Your gateway to endless inspiration
I really digging the epistolary format of these. A surprising amount of characterisation can be crammed into a search term or a couple of comments. Rain's desperation jumps off the page.
Also of interest is the tidbit about cluster mechanics that wasn't picked up by the fandom; I don't think I've ever seen any fic ever have clustermates with a primary and secondary power of similar strength. This might be because Ward never expands on this idea elsewhere.
Also, we have the first mention of what will likely be a recurring bugbear for me; the classification system. In Worm, power classifications are a useless bureaucratic post-hoc kludge. There is one fight where Taylor is only given ratings instead of power descriptions and it leaves her entirely unprepared. And here we have a hero referring to a cape having a "mover power with the ability to run on walls". What does "mover power" add to "the ability to run on walls"?!?! Its fine here, because its possibly a hero, like Weaver, inflected by the PRT's bureaucratic ticks, but from what I know of Ward and of Weaverdice, it seems that Wildbow forgot that the classifications aren't useful and aren't an intrinsic part of the power system.
Internal Inconsistency Counter: 6 (nc)
Inconsistency with Worm Counter: 1 (nc)
Number of times I've complained about power classifications: 1 (+1)
I'm a fan of this one. I enjoyed the anti-cape discussion, and I find the discussion of the amnesty both interesting and realistic. A blanket amnesty would be controversial, as it would allow criminals to escape justice for their actions and for criminal organisations to regather their strength in the light. But it is also necessary because the heroes need all the manpower they can get and the criminal justice system barely exists. Similarly, its pragmatic to provide villains with accommodations as a bribe to not engage in criminal activities, but it is also manifestly unfair. I like how Swansong promotes the pragmatic view while also establishing her personality and her need to be respected and feared.
Her and Victoria also have good chemistry
Valkyrie awkwardly not acknowledging her past is also fun and hopefully thematically relevant
I am also required to point out the oddness of "Chief Armstrong"; his title and him giving a statement on the applicability of the amnesty to two specific capes implies that he is in a position of authority within the Wardens, which doesn't work because the Wardens, as stated in both Worm and Ward, are without civilian oversight. Plus 1 to both inconsistency counters.
Internal Inconsistency Counter: 6 (+1)
Inconsistency with Worm Counter: 1 (+1)
I liked this one. Tristan's interesting, and I enjoyed his dynamic with Moonsong. I find it very interesting that he was glad to have been dragged into GM, presumably meaning to have been controlled by Khepri.
This chapter also directly states that the City is "Almost like a city in Earth Bet", and points for self-awareness I guess, but god is it boring
Internal Inconsistency Counter: 5 (+0)
Inconsistency with Worm Counter: 0, but only because the city hasn't yet been confirmed to not be New York
Everyone knows Ward's worldbuilding is ill-considered and often contradictory, but I really was not expecting the extent to which this would be apparent immediately.
There's coffee and ice-cream, electricity, the internet (and therefore internet cables), cellular infrastructure, libraries and newspapers, but also "[The City] desperately needs farmers".
"[The City] desperately needs farmers", but also thousands (possibly tens or hundreds of thousands) are being kept in refugee camps being feed by whatever government exists and being actively prevented from productively contributing. The fact that there is a processing of refugees beyond maybe giving them an ID, and which extends to background checks, is absurd: to reject anyone is a death sentence (one I doubt the Wardens in their second chance era would allow), most refugees would have been American citizens, and you just need the man power.
"[The City] desperately needs farmers", but also looting Bet, a method of sustenance, is illegal. This also increases the degree to which having coffee is out of place; if coffee isn't being liberated from the ruins of Bet then the coffee needs to be grown which you can't do in North-East America (unless there is a connected world with a more tropical climate, fingers-crossed), and would be being done at the expense of subsistence farming.
Its Year 1, but also its 2 years and 2 months since Gold Morning. What possible logic leads to people designating 2014 and not 2013, the year GM actually happened, as year 0? Defining the date of Scion's death, June 24th(?), as the new first day of the year, and the year immediately following his death as year 0, doesn't even work.
Even at the micro level, WB can't even it keep it straight within a single PHO post: Conrad, the refugee, is stated to have been traveling for four months to reach the refugee camp. He is also stated to have started his journey in June, but the post was made in August.
It also took two years for Bet to cool to the degree that Wisconsin is getting snow in Summer. I'm not an atmospheric scientist, but wouldn't the coldest days being those soon after the destruction, once the dust has had time to blanket the planet, but before any dust has had time to settle?
I do like how this chapter sets Victoria up as a nerd and as a person actively knowledgeable about current affairs (I must say, its weird to read the comments and realise that people didn't know this was her). I also appreciate the foreshadowing for threats from Bet, and the conflict between ordinary people and Capes.
Internal Inconsistency Counter: 5
Inconsistency with Worm Counter: 0, but only because the city hasn't yet been confirmed to not be New York
Ok, it’s good to know that the Fallen at least have a coherent thematic throughline in Ward, and I guess I could see that working if it coheres with the larger themes of Ward. I know the members of Breakthrough and it seems like they’re set up to explore themes of imprisonment, violation and the aftermath of such. Victoria and her whole experience, Sveta and being a C53, Tristan and Bryon, etc, and I would imagine that the Fallen is that for Rain.
Still, even the most abusive, most cynically created cults have theologies. And I don’t think any sizeable cult can run without the rank and file being actual believers. So it’s worrying, in regards to verisimilitude, that the Fallen’s theology, as far as I’m aware, hasn’t significantly changed despite the actual apocalypse happening.
I should be excited to read Ward. There’s so much potential in a sequel to Worm. I care about the returning characters and I really, really, really liked what the epilogue of Worm set up. I’m maybe one of a handful of people that like Teacher (as of his epilogue). I love the idea of a work set in the portal ridden ruins of New York. The tension created by the amnesty and of the Wardens attempting to police this new world. And fundamentally, it’s incredibly interesting to move from a work where the world was slowly ending, to one where the world has ended, but which is no longer on the path to ending.
And yet, I’m aware that this potential is, at least partially, squandered. The evocative picture of New York replaced by the amorphous, placeless City. The problems of resource distribution mentioned and yet never fully integrated into the narrative. The apocalypse cult going through the apocalypse mostly unchanged.
Still I’ll read it. Who knows, maybe I’ll love it