InvidiaRed

From InBrightestDay on March 07, 2020 Alright, more world building, and the plot moves slowly forward. I liked the interaction between Adala and the Harvest Queen. It gives an interesting look at the history of the world, and how, like in Greek mythology, there was a dynasty before the gods, though in this case it was Fae instead of Titans. It's also interesting to hear that things may be different in other solar systems. Contrasting that with the Mother of Angels wore a galaxy as a dress, and that Adala throws immortals who break the sacred rules into stars, one would assume the gods have a wide-ranging sort of authority, but perhaps not. Maybe there are different levels of gods, and the uppermost ones like the MoA have authority over multiple solar systems, but the lower levels are more restricted. MOA isn’t even on the hierarchy in the mortal universes. She’s beyond them altogether but yes. She’s truly a multiversal tier. Mortal universes are destroyed when she attempts to visit them.She’s simply too immense. Think of this world as the local setting. There are definitely others but they are separated not just by distance but by expanses of space time far too large to be quantified. Existence/ reality reacts strange around the gods. Who may or may not be consistent. For a holier than thou goody two shoes goddess healer of the world on one world may also be The merciless murder happy tyrant queen on another. Aka. Might be Sailor Moon on earth. But Führer Von Sauron on the world next door. Or they will always be essentially the same person of the local sapient analogue. Typically, a Galaxy will favor one of the lesser powers over the others. The rules of the reality will favor a type of power above others giving them a immense power boost. But even that isn’t entirely universal. A small difference in space time may mean one world may be ruled exclusively by dragon lords and the world next door ruled only by tentacular lords of ancient evil. Or even five worlds ruled by fae but their moons are the exclusive property of Archangels and Oni Shoguns. There are Small islands in a single galaxy where every lesser power is supreme might be vast expanses of space or just the size of a single solar system or even just a planet/moon. And within those islands even the gods must bow to their decrees. When the gods won the war of creation. An inescapable consequence of their multiversal victory that is stamped on every mortal universe is that should the gods decide a world is of interest. The lesser powers will sooner or later lose that power boost leaving them almost always at the top. Anyway, back to the Harvest Queen. In spite of the Fae being pushed back (and, it's implied, not having been the nicest rulers to begin with, what with Adala having been forced to suffer and bleed as tribute to them), it's nice to see the sense of mutual respect between these two, with Adala coming to Queen for wisdom, and the Queen entrusting her daughter to Adala's tutelage. Old Age’s wisdom is not to be underestimated. Though Spring being assimilated by life at its peak prime. Summer. And Winter vassalizing Autumn. Autumn exclusively has the venerable wisdom of the elderly without the debilitating effects of senility. Its also much more than mutual respect the queen was Adala’s old flame. And even now with her court slowly succumbing to Winter. The Harvest Queen’s wisdom continues to bear fruit. Then we reach a place you've mentioned before, and that I know features in your other stories, but that I don't think I've ever seen before: the Detestable Valley. So, level with me here: how much did Lord of the Rings influence you with this locale? While LOTR will always be near and dear to my heart. The Detestable Valley is more a monument to Blight-town (Dark Souls) And much more Valley of Defilement (Demon’s Souls) But, I cannot deny Mordor is one of its inspirations. If you mix it with Silent Hill. haha.) I only ask because the Detestable Valley is a Place of Evil with a black gate in front of it, and in front of that is a dead marsh. Mordor is a Place of Evil with a black gate in front of it, and in front of the black gate is the Dead Marshes. It could be a coincidence, but I didn't know. Now apparently our new character is in the area, but we don't get to see him yet. Instead, and correct me if I'm wrong because I may not have read this correctly, he or she conjured a sphere of water and turned it into...basically blades, with water being fired out under such high pressure that it cut through the plant's the Witch's aspect, and apparently Adala's aspect as well. For the record, I'm still getting used to the aspect thing, because I freaked out for a moment at the image of Adala getting sliced in half before remembering that that was just a tool. Like I said, I'm still getting used to it She got minced. Adala now knows what it feels like to be thrown into a woodchiper and or thrown into a blender. She was innately powerful enough that her divine power held her together much longer than instantly becoming mincemeat like Beldam. But even divine power cannot heal a vessel that’s been subjected to overkill. And while the deep sea whirling water cutter was excessive. He did manage enough control to trim the grass. While one may think it was an excessively vicious attack. There is however no excuse to have unkempt grass in one’s domain even if one of the intruders was indirectly responsible for its sudden appearance. Adala didn’t bring her divine shield and didn’t bring reinforcements. Now she’s familiar with what being minced alive feels like for her lack of caution. Now she has to be cautious. The Godling in question just casually one upped The Lich King himself by taking out two aspects at the same time. That’s not a paper tiger at all but a definite show of strength. He might be a godling but he’s got access to real power. Even Adala ignored the warnings but do note he didn’t attack until after his taboo was broken. Anyway, presumably next time we'll get to meet this mysterious new godling! Massive spoiler for Ghoulneedle and Winterfell

