Fourth [Worm Altpower!Taylor]

[the DragonBard]

Her name is not going to be based off Abrahamic mythology. She's Taylor. Really, that's it, unless she ends up wanting a different one in character. But the Abaddon connection is rather curious. I wonder if Wildbow did that on purpose or it was a happy coincidence?

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Most likely happy coincidence.
But it's still interesting.

Still, she's going to need a cape name (I mean, she still wants to be a hero, probably).

 

[badger.black]

Yep. Latest chapter is still fun as fuck. And Taylor laid out a verbal beat down hard enough to make the morally corrupt Cauldron members have an attack of conscience. Which is pretty damn impressive. Kinda broke Eidolon though.

The friendbringer is hilarious and oh so very ripe for causing problems in the future. Also this makes friendbringer Emma mentally two years youngwr then she looks, right? Xeroxed her mind from before she went bitch mode, so that should be interesting. Also I can't wait for Friendbringer Emma to tear bitch Emma a new metaphorical asshole. Because meeting yourself and then having the sort of verbal beatdown that is impending happen to her is going to be deliciously epic. Or whatever the glorious author decides to do.

And now the Endbringers areally in human form so the floodgates of insanity must have well and truly been opened.

And now Taylor and the Friendbringer need to go out to get Ice cream. For emotional reasons. Maybe bring Ziz and party along to enjoy the wonders of frozen treats after her planned tonguelashing. They came to you to make it easier after all Taylor.

 

[january1may]

The way I understand it, it originally took off as fanon, and then Wildbow came in and basically said "you know, why not? let's go with that".

Would hardly be the first time this happened to an author. Not even the first time it happened to Wildbow, I think - there's the infamous story of Genoscythe the Eye-Raper.

 

[kraiv]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Zion use a human "operating system" when he started on earth and got basically blue screened because it couldn't handle it?

 

[Mgunh1]

The way I understand it, it originally took off as fanon, and then Wildbow came in and basically said "you know, why not? let's go with that".

Would hardly be the first time this happened to an author. Not even the first time it happened to Wildbow, I think - there's the infamous story of Genoscythe the Eye-Raper.

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The best thing about Genosythe? He isn't canon until Leviathan, at which point he briefly becomes canon solely so that he can be killed off and then immediately ceases to be canon again.

 

[Jordisk]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Zion use a human "operating system" when he started on earth and got basically blue screened because it couldn't handle it?

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Zion used some combination of shards to mimic Human emotions...for some insane reason that I do not understand. This meant he became super depressed and nearly suicidal before meeting that British hobo, who then convinced him that being a hero might help. He did the hero thing, but it ended up that the shards and emotions were somehow in control instead of Prime-Zion, so he stayed depressed. It took Jack Slash and Broadcast to change his emotional alignment, shifting him all the way to anger at ALL THE EARTHS and suggesting that destroying them might make him feel better.

Honestly, the best thing Zion could have done was locate Eden after she died, or nearly died at least, and taken her shards. Then he would have all that processing ability, and could have continued the cycle.

 

[january1may]

The best thing about Genosythe? He isn't canon until Leviathan, at which point he briefly becomes canon solely so that he can be killed off and then immediately ceases to be canon again.

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Golden Morning, not Leviathan, IIRC. The rest is true, though.

 

[Covertslaughter]

This story is hilarious your crack fics are so damn good.

 

[Emperor Lee]

Now I have this odd vision in my head of the Heberts coming to face Zion during gold morning. He's so overjoyed to see Eden alive only to get blasted by her and told she's moved on. Danny pops up behind her all 'She's mine now Zion, we even have a daughter. Then Taylor just blasts Zion from behind 'Less Talky more beating up mom's ex husband'
Meanwhile the other capes are all just watching this with dropped jaws wondering if they should get involved in the 'family spat?'

 

[Jonn Wolfe]

Well, this is a riot.

 

[Fractla]

I didn't really want 'Conflict Engines'. I went ahead and told it so. It rebuffed that with the idea of 'Protection Engines'. I was an extremely young and vulnerable Entity, I should have what amounted to guards.

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That was fine. I missed her hugs. Even if they weren't from my original sister, she betrayed me, so having a version of her who literally couldn't was extremely helpful to my emotional state.

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Does this mean that Emma is being Mastered into feeling extra protective of Taylor, that if Emma tried to betray Taylor then she would be Mastered into not taking that action, or just that Taylor could take control of her if necessary?

 

[january1may]

Does this mean that Emma is being Mastered into feeling extra protective of Taylor, that if Emma tried to betray Taylor then she would be Mastered into not taking that action, or just that Taylor could take control of her if necessary?

