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Each time humans manage to land a hit on him, or force him to use precognition to escape a dead end(like with Foil), he needs to be even more conservative, and that limits how fast he can eliminate people. So there's a tipping point where he can no longer kill people fast enough to keep them from fighting him. The question is if he'd break first or if humanity gives up the last resistance. Notably Glaistig Uaine is seriously costing him. As long as she's there he has to defeat every troublesome cape twice.
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Sep 19, 2013 21:42
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NecroMonster posted:Scion's never actually been invulnerable, well, he did make sure he couldn't lose a fight against the shards he altered and cast out, but those same shards have changed, and reproduced since then. He's dealing with far more unknowns than he started this whole experiment with, he's running himself dry of power at the same time. He's acting in total desperation, trying whatever he can to induce some sort of improvement in his own situation. He's basically committing a sort of suicide here.
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Sep 19, 2013 23:17
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Algid posted:It's not even that, he's a projection so he literally can't die from fighting the capes. His real body is cordoned off on (several) alternate Earths. Stopping Foil's bolt is just a way to conserve energy, it would have at most dispersed the projection if he had been hit. Can't be exactly certain on that with Foil's attack. If it was something the Worms used to fight each other with, it might have posed a serious threat even if shot at a projection. And at the least, reforming the projection would have cost energy he clearly couldn't spare.
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Sep 19, 2013 23:23
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veekie posted:Can't be exactly certain on that with Foil's attack. If it was something the Worms used to fight each other with, it might have posed a serious threat even if shot at a projection. I believe Foil's ability was stated to affect all realities at the same time during Scion's POV chapter.
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Sep 20, 2013 00:20
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Scion isn't a projection the way Siberian was, rather he's a tiny bit of the whole that's projected into realities humans actually have access to. Hurting Scion does very likely hurt the whole thing, maybe not lethally, but I'd be willing to bet that Scion couldn't manifest another "body" if this one was destroyed.
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Sep 20, 2013 01:03
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NecroMonster posted:This also means the whole point of the entities (Scion and the other) experiment has been fulfilled, only because the entities cannot be reformed, Scion (mistakenly) thinks the whole thing has been a failure. I totally did not get that whole chapter, what was the point of the experiment anyway? NecroMonster posted:I really really doubt that Scion has any plan beyond killing every human being he can get his hands on. He's honestly just not smart enough for anything else. I think trying to call Scion smart or dumb in the way we think of being those things is a futile endeavor. You know how Lovecraftian Gods are just these ineffable beings with ideas and thoughts that just don't jive with the way we think? That's Scion: A horrible alien consciousness that is completely foreign to anything humanity has ever known. BENGHAZI 2 fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Sep 20, 2013 |
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Sep 20, 2013 01:46
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Dickeye posted:I totally did not get that whole chapter, what was the point of the experiment anyway? The point of the experiment was achieving reproduction and evolution, the species was basically stagnant, probably also while wasting far far less in the way of resources. Dickeye posted:I think trying to call Scion smart or dumb in the way we think of being those things is a futile endeavor. You know how Lovecraftian Gods are just these ineffable beings with ideas and thoughts that just don't jive with the way we think? That's Scion: A horrible alien consciousness that is completely foreign to anything humanity has ever known. I mean smart enough in a human way. He doesn't really have much in they way of initiative or imagination, at least he didn't, he seems to be gaining those qualities now.
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Sep 20, 2013 02:35
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Dickeye posted:I totally did not get that whole chapter, what was the point of the experiment anyway? Pretty sure it's just the Worms' life-cycle. It's basically reproduction on a cosmic scale - they're hyper evolved beings that exist solely to make the next generation better. I started reading about a fortnight ago, and I've just caught up. Hot drat, it's quite the story. e: The Shards are basically Scion's sperm is what I'm saying. Saith fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Sep 20, 2013 |
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Sep 20, 2013 02:36
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Saith posted:e: The Shards are basically Scion's sperm is what I'm saying. Hell the shards Scion doesn't designate as "dead" were actually part of Scion in the first place. The dead ones all belonged to the other entity, with Contessa's shard having originated from the third entity. Reading interlude 26 again I've actually come to the conclusion that the contact between the second and third entity may have actually changed the second entities goals, or at least been willful sabotage of the Scion and second entities goals.
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Sep 20, 2013 02:51
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Does anyone else wonder how long Foil's power's effects last? Woudln't it be sensible for her just to magic multiple weapons for as many people as possible? We know she can apply the effect for other people from this update and from the behemoth leg-sawing.
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Sep 20, 2013 21:40
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thespaceinvader posted:Does anyone else wonder how long Foil's power's effects last? Woudln't it be sensible for her just to magic multiple weapons for as many people as possible? We know she can apply the effect for other people from this update and from the behemoth leg-sawing. It's stated earlier that it's proportional to the amount of time she spends charging the effect, and she's good at timing when it will end, so that her bolts would become real again while they were inside the target. How long she could charge for is anybody's guess.
