Arachnophobia (Worm/The Gods Are Bastards Crossover)

[NotZiz]

Premise: The final fight is over. Scion lays defeated and humanity survives Gold Morning. Taylor accepts her final verdict from Contessa, but instead of dying like she expects, she wakes up in a new world. A strange world. A world where the gods are most certainly real, and they're bastards. Taylor finds herself in the newly minted Class 1182 at the start of their semester. Her classmates are unusual, even for their reality. Two paladins, a half-demon, a dryad, a pixie, a bard, a pirate princess, and a drow. How will her studies go at the Unseen University? Will she make friends, enemies, or more likely a bit of both? Will she ever find her way up to the Pantheon to interrogate the gods on how she arrived and how to get home? Will she find therapy through magic, adventure, and a whole lot of banter?

Info:
- This is a crossover with The Gods Are Bastards, a web serial by D.D. Webb. It's pretty witty, often clever, and full of characters who are both logical and flawed. It's a story where the Elder Gods who created the world were overthrown by the younger Pantheon, who still rule to this day. There's a system of four schools of magic, well devised and balanced. There's mystery, both present and past. There's Arachne Tellwyrn, who is crazy powerful but also hilarious and undergoes her own character development. There's a magical university that lampshades Hogwarts occasionally by being slightly more reasonable. If you haven't read it, I recommend it with a solid 8/10.
- Knowledge of tGaB is not necessary, and will be explained as things go (hopefully better than my other crossover) but it'll help get some jokes. Knowledge of Worm is fairly helpful to understand Taylor, but actually isn't all that necessary? I dunno why you would read a crossover if you haven't read at least one source, but you do you.
- Genre is Slice of Life primarily, at least at the start. This is less Taylor taking over a world and fighting gods and more Taylor experiencing a magical university. However, it is a school for adventurers, so things won't always be calm...
- It updates when it updates, expect an average-ish update size of 2-4k chapters. Probably weekly-ish until I forget and it goes on hiatus. My current update schedule can always be found in my sig.
- Also, I can't believe I couldn't find another fic using this title already. Come on guys, step it up.
- As always, omake are welcome should you feel the muse take you
- I am taking a one or two Beta readers for this long term for the purposes of basic grammar and checking consistency with source material, send me a PM if you've read both source texts and are interested.

Without further ado, let's begin:

 

[NotZiz]

Prologue


“Oh no,” Vesk moaned out, looking at the frame of perfectly made metal as it sparked, the rectangular space enclosed by it sparking with energy. That door was most certainly never, ever supposed to be activated. Which, of course, was the reason why that particular door was the one currently brimming with malevolent energies that even he was cautious of.

And he was a god.

“Think Vesk! That doorway connects to a tier four grimdark universe. Nothing good can possibly be coming through,” he narrated aloud, pacing frantically at the end of the hallway. The solution was obvious: he ought to call the Pantheon immediately. What came through could be a threat on par with an Elder God. The possible damage was limitless, his own safety compromised. He had collected the gateways precisely to stop this from happening. The leftover creations of the Elder Gods, the gateways connected to alternate realities where some of their favorite stories were real. They had also used them for practical purposes, such as stealing technology they were too lazy to innovate themselves. The blind fools.

Their disgusting hubris had been of unimaginable scope for the absolutely wasteful ends. Creating technology that just by existing created a risk of being invaded by beings of similar power just so they could watch and rewatch their favorite stories time and again for eon after eon. That was why he had kept them. As a reminder.

Yet he really, really didn’t want to spend the next few centuries having Avei and Omnu lord it over him after he had argued so passionately for containing them this way. Assuming they survived, that was. But why plan for being dead?

He instead called one of the most powerful and least likely to rat him out members of the Pantheon.

“Hey Vem? Buddy, I’ve got this very strange space-time interaction going on over here and I was wondering if you could take a look at it. You get this stuff better than I do, you know?”

“Did you really just try to brush me off with ‘not enough time’?”

“Well yes, and I said I was sorry, but admit it, frankly it worked out great and the history books are much more entertaining for it.”

“No I don’t think it’s stable at all. I’d really prefer you come now.”