From InBrightestDay on February 11, 2020 Well, we have some important world building here. Thank you I like the idea of the forum where the gods meet, and that they only do so reluctantly. I am interested in the exact nature of the Nine Divines. The Noble Nine. Nine Divines, Are Adala’s pantheon. She’s 1/9th. Their preeminence is the result of back breaking work and constant vigilance. Others tribes and pantheons view them range from staunch allies, to view them with envy, jealously to outright hatred. They’re not resting on their laurels. In the game of civilization. They’re winning and they’ve chosen not to hide that fact. The waypoints, way stations and roads they’ve encouraged mortals to build is simply too useful. The age of the wilds and the daunting wilderness is ending. Every road, every bridge, every junction, highway in some small way is an announcement of that fact. in a all roads lead to Rome sense. The fae will not go silently but they are going and they’re bleeding power,strength and numbers. Some are resigned, some are defiant but all know they had their apex, their age of supremacy within which they could even cow the gods. Not with a bang but a whisper. Unfortunately, for some they’re reaping the rewards of the ascendant gods. Who remember every insult they’ve been forced to accept. And the reckoning is not in the fae’s favor. Given the number of gods in Mortane, are they part of the nine, or are the nine only one small group of deities, the gods of order and civilization, who attend these councils, and the others don't participate? The noble nine are just one pantheon. The gods of order and civilization are the ones who tend to gather at the forum. The gods of dark tend to be loners. Well at least until a pantheon or tribes likes them enough to adopt them into the fold. Kinda like how extroverts adopt introverts. I love the imagery of the Mother of Angels wearing a galaxy as a dress; that's such a cool idea! It's also nice seeing her affectionate attitude toward Adala, sort of similar to Adala's attitude toward Trias. Similarly, I liked seeing the impact Trias's choice to worship Adala had on Adala herself; that it's flattering to her that Trias chose her out of all the deities she could have been a champion for. Imagine being chosen out of every human that exists. 7 billion people but out of those. You were the lucky one. I'll admit I wasn't sure how big the Mother of Angels was supposed to be. She produces the Angel of Death in the palm of her hand, which made me think she was huge, but then at the end she hugs Adara, which makes her seem roughly human size (or the same size as the other deities, anyway). Granted, as a goddess, she could just shrink or grow as the situation requires. The Mother Of Angels is deliberately holding back. Those divine senses can only do so much. She towers over them not just in a physical sense but a metaphysical one as well. The galaxy dress is the only hint she’s giving. She’s measured in light-years at the least. In Theopolis, She’s the closest one comes to true omnipotence. Her power is such that it hobbles her more than it helps. She can’t visit mortal universes even with aspects they are profoundly beyond her reach. Lest every star simultaneously supernova, the universe ruptures and the nothingness dissolves everything in seconds. Total vacuum collapse. So she mostly wanders the multiversal cosmos tending and visiting her angelic children. It is draining to hold back so the angel of death eventually just does the talking/ambassador duties. I feel like some of the stuff in here, like the weird moon, is a reference to the other stories in this universe, like Ghoulneedle and Winterfall, though as I haven't read those yet I can't be sure. Not required reading but there will be major spoilers for those in the coming chapters. I am curious about the "thrown into a star" thing. The wording was a little vague, so is that Adala has thrown local spirits into stars for breaking the rules, or that the Mother goddess has thrown younger deities into stars over that? Adala is being an unreliable narrator on purpose. It’s standard procedure to imprison nonmortal beings but deliberately imprisoning them in the heart of a star borders on inhumane. by the time the star dies in the billions of years that would take quite effectively removes them and their influence on the world permanently. Death is messy for nonmortals and lesser powers and can pave the way for their resurrection and greater power. Imprisoning them somewhere where they’ve been rendered powerless is a much better deterrent. Adala doesn’t pull her punches. And really is sapient sacrifice worth billions of years of crushing pressure and excruciating heat while the only thing you can do is scream? Next up, it looks like the gods of this setting are somewhat limited in what they can see, so Adala's going to need evidence to get the other eight deities to go to war. That means she's going to need some help, and we'll find out about this new godling next time. Looking forward to it! The gods see the world most clearly where their influence is greatest. Where every sense radiates for miles around it tapers off into a blurry fog of war of indistinctness. They can see landmasses as a map but this sense can be blocked by hostile to unfriendly deities and lesser powers. Where foggy nothingness is shown instead. The Mother Of Angels saved her from embarrassing herself. Going into the meeting riding high on emotions and little evidence. She has evidence. What she’s looking for is the smoking gun. The factual proof that she needs so the other gods will be forced to listen. All it takes is a little guesswork but its out there. That last place anyone would look. The shrinking frontier or the dead marshes before The Detestable Valley.