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I think it's probably something close to option three, with a side of "this particular version of Emma didn't yet have any reasons to betray Taylor, and is extremely unlikely to ever get any in the future".

 

[Raging Iron Thunder]

This story is a fun mind-fuck to read. More insanity please!

 

[the DragonBard]

Here's a question: If QA is Scion's, then how did Taylor get the idea it was a gift from the Thinker?

Also, will Taylor go out patrolling?
Imagine the Protectorate's response to a Trump YES (copy powers, grant powers, manipulate powers, control parahumans) and Master Yes.

 

[Zeushobbit]

OH MY GOD!

Please make more of this, it's too good not to be continued. so much glorious Entity!Taylor.

At first I thought it was going to be an Endbringer!Taylor so I was trying to fit the Troll, the Idiot and the Librarian to the three of them but then I realised it was even better. I don't think I've ever seen Taylor as an entity at the start of a fic. Seen a couple where she becomes an entity over the course of things but never at the start.

 

[RexHeller]

Well, this is amazing. More please?

 

[TCGM]

Most likely happy coincidence.
But it's still interesting.

Still, she's going to need a cape name (I mean, she still wants to be a hero, probably).

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Interesting indeed. As for her cape name; I was thinking Eurubia.

Yep. Latest chapter is still fun as fuck. And Taylor laid out a verbal beat down hard enough to make the morally corrupt Cauldron members have an attack of conscience. Which is pretty damn impressive. Kinda broke Eidolon though.

The friendbringer is hilarious and oh so very ripe for causing problems in the future. Also this makes friendbringer Emma mentally two years youngwr then she looks, right? Xeroxed her mind from before she went bitch mode, so that should be interesting. Also I can't wait for Friendbringer Emma to tear bitch Emma a new metaphorical asshole. Because meeting yourself and then having the sort of verbal beatdown that is impending happen to her is going to be deliciously epic. Or whatever the glorious author decides to do.

And now the Endbringers areally in human form so the floodgates of insanity must have well and truly been opened.

And now Taylor and the Friendbringer need to go out to get Ice cream. For emotional reasons. Maybe bring Ziz and party along to enjoy the wonders of frozen treats after her planned tonguelashing. They came to you to make it easier after all Taylor.

Click to shrink...

Taylor's mom was an English Professor regardless of what else she might have been. Far too few fics have Taylor using words as her weapons, to say nothing of canon. I felt it was far more realistic for the girl with a English Prof mom, who's been beaten down by words for years, to use them herself. On those who deserve it, at least. This also opens lots of avenues for character exploration in a universe where, perhaps rightly so, Taylor will likely never face someone both smart and who knows of what she can do.

All bets are off on whether Lung or Jack get that memo though.

Yep! Friendbringer!Emma is the Emma that is still Taylor's sister. She has no memory of the two years beginning at and following her ABB PTSD episode. I'm still tossing around whether she looks younger or not, but currently my mental picture is that no, she doesn't. And given Emma's opinion of her original self, the tearing might not be so metaphorical and the beatdown might not end up being verbal. Taylor's got her work cut out for her.

Escalation curves? Who needs 'em? Just hit max at each stage, man!

Thank you for the idea. It will most likely become canon.

The way I understand it, it originally took off as fanon, and then Wildbow came in and basically said "you know, why not? let's go with that".

Would hardly be the first time this happened to an author. Not even the first time it happened to Wildbow, I think - there's the infamous story of Genoscythe the Eye-Raper.

Click to shrink...

Ah, that explains it. But this is the first I've heard of this visual organ puncturing fellow.

The best thing about Genosythe? He isn't canon until Leviathan, at which point he briefly becomes canon solely so that he can be killed off and then immediately ceases to be canon again.

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Uh oh. What well of dickery hath been opened here?

Golden Morning, not Leviathan, IIRC. The rest is true, though.

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Oh dear.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Zion use a human "operating system" when he started on earth and got basically blue screened because it couldn't handle it?

Click to shrink...

Zion used some combination of shards to mimic Human emotions...for some insane reason that I do not understand. This meant he became super depressed and nearly suicidal before meeting that British hobo, who then convinced him that being a hero might help. He did the hero thing, but it ended up that the shards and emotions were somehow in control instead of Prime-Zion, so he stayed depressed. It took Jack Slash and Broadcast to change his emotional alignment, shifting him all the way to anger at ALL THE EARTHS and suggesting that destroying them might make him feel better.

Honestly, the best thing Zion could have done was locate Eden after she died, or nearly died at least, and taken her shards. Then he would have all that processing ability, and could have continued the cycle.

Click to shrink...

My headcanon is that the Shards he used for empathy were actually Eden's, and as such, malfunctioning in the extreme.