As the words left his mouth he felt the telltale presence of another of the Pantheon requesting access to his space. Not that any of them really needed to or had to, but it was the polite thing to do. He slapped the approval aside and Vemnesthis appeared next to him.

“Oh my. I don’t think that is normal function for one of the doorways,” Vemnesthis said placidly.

Vesk stared at him. “You think?”

“It appears to be being accessed from the other side, but not by the proper protocols. Like something is fumbling around trying to blindly fit a key into a latch,” the god of time replied.

Vesk, god of bards and not god of transcension field mechanics, grimaced at the idea. The crackling energies filling the doorframe jumped back and forth, nearly extinguished in one moment to raging full the next and back again. It was impossible, for him at least, to predict whether they were moments away from a successful connection or if the intruder was ready to give up.

He sighed. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas that don’t involve battle stations?”

Vemnesthis shook his head slowly. “I’m afraid not, my friend. If I tamper with it I’m worried I’m just as likely to help the connection than stop it.”

Vesk spat bitterly, “Those fuckers would have found yet another way to ruin my day after being dead for millenia.”

There was nothing for it. He would take dealing with the others being annoying smug for a few centuries over repeating the mistakes of the people he hated the most. Even eight thousand years had only done so much to cool him down.

“Right. Can you at least prepare a variable temporal dilation field for whatever might come through and I’ll call everyone els-”

His words cut off by a flash of light and the disarmingly happy chime from the doorway indicating a successful connection. The dimensional gateway shone with a light that shimmered, seemingly both drawing light and casting shadow at the same time. Through the gateway was tossed a young woman, covered in white panels of armor that were nearly sloughing off of her from the abuse they had absorbed. Her right arm was missing from the elbow down and she had two holes in her head.

“What the fuck,” exclaimed Vesk in a nearly hysterical tone as he reeled back.

“That’s...someone has thrown a dead girl at us,” Vemnesthis concluded, faltering.

The portal crackled and spat again as it turned off, the chime playing once more as the light at the panel turned back to the red of inactivity.

“She’s not dead. Not yet at least. But she’s got a thingy,” Vesk said, side-eyeing the girl with growing nausea.

Vemnesthis nodded, his usually implacable self hesitating. “She has both physical brain trauma and extensive metaphysical trauma. Some sort of transdimensional parasitic attachment which has been partially damaged by the aforementioned tissue trauma. Most...unorthodox.”

“Who even does that? They tried to shoot an interdimensional parasite out of her brain? How is that supposed to work?” Vesk looked down at the unmoving figure. “Shit.”

A tragic figure from an alternate reality thrown at his feet on death’s door? They could’ve at least given him a choice and taken him out for dinner first.

“We oughta patch her up. Brain surgery with a gun is about the most imprecise thing in the universe. Look, the parasite isn’t even properly severed. Vem, can you handle this?” Vesk looked to his colleague.

Vemnesthis stroked his beard, his lips pursed in thought. “I can’t roll her back, we have no data on how she was before, but I can use modeling to make a guess and reverse the damage based on that. I’m wary of touching that parasite that’s still hooked into her, however.”

The god of bards and stories chewed on his lip as the girl continued to bleed on his previously perfectly good floor. His gateway exposition room was going to need a thorough sanitizing.

“Can we just, you know, do some partial blocks on it? It's already got a damaged connection. As long as we can ensure that the host on the other side can’t see where the link goes, it should be safe for the moment. I’d open the gate to check if they killed Scion properly in this timeline, but frankly I’d want Eserion here if we’re going to test our luck that much.”

Vemnesthis nodded in agreement. No motion was visible, or even needed, as he worked to repair the damage to the girl in front of them. Usually restoring brain damage would be as simple as reversing the subject’s personal time stream until it was gone, but she had taken the damage outside of their transcension fields. They had no access to anything of her from more than a minute ago without re-opening the gate.

It was quick work, even as complicated as brain surgery was, for when gods worked it was either possible or not most of the time. She was left largely unchanged, except the horrendous amount of brain damage was reduced, albeit not entirely fixed and modeled roughly on how the rest of her brain looked at the moment. The connection between her and her parasite had been trimmed and adjusted, pared down to something unable to lead an interloper to their world.