From InBrightestDay on January 17, 2020 Well, considering the effect Immunda had on me, there was no way I wasn't going to swing by and review this! You do an interesting thing here with regard to Adala's perception of Mortane, which is that we don't actually see any of it for quite some time, instead being told of the seeping foulness of the place purely on a spiritual level. Only later, when Adala enters her fortress, do we get the visual detail of grass beginning to grow. It's a cool way of hinting at the way the gods perceive the world, using senses we don't have. Another cool thing is the disparity between Adala's attitude and what's happening to her "body", a nice way of showing that the aspect is disposable and more of a divinely crafted tool than anything else. Recapping the violation from the goddess's point of view is quite effective, showing how upsetting it is for Adala, and yet how in spite of her need to defend the fortress, she still wants Trias to call for her help, still wants to help her. And that description of the sun being replaced by the moon and then the sun again, implying that this went on for something like twelve hours... Yeah, no wonder Adala wants to rally her fellow deities for war. I am definitely on board for this, and will be checking up on it in the future! You are too kind <3 Aspects are indeed tools. Think of it as the ability to isolate, refine and focus a specific part of a a person’s personality. Until, that facet of a person’s personality is the defining trait. Independent but also connected to the divine whole of that person. This is the reason why gods are not confined to a single place. destroying or imprisoning an aspect doesn’t affect a deity other than essentially break or confiscate a tool. Their task is their purpose and when that purpose is finished they return to the fold. The other aspects of the deity doing other tasks will instantly know what happened and investigate. Any would be godslayer or would be jailer foolish enough to think it was that easy doesn’t survive the retaliation of the other aspects arriving. What one knows the god knows but not visa versa. So even if the slaying or imprisonment succeeds…. Well the deity in question undoubtedly knows who the perpetrator is. And if they decide to take offense and send an Avatar well… That world is so screwed. A nuke to take out an ant but hey they’re asking for it at that point. A single aspect is still beyond mortal capabilities to take down. With only one known exception. The Lich King himself slew an aspect at the black gates of the Detestable Valley after a prolonged bloody war whose casualties includes flights of dragons, nations, artifacts of indescribable power and entire populations. And this info makes Ghoulneedle much more interesting Haha. Spoilers =p But a hilarious thing of this. Is that treacherous deities all have one thing in common. They only have one aspect at a time otherwise. The aspects would be too busy backstabbing each-other rather than getting anything done. So they are limited in the same way lesser powers are except the destruction of an aspect doesn’t hobble them. Adala empowers her Justicars. They’re more than mere mortals but while they may never be able to take on immortal servants of other deities they’re still a force to be reckoned with. They are the men and women who have taken Adala’s trials and tests and have been found worthy of her investment. She knows each and every single one as a doting mother to her favored child. Think of Knight/Samurai. Only her demon saints rank higher than them. Spiritually they are her adopted children. They dispense justice as impartially as possible. The wicked hate them. The deceptive rightfully fear them. Adala was right there and its a torment far more insidious in the fact she was in a position where she could do nothing but witness it. Like an invader breaking into your house, locking you out and attacking your family. Just close enough to hear what is going down but too separated to do anything else meaningful and yes Adala was forced to endure this witnessing for twelve hours. And to a god who is practically omnipotent in the mortal realm. Unable to do anything about it is like a constant heart stab. Mortane didn’t just torture Trias but her goddess at the same time. To say Adala took it personally is an understatement. And like all web of alliances every god is going to get pulled into the fray one way or another. To put this in another way this event is just like Archduke Ferdinand was just assassinated. The spiritual opening shot of a deific world war.