This story is hilarious your crack fics are so damn good.

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Thanks! ^_^

Now I have this odd vision in my head of the Heberts coming to face Zion during gold morning. He's so overjoyed to see Eden alive only to get blasted by her and told she's moved on. Danny pops up behind her all 'She's mine now Zion, we even have a daughter. Then Taylor just blasts Zion from behind 'Less Talky more beating up mom's ex husband'
Meanwhile the other capes are all just watching this with dropped jaws wondering if they should get involved in the 'family spat?'

Click to shrink...

This would be a pretty fun Omake. Thinking of taking the confrontation in a completely 90 degree angle from the classic Golden Morning: Bad End of Worm, though.

Well, this is a riot.

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Riots... now there's an idea...

Does this mean that Emma is being Mastered into feeling extra protective of Taylor, that if Emma tried to betray Taylor then she would be Mastered into not taking that action, or just that Taylor could take control of her if necessary?

Click to shrink...

I think it's probably something close to option three, with a side of "this particular version of Emma didn't yet have any reasons to betray Taylor, and is extremely unlikely to ever get any in the future".

Click to shrink...

It's a lot less like the typical thing you think of when you think of being Mastered and more a directive. Friendbringer!Emma is technically Clarketech, just as Taylor is now and Entities are in general. Friendbringer!Emma literally cannot harm Taylor or go against her in the same way a subcomponent of a computer can't refuse instructions from the motherboard.

But as evidenced by Friendbringer!Emma being able to begin going to attack her original until Taylor stopped it, her free will is still there. Technically it's even there when Taylor was stopping her, as it was a lot more like a 'don't do this' instruction than a mind control thing, and Friendbringer!Emma basically sees Taylor as her controller. This is an interesting set of circumstances I wanted to investigate further and seemed highly plausible given the nature of the Entities and their Shards.

So, long story short, it's less Mastering, as that overrides the base 'programming' for lack of a better term of the person, and more that her base person wants to obey Taylor, period.

This story is a fun mind-fuck to read. More insanity please!

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Thanks! Mindfrakkery is fun to include in crackfics fiction. And I'm working on it! ^_^

Here's a question: If QA is Scion's, then how did Taylor get the idea it was a gift from the Thinker?

Also, will Taylor go out patrolling?
Imagine the Protectorate's response to a Trump YES (copy powers, grant powers, manipulate powers, control parahumans) and Master Yes.

Click to shrink...

Well that's an interesting thought, now isn't it? Taylor's assumption is based on QA's Deployment Time. Whether her assumption is correct or incorrect, we will have to see.

Taylor's patrolling is... well, I imagine she might try it once or twice, provided nothing stops her from it (like a massive jump in escalation of the scenario. But why would I ever make that happen? ). By her third time, everyone with two brain cells in their heads should have dropped the Bay like a hot rock and got the hell out of dodge.

I'm imagining and it is delicious.

OH MY GOD!

Please make more of this, it's too good not to be continued. so much glorious Entity!Taylor.

At first I thought it was going to be an Endbringer!Taylor so I was trying to fit the Troll, the Idiot and the Librarian to the three of them but then I realised it was even better. I don't think I've ever seen Taylor as an entity at the start of a fic. Seen a couple where she becomes an entity over the course of things but never at the start.

Click to shrink...

Entity!Taylor's been done before, but never I felt done quite right. Thus why I made this and am writing it. Still writing the next chapter, btw.

I'd have loved to be a fly on the metaphorical wall of your mind as you tried that. Your thought process must have been hilarious.

Also, Taylor is Our Lady of Escalation. Escalation refers to getting more and more over time, it never describes where you have to start. And a version of her deserves a good, cracky stompfest.

Well, this is amazing. More please?

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Thanks! I am working on it, but my progress is slow. Lots of IRL things interfering and whatnot.

 

[Ralyx]

Taylor's patrolling is... well, I imagine she might try it once or twice, provided nothing stops her from it (like a massive jump in escalation of the scenario. But why would I ever make that happen? ). By her third time, everyone with two brain cells in their heads should have dropped the Bay like a hot rock and got the hell out of dodge.

Click to shrink...

I've always been rather iffy about the whole 'patrolling' gig, at least not how it's portrayed in Worm, since it simply does not seem effectual for much other than plainly visible petty crime and maintaining appearances. Most of the gangs' major, important illegal underpinnings happen indoors, and while building raids are occasionally conducted they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Zeushobbit]

I'd have loved to be a fly on the metaphorical wall of your mind as you tried that. Your thought process must have been hilarious.

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Yeah, I sat there for about 5 minutes trying to wrap my head around who out of Levi and Behemoth was more likely to fit librarian cos troll had to be Simurgh but then Librarian also was more likely to be Simurgh but the half-dead part didn't fit...