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Sep 20, 2013 21:43
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I think you might be confusing Foil with Shadow Stalker - Foil's effect isn't making them unreal and becoming real in the target, it's making them, basically, sharp enough to cut every reality all at once, and kill people no other power has ever been shown to be able to kill, like Grey Boy, and, you know, punching holes in Leviathan etc etc etc. Speaking of Shadow Stalker, why do I get the feeling she's going to somehow be key to the resolution? Not sure how, but it would be fitting...
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Sep 21, 2013 00:31
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thespaceinvader posted:Speaking of Shadow Stalker, why do I get the feeling she's going to somehow be key to the resolution? Not sure how, but it would be fitting... I feel like she probably will have an important role in it, on the other hand I also feel like she's a complete and total idiot who isn't going to be able to do anything but try and hurt Taylor somehow. She's mean, stupid, crazy and a complete coward so I'm really having trouble coming up with anything she might actually be willing to do.
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Sep 21, 2013 02:21
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Man, Monday and Friday nights are the best. As Worm has progressed, I've gotten less and less out of my readthroughs of each fight scene. I'm eventually going to reread the entire series, so it's not such a huge deal, but I wonder why that is. Is it that I'm reading faster because I'm more involved in the story? Is Wildbow getting more terse describing the fights, so that a skipped sentence carries much more descriptive weight? Is the writing getting frantic and frenetic to match the story environment in which these fights are happening? Is Wildbow just creeping closer and closer to missing a deadline, so new chapters get less revision before being published? 
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Sep 21, 2013 05:28
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NecroMonster posted:I feel like she probably will have an important role in it, on the other hand I also feel like she's a complete and total idiot who isn't going to be able to do anything but try and hurt Taylor somehow. She's mean, stupid, crazy and a complete coward so I'm really having trouble coming up with anything she might actually be willing to do. Not necessarily willing, but she can be forced into a corner. EVERYONE present is costing Scion some effort to kill and defend against, so even if she's just running around like a headless chicken he actually has to go to the effort of using an electrical or transdimensional attack to nail her. And that's effort not spent on someone else.
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Sep 21, 2013 07:29
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So I guess who the strongest cape is can't really be argued anymore. It's Glaistig Uaine by a mile. Not counting Scion of course. Possibly counting Endbringers.
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Sep 21, 2013 08:00
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Probably GU, yeah. I'd still probably have put her and Eidolon tied - they seem to have very, very similar powers, similar enough that I wonder whether they have the same shard from two different entities. Once GU figures out how to access shards from living capes... The drat shame of the whole thing is that ifr things were more PLANNED, they might have worked. Having Gavel and Lung double-team Scion, for instance. But the whole problem with starting in one place, is that Scion can bug out trivially if you do any damage at all - as we saw with Eidolon. The only possible solutions are to cut him off from his power base (which seems like waht Taylor's planning) or to be able to follow him (which worked for Eidolon and GU, at least until Scion Contessa'd him... thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Sep 21, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 08:33
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thespaceinvader posted:Probably GU, yeah. I'd still probably have put her and Eidolon tied - they seem to have very, very similar powers, similar enough that I wonder whether they have the same shard from two different entities. Once GU figures out how to access shards from living capes... She literally harvested Eidolon. That was one of the ones she used against Scion.
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Sep 21, 2013 08:52
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Grundulum posted:Man, Monday and Friday nights are the best. I thought it was intended to reflect the loss of hope and purpose to the resistance as the fight went on. Nothing works, except when they breach the limitations of their powers through recombination. Cauldron capes can get a few hits in, but are crushed by the difference in power anyway. The tension had pulled so taut it's snapped. The stakes literally can't rise any higher. It took a few readings to figure out what Simurgh was pulling though.
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Sep 21, 2013 08:55
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SerSpook posted:She literally harvested Eidolon. That was one of the ones she used against Scion. And Eidolon could have done exactly the same to her, at the end of his life... I know she, now, is likely the single most powerful, but she wasn't always. But yeah, she's scary as hell, if you think she probably now has Gavel's power, Eidolon's power, various of the power-combining things... Yowsa. I do wonder if she's related to the third entity rather than either of the first two. E: This series is REALLY telling as to the benefits of co-operation and teamwork, though. Just imagine what could have happened if you'd combined the Yangban cape who lets them all share powers, the Yangban cape who lets them all amplify each other's powers, and Gavel, Eidolon, GU, etc etc. Integrating the most powerful into teams, rather than having them work in small groups/individually... thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Sep 21, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 11:10
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thespaceinvader posted:And Eidolon could have done exactly the same to her, at the end of his life... I know she, now, is likely the single most powerful, but she wasn't always. But yeah, she's scary as hell, if you think she probably now has Gavel's power, Eidolon's power, various of the power-combining things... Yowsa. I do wonder if she's related to the third entity rather than either of the first two. I don't even want to think what happens if you do nothing else but drop Glaistig Uaine and Eidolon into the Yangban. Even with just Eidolon, there's got to be a near infinite loop there somewhere.