Rule Breaker Lincoln Continental ( in case of a foreign exchange student.) Outgrowing Family Growing Up Alabama Special Overcoming incest Mom, I’m tired of banging my sister. New Year Craving New Soil Sex Is Always Sexier On The Other Side Of The Fence Unusual Circumstances The Best Kind Of Fruit Is Forbidden What My Family Doesn’t Know Finally! Someone Not Related Risk Taker Hooked Only Guilty If Caught Nobody Needs To Know Surprise Child Support Good Thing He’s Shooting Blanks Expanding Horizons Shrinking World Incest isn’t always Wincest Not All Its Cracked Up To Be Life Is Hard When You’re Perpetually Horny

From JayDee on January 01, 2020 Powdered Sugar by InvidiaRed Thought I might manage the fastest review! Ahh well. I see you managed warm and fluffy with a couple of hard men after all! I mean, giants are tough no matter how bad the sweater, and scaring off that jolly visitor suggests Duncan is a bit hardcore too. When It started with the baking I did wonder if it might end up a bit like one of those recipe blogs, with the full cooking instructions around a long story. I may have been on too many recipe blogs. I liked the interaction between Duncan and Logan especially. Warm fuzzy newlyweds having their first Christmas. Trusting/relying on each other. Sort of curious as to just how much bigger Logan is, like is penetrative sex an issue? Duncan’s dislike of the whole Christian side of things is very clear. With “turkey shoot that was the end of the messengers." Would that be messengers as in angels, as in they’re all massacred in this setting? Reminds me a little of the end of the original Preacher comics, where the host got in the way of the Saint of Killers… One bit I did have a little trouble following – it looks like a line may have been accidentally cut out? Duncan hummed amused the ice that cracked the entire engine block of Logan's commanding officer's vehicle. That, however, was entirely him. The ice had somehow just snaked in there and just ruined it. What a terrible thing to happen just when the insurance ran out. I’m assuming it’s somehow related to a ice/frost giant story, but it feels like something is missing? Aside from that, much more solid contribution than mine given we both had trouble doing something and an enjoyable read and nice call backs to the Halloween story! You assume Logan is the top but yes Duncan can take it. It’s not the first time he’s been impaled and he just prefers being under 5’3 while Logan is over 6’7. Angels in this setting were just another supernatural race. Dedicated to worshiping “The One True God/Creator of Creation TM” In a world where “gods” are veritably real and had a rigid moral absolutism that outright doesn’t work in a world of gray. Well that and when they found other gods they attempted a campaign of extermination. And older things in general do not tolerate newcomers especially ones who murder their descendants for the crime of existing. And being in line with other gods who not only are war gods but ones with the combat experience to back that war god attitude. Duncan did not take the arrival of the angels well. And forcing that zealous absurdly rigid dogmatic ideology on humans only reaffirmed his decision. Angels were fast becoming that tyrant boot stamping on humanity’s face forever. He had lost too much at that point and it did not help matters that a deity had adopted the angels and their religion. Their extermination campaign backfired and by the time the saner, more sagely and diplomatic gods realized what was going on. It was far too late to stop by the middle ages the last angels attempted to either hide among humanity or at least sue for peace. If there are survivors they’re perpetually looking over their shoulders not daring to reveal what they are lest Duncan or one of the others find out and take them out with extreme prejudice. There’s simply put too much bad blood and even worse memories involved. The younger gods just didn’t understand why gods like Duncan acted the way they did until the second world war. In that total war mentality of us or them. The Snowstorm is 100% all natural. Logan’s commanding officer may have unfairly blamed him for misfortune within earshot of Duncan. UF1-X2 I will flesh out. Maybe next holiday season. Logan’s story is definitely interesting.

