Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Filehaus
Recent
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

2/23 Weekly Roundup (Patreon)

Published:
2025-02-23 18:31:30
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Thanks to everyone that responded to last week's question! It's wonderful getting such thoughtful feedback like that, and it tells me I'm going in the right direction.

Here's the chapters that got published this week:

Aloof Archmages
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185

Pugnacious Praetorians
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175

Comments

chumponimys

Random, but can you start linking last week's roundup in your weekly roundups? Will make it a little easier to zip around to things

Xeophyn

This is a criticism, but the fact that Mirrian basically uses the time loop to date like this guy https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GJKwHAvR4uI&pp=ygUjQXVnbWVudGVkIHJlYWxpdHkgZGF0ZSBwaWNrIHVwIHNraXQ%3D and then acts all morally outraged at people in power pisses me off. Author deus ex machina saying that her partners are into it doesn't change that she has had zero self reflection about hyper manipulation, memory resetting, and then just dropping them when she gets bored. That is literally the reason she gave!

DrSubterfuge
>>165725290

What? The only person she has even close to seriously dating is Nicholas, a relationship she did drop, but more out of alienation I would say. She was aging mentally, he wasn't, and now she's like a decade older than him. She has more in common with the professors now. The only other relationship she's had was the fling with his ex, which she felt immensely bad about because it all felt like a lie. (I guess that one at the very beginning happened, too, but she was barely behaving like a looper then.) She definitely manipulates people using her comprehensive knowledge about them, but so what? I think she has made it pretty clear that she's going to find ways to give back to the people who have been impactful to her. That's in contrast with the richest people in the world who really don't give a shit about anyone else and use all their power to dominate society and become even more wealthy, up to and including ordering assassinations and starting a war on false pretenses.

Xeophyn
>>165725290

Valen and Salesia too. The issue is not that I think the rich people are good. The issue is that she is not self reflective about deeply morally grey areas while attributing dehumanizing motivations to her enemies. People have reasons for what they do, better reasons than knowingly destroying the planet because they like luxury and ignoring a crazy doomsayer that came out of no where. Essentially I'm saying that if a character is going to make strong moral statements, they need to do the philosophical legwork to fully understand perceived situations of everyone involved. Otherwise it comes off as a Saturday morning cartoons morality play, and I know the author is capable of more.

Mr NerfGun
>>165725290

About philosophy, I think one of the characters pointed it out to her. But she was reluctant to go into that because, one she didn't have the time at the time and two, because she thought it was just a way for people in power to trick themselves and others into justifying all the suffering they create for the results. She is indeed lacking in that area and she knows it. Her relationship with Selesia only happened at the start of the story when she hadn't started manipulating people and Valen wouldn't mind. She has a twisted vision of how love should work.

Mr NerfGun
>>165725290

Also, you have to know that psychopaths exist and their are people who just don't care about anyone other than themselves and wouldn't stop at anything to get what they want.

Xeophyn
>>165725290

This is true, but psychopaths still have a reason for wanting something, and they still need to convince subordinate across the neural spectrum. Like in what situation does a special forces equivalent agree to dress up as Aurum's combat maid? Do any of these rich people have family and friends that they are trying to give the best opportunities and screw everyone else? Or are they just luxury caviar addicts? Nicholas's ex is willing to do quite a lot to secure funding, but she sees it as maintaining the livelihood of the hundreds of people. These industrialists are causing enormous damage, but it is still true that until now spell engines have made everyone's live far safer and better. So ignoring they crackpot who seems to be saying they need to turn off the myrvite wards or the moon will fall is normal. Even if they claim the be the equivalent of the seventh coming of Jesus. It's not a reasonable thing to accept quickly. Even with evidence the same thing would be to double and triple check it, which there isn't actually time for. If her enemies are caricatures, then as a character she can't actually rise much above that. Obviously this is my take, but there will be a subset of readers that see it similarly. This is the strength of these tiered release structures. I want the story to do well, but this is bothering me.

The Ox
>>165725290

I recall that all of those relationships occurred very early on in her series of loops, Nicolas and Salesia both before she stopped the invasion and met Troytin. She was still young and close in age and experience with them, she got horny and desperate and clung to some warmth. Valen is the only "relationship" I'd say where she legitamately was manipulating someone's emotions for her own purposes, rather than seeking warmth in a desolate situation. (Which she is STILL in). She seems to have moved on completely from seeking that kind of solace now that she is aware of the deeper problems of the time loops and the colossal issues with saving the world. She's under unbelievable pressure, and the things you are accusing her of are pretty much things she's already grown out of. If you consider how easy it would be for a looper to use the timeloops to be a Pickup Artist on an EPIC scale, she's really been a good girl.

Xeophyn
>>165725290

I agree. It's the lack of reflection paired with absolute judgements that bother me. It is good to have a character make mistakes, learn, and grow from them. Just as a story demands that there be some sort of wrong to right. Having an character who is both wildly powerful, and makes absolute moral judgements while considering themselves an authority is concerning. Especially since she seems to lack any curiosity about motivations. We still haven't the foggiest idea about what Westerun and Specter actually cared about, after they didn't immediately do what she said she simply started killing them. Given the nature of time loops, she has not done due diligence. Hell, for all she knows they could absolutely devoted to saving the world from some other calamity. The US's CIA ha done tons of messed up stuff with the internal justification of preventing instability that leads to wars and mass death. It doesn't make their actions right, but they have justifications that make sense .

The Ox
>>165725290

I can see where you are coming from, but you are kind of expecting a lot. She's been going balls to the wall with almost no reliable support for literally decades. She's also been burned very hard with regards to trusting other Loopers thanks to Troytin. It is an inevitably alienating state of being, and it's pretty remarkable she's still somewhat human. It's only every once in a while where she takes a loop "off" to go de-stress, and now she doesn't even have the solace of loving her family (or not in the same honest and innocent way she used to). She probably SHOULD stop and step back and introspect, but I bet she doesn't feel the wiggle room to spare the time?