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Sep 21, 2013 13:14
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thespaceinvader posted:And Eidolon could have done exactly the same to her, at the end of his life... I know she, now, is likely the single most powerful, but she wasn't always. But yeah, she's scary as hell, if you think she probably now has Gavel's power, Eidolon's power, various of the power-combining things... Yowsa. I do wonder if she's related to the third entity rather than either of the first two. Maybe that's one way that they could win. GU harvests enough to be make up for the loss of the dead worm and Scion just lets that be the cycle. Although it does look like it's shaping up for Taylor to pull some perfect planning out or something.
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Sep 21, 2013 14:05
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I'm really starting to wonder about Scion's senses. Smurf just keeps on loving with the guy and he never picks up on it, I wonder if Lisa or Taylor have picked up on this yet. I also have to wonder what Taylor's plan is. Personally I'd get Amy, Riley, and Defiant to help me put together an army of human sized and shaped super powered bugs armed with nano-thorns, bonus points if you can find a way to get some endbringer material into them to gently caress with Scions senses, bonus bonus points if you can make them in such a way that Rachel's power will work on them. Super bonus points if they've all got Siberian's power as well. It's like Chev said in the last interlude, it's time to loving cheat. Oh yeah, another thing, the dimensions that house the shards, and the rest of Scion's body aren't "sealed off" they are only inaccessible to the shard with the dimensional portal powers that Scion himself sent out, this shard is probably Doormaker's. Scrub+Labyrinth should have no such restrictions. Also, the "stranger" power that makes everyone forget what they see when they trigger is the same shard that gives Aisha her power. NecroMonster fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Sep 21, 2013 |
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Sep 21, 2013 20:32
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What was the Simurgh doing? I didn't really catch it.
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Sep 22, 2013 03:56
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Lyon posted:What was the Simurgh doing? I didn't really catch it. She was drying Scion's hair, sprucing him up for the big finish.
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Sep 22, 2013 04:24
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Real talk Simurgh was distracting him, not just with the puff of air, but also by just generally being something his mental powers don't work on.
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Sep 22, 2013 06:38
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Is it pretty much accepted then that (Ch. 28) Eidolon's powers come from either the partner or the third worm? 'Cause there's no way Scion would have knowingly left a shard capable of creating the Endbringers, whose movements aren't predictable to him.
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Sep 22, 2013 06:55
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Grundulum posted:Is it pretty much accepted then that (Ch. 28) Eidolon's powers come from either the partner or the third worm? 'Cause there's no way Scion would have knowingly left a shard capable of creating the Endbringers, whose movements aren't predictable to him. Glaistig called him the High Priest of the Stillborn Fairy or something like that. So it seems like his shard both came from the second entity, and that Scion was mistaken about these shards having been encoded, at least in the manner his own shards had been. Also, we really don't know if he created the Endbringers, we've only got a hunch there, and Lisa is far from sure either way.
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Sep 22, 2013 07:10
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NecroMonster posted:Real talk Simurgh was distracting him, not just with the puff of air, but also by just generally being something his mental powers don't work on. I suspect she's simply costing him as much energy as she could with the minimal effort on her part. Force him to check the future at minimal effort.
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Sep 22, 2013 08:03
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veekie posted:I suspect she's simply costing him as much energy as she could with the minimal effort on her part. Force him to check the future at minimal effort. It's all the same thing in the end.
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Sep 22, 2013 09:12
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I just realized why Grue picked that particular name, can't believe it didn't click until 1,000,000+ words into the story.
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Sep 23, 2013 01:20
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Turn in your nerd badge, you're off the force < >
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Sep 23, 2013 01:24
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TOOT BOOT posted:I just realized why Grue picked that particular name, can't believe it didn't click until 1,000,000+ words into the story. Do you have something to share with the class, Mr. TOOT BOOT? (I didn't get the reference until I was typing out this post, so I will leave it up here as a badge of shame. Holy hell, does Wildbow continue to amaze.)
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Sep 23, 2013 04:38
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You are the worst people.
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Sep 23, 2013 05:18
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I've always wanted to know if Grue named himself or if he got his name the way Taylor got hers. I'm starting to think that he may have named himself, because his sisters name is also a drat nerdy reference.
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Sep 23, 2013 05:19
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For anyone that still hasn't gotten it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue_(monster)
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Sep 23, 2013 05:21
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NecroMonster posted:I've always wanted to know if Grue named himself or if he got his name the way Taylor got hers. I'm starting to think that he may have named himself, because his sisters name is also a drat nerdy reference. Imp isn't just a reference to her being a pain the rear end? I was feeling all smug about you plebeians not knowing about grues but I guess now I'm a plebeian too. 
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Sep 23, 2013 05:58
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Hawkgirl posted:Imp isn't just a reference to her being a pain the rear end? I was feeling all smug about you plebeians not knowing about grues but I guess now I'm a plebeian too. In dungeons and dragons Imps have the ability to turn invisible at will. So yeah, it's not just a reference to her being a pain in the rear end.
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Sep 23, 2013 06:02
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I just read Ra and it's good...but confusing. Really confusing. I think I know what's going on, but I could be wrong. Is there an update schedule or is it just whenever?
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Sep 23, 2013 09:24
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Worm 29.3: A group of thinkers and strangers try to pull a fast one on Taylor, who doesn't even have thinker powers, and fail.
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Sep 24, 2013 05:43
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