Vemnesthis looked to Vesk, as Vesk looked back to Vemnesthis.

What were they to do with her now?

---​

Arachne Tellwyrn shook a fist at the disappearing back of the two gods, shouting, “This isn’t an orphanage! Come back here before I make you come back here!”

Professor Yornhaldt adjusted his spectacles, chewing thoughtfully on his tongue.

“What do you plan to do with her Arachne?”

She turned, shooting him a venomous look. “Do? What I ought to do is dump her on the Pantheon’s doorstep seeing as she is not my problem.”

He exhaled long and heavily. “Aye. But that would just end up putting a clearly vulnerable girl in the hands of the gods who just as likely are responsible for her ending up like this in the first place.”

She glared down at him over the edge of her gold-rimmed spectacles. “I know that Alaric, I’m not an idiot. It’s clear what Vesk wants me to do, which is why I’m more than half inclined not to just out of principle. However, I can’t deny that despite his usual inane antics he does occasionally have good ideas.”

“Meaning?” Alaric asked, half knowing the answer, but knowing Arachne would appreciate the easy lead in.

“Well, this year’s class is a bit small. Tell Janis she’ll need to get one more bed ready I suppose. We appear to have a last addition to class 1182.”

 

[Lenimentus]

Seems interesting, I’ll give it a tentative watch.

 

[Spatial]

Not through the portal in the centre of the dimensional sea like Jenny whatshername and then trailing a party of bloodthirsty centaurs who are on their way to ambush a class of first-years? :sadface:

Spoiler: TGaB spoilers, I guess

Does Arachne count as a spider/bug? Do the drow who are/were priests of the spider-goddess? Does said goddess? Does the Archpope (in the centre of his web/net)?

Ohoh, I hope Arachne'll make Taylor spend some time in Suffering!!

 

[dracklor]

So one moment they seem like they have no idea who or what they are looking at, the next they specifically wonder if the humans killed Scion properly.

Is that supposed to be there, or an artifact of an older draft?

Looks interesting though.

 

[NotZiz]

So one moment they seem like they have no idea who or what they are looking at, the next they specifically wonder if the humans killed Scion properly.

Is that supposed to be there, or an artifact of an older draft?

Looks interesting though.

Click to shrink...

Vesk doesn't open certain doors specifically because of the potential threats some contain. However, back when the Elder Gods existed, he was (in canon) privy to seeing some of their abuses of the gateways. I didn't mention it, it didn't really fit into the flow. So I imagine he remembers some of the most pertinent plot points for them, such as the threats, and may have looked up the threats of others he didn't, but may not visually recognise a cripsy-fried Taylor eight thousand plus years after he last might've seen the doorway opened or checked which ones were no-go.

 

[Kadath]

I'm sure post-gm Taylor cleans up really nice and isn't going to traumatize anyone. I mean that seriously. Poor girl's had enough.

 

[NotZiz]

Chapter 1


I woke up disoriented. I couldn’t place where I was, where I should’ve been, or what had happened last. My memory was, well not fuzzy exactly, but a jumbled mess. Images and scenes out of order, with emotions missing from one and present in the next. We had been losing, steadily falling apart. Scion had been taking out what capes we’d managed to assemble and our forces had been fracturing. I had asked Panacea to de-regulate me, break down my walls. Everything after that was where it got messed up. I had memories of everyone working together, of being scared and surrounded, of striking at Scion.

Did we win? Did anyone survive?

I reached for my powers instinctively and immediately was rewarded with a splitting headache. The pain was both there, but also intangible in a strange way. The closest thing I had to it was like a phantom pain, a sensation I had heard amputees got. My power felt like it was partially missing. I couldn’t reach out and find any bugs, but there was still something there. Some sort of partial interference then, perhaps. Worrying. There must be a power nullifier around or I had been hit with a type of Trump power perhaps.

I pushed myself to sit up, propping myself up with my arm only for it to slip and send me flopping back into soft pillows. Right, my right arm had been mangled and amputated. I pushed myself up again, a little less steady using my off-hand and looked around the room. It reminded me of the nurses’ station at a high school. A bit off