From InBrightestDay on January 01, 2020 Powdered Sugar This was fun! It actually kind of reminds me of tcr's Halloween story, in that this is a world where characters from every religion/mythology interact. I liked how you just called Logan a giant in the beginning, and combined with the "Semper Fi" shirt I just assumed he was a Marine who was tall. It was only later, when Odin showed up as Santa and Logan bolted, that I realized that "giant" meant Jotun. Speaking of Odin, I'm seriously impressed that Duncan could just shoo him out of the house like that. Kind of makes me wonder who or what Duncan is. That actually brings me to the only part of the story I didn't understand. Duncan explains he doesn't like Christmas, and then this exchange happens about colonization, killing messengers, Duncan not liking Jesus but thinking that he's a being of hope, unlike his father (Duncan's father or God?), and it all really felt like there was a huge backstory here that I wasn't aware of. Does this take place in one of your other story universes? Sorry if that sounded harshly critical. Overall, this was still quite a fun little read! It is vaguely related. This particular setting is an Urban Fantasy one and TCR’s impressed me enough to give it a nod or two. You caught me. I tried intentionally to make Logan a regular man but I couldn’t help myself. I slid that in once and tried to make it so it seemed Logan was afraid of Namtar. Aka the envoy of Ereshkigal. Aka Death/ Fate. But nope. He’s a jotun and it’s well known that Aesir and them don’t get along. Duncan is a tutelary deity and at one point his name was Ninazu. The once patron god of Eshnunna before Tishpak became its patron deity and his worship forgotten. It’s one of the nods to the Halloween story of tcr’s and why one of the reasons he knows about what went down besides being a god of the underworld. Ningishzida is sometimes his son. Which is why he knows Zida is a terrible liar. It also the reason why he can shoo Odin out of his home. He’s got a lot of other deities beat in terms of seniority. And quite understandably he’s seen some shit and had to live through it. As the lord who stretches the measuring line over the fields. He’s been around since before agriculture became a thing. Old enough to be forgotten but too stubborn to just give up and stay in the underworld. Empires have came and went. His prime was before the codes of hammurabi were written after all. In summation, Yes it does in UF1-X2

posted

I love you sometimes <3 That said warm and cuddly seems to be one of my Achilles heel.

Warm and cuddly is surprisingly hard. Will post soonish. Too many double shifts during and on Christamas week ruined my whole plan and feng shui Powdered Sugar

Update was going to upload today but that was before somehow I got double shifted for the next two days. So sometime this week