kind of crummy but much better after this Q&A. You guys are good for my soul. Thank you so much. :)
My wife and I loved Manons POV chapters, especially her use of her primary skill. Was Manon the most knowledgeable person on planet Earth when it comes to the skill Tailor Environment? And/or are we going to get to interact with anyone else who has it so highly developed, who can share additional perspective on it?
Ooo! I love that you loved her POV. She was so fun to write that way! I don't think we'll see a human character who has it as highly developed as she did, but an alien character is a possibility.
Do you have plans to speak at any convention panels in the future.
I do not. I am blissfully anonymous for now. But if I ever do something like that, I'll announce it here!
Holy sh** you guys are fast
They are!
I wonder what is your opinion on LGBTQ+ representation in stories?
I think it's more helpful for me to answer specifically as it relates to Super Supportive rather than stories in general. Super Supportive Earth 2040 isn't our Earth, but it is a diverse Earth and that diversity is already present in the story if I'm doing it right. Sex and romance of any sort tend to be backgrounded because Alden hasn't been focused on it unless Natalie Choir is bumping his foot or Gorgon is informing him that other teens are into him. I think it's been shown, to those who are good at collecting the crumbs, that Alden and the Anesidora kids don't have a surprised reaction to hearing that someone has a same sex partner. Artonans are going to be covered in more depth later but they're clearly cool with multiple different partner combos. Most humans are straight. Some are not. We already know of some people who are not. Magic does make some things different than they would be on our world. Aliens make some things different. The way humans feel about aliens having sex with other aliens affects how they feel about humans having sex with other humans, probably. It's all kind of swirling around in the worldbuilding pot, and I let mentions rise to the surface when they seem to want to come up naturally. I hope I handle all the complexities of love and sex, and wanting it and not wanting it, well and respectfully when they do appear. Side note: I'm not sure when or if this will ever be mentioned in the story, but I've thought it a couple of times reading comments. I don't think it would actually be considered straight by most people on Alden's Earth if, for example, a female human and a male alien were into each other. Even if the male alien was pretty humanish looking like the Artonans.
Do you any plans to publish Super Supportive as a physical book series?
Yes! One day! The plans are non-specific, but I do want to see hardcopies one day.
what is the approximate total number of knights? around how many newlings are there per year?
Oh noooo. Will, you've asked for hard numbers. That's so mean-mean of you. We'll be seeing more indicators of this soon. I've gone a bit back and forth on my adult knight count, trying to decide if I want it in the tens of thousands range (my original plan) or if I want to bump it up a little. Once I start playing with massive population sizes (billions of wizards is a lot) I start thinking about percentages, and then I mix in the lifespan variability. I think I'll have to pin this down specifically in the story soon, though. Evul is meant to be very talented for her age, and I've put her rank in the 2,000s.
What is your process for crafting the characters? How do you outline their personalities and motivations? Tips on fleshing out these things, especially the personality? << This is the twenty first question, which means it was the twentieth question first if you don’t think about it. Please don’t cut off before this:( >>
I'll dip back by and answer just a few more tomorrow or the next day!
Most of the time, as soon as I realize we're going to have a new character, no matter how minor they are, I give them some amount of backstory and desire. It can be a *tiny* amount the first time they're introduced, but they need to be acting like they had a life before Alden and readers met them and like they had some plan for their day. Then I try to pretend I'm them. How would I feel in a situation similar to theirs, if I had the same worldview they did and the same concerns? I try to remember that people who do good aren't perfect and that people who do terrible things don't actually do them, in most cases, for incomprehensible reasons. The time to control who they are is when they're invented and as their backstory is fleshed out. But once I've got who they are on the page, I do my best to stay true to them and follow their growth (or lack thereof), even if it takes the story in an unexpected direction every now and then. And I love how good you guys are at appreciating the nuances of the characters. It gives me a lot of confidence that I can just write them as I imagine them, without explaining every little thing or simplifying complex motivations.
Will we ever see more of Gorgon in the story and if so will he play a big role? I've been wondering about who Gorgon is and how Alden becoming apart of his species will impact things. Love your writing, keep up the hard work!
We will definitely see more of Gorgon!
What is Object Shapers name?
Oh! That's easy. It's