My brain hit a BSOD and I decided to just read on for the inevitable explanation upon which I hadn't a moment of 'Oooooh! That makes much more sense.' as everything slotted into place.

 

[SlickRCBD]

I've always been rather iffy about the whole 'patrolling' gig, at least not how it's portrayed in Worm, since it simply does not seem effectual for much other than plainly visible petty crime and maintaining appearances. Most of the gangs' major, important illegal underpinnings happen indoors, and while building raids are occasionally conducted they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Click to shrink...

It is a way to draw out the powered members of the gangs.
You stop a gang-banger from committing a crime. The gang-banger calls for backup and if you can defeat his backup you in theory get them off the streets.

 

[RexHeller]

I've always been rather iffy about the whole 'patrolling' gig, at least not how it's portrayed in Worm, since it simply does not seem effectual for much other than plainly visible petty crime and maintaining appearances. Most of the gangs' major, important illegal underpinnings happen indoors, and while building raids are occasionally conducted they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Click to shrink...

Well, for the Protectorate and the Wards, patrols are a P.R. thing as much as anything else. It gets the heroes visible, people can walk up and ask for autographs, some petty crime gets stopped without too much risk, and thus people feel safer. Most of the arrests and fights are probably the result of raids and reacting to crimes in process, just like regular police. In this way, patrolling doesn't make much sense for anti-hero, vigilante types but for lighter heroes, it's an important part of the job, even if it doesn't directly stop crime.

 

[Fractla]

So, long story short, it's less Mastering, as that overrides the base 'programming' for lack of a better term of the person, and more that her base person wants to obey Taylor, period.

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I'd be interested in an interlude from Friendbringer!Emma's perspective, including how she decided that she was a separate person from the Emma she remembered being, what she thought about being created with loyalty directives, and how those directives make her think differently from past!Emma. I'm assuming that you're not considering the loyalty directives mastering because they were built into her upon her creation and required no further external tampering, implying that you consider Friendbringer!Emma to be a new person and not a continuation of past!Emma; tell me if I've misunderstood you.

 

[Bob Knob]

What's the ETA to the next chapter? Love the story BTW.

We have no idea if Eden would've done it the same way or if she would've gone for symbiosis once she realized Humanity's potential.

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This could be a good fic idea. Could twist where the Warrior ends up crashing and dieing. The rest of the story ends up with her trying out a new Cycle and trying to find a new partner.

Tinkers are easy, they're just accessing a database fragment. I would argue that Tinker powers from Shards are using their abilities the least, making them technically the weakest expression of a Shard in Worm.

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An alternative to tinker shards being tech databases would be mechanical corona pollentia. Basically a mechanical way of expressing powers. Thinking about this idea further makes sense. Mental powers would use one way to refine powers and tech would require a different method to refining powers.

 

[TCGM]

What's the ETA to the next chapter? Love the story BTW.

This could be a good fic idea. Could twist where the Warrior ends up crashing and dieing. The rest of the story ends up with her trying out a new Cycle and trying to find a new partner.


An alternative to tinker shards being tech databases would be mechanical corona pollentia. Basically a mechanical way of expressing powers. Thinking about this idea further makes sense. Mental powers would use one way to refine powers and tech would require a different method to refining powers.

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Whenever I can finish the next chapter. Life is kinda taking up most of my free time atm.

It does sound like a neat fic idea, doesn't it?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here. Mechanical brain tumors? wut

 

[Deus_Ex_Transhuman]

Whenever I can finish the next chapter. Life is kinda taking up most of my free time atm.

It does sound like a neat fic idea, doesn't it?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here. Mechanical brain tumors? wut

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Maybe he meant something like this. Tinker 15

 

[Nightmare723764]

Maybe he meant something like this. Tinker 15

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Jesus fucking Christ that got dark sooo goddamn fast!

 

[Bob Knob]

I mean the tech is used as an external way to manifest powers. It's why people have a hard time reproducing the tec because they are only seeing the partial picture. Tinker tec only acts like a conduit. They'd have to learn what the shards do to produce its effects.

 

[Deus_Ex_Transhuman]

Jesus fucking Christ that got dark sooo goddamn fast!

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We are talking about Worm, right?

 

[Nightmare723764]

We are talking about Worm, right?

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Well yeah but I read that Tinker 15 thing and wow... that could easily be turned into a creepypasta.

 

[Deus_Ex_Transhuman]

Well yeah but I read that Tinker 15 thing and wow... that could easily be turned into a creepypasta.

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Fair point, though, that's not saying much since creatures that escaped Lovecraft's imagination are freely roaming the multiverse of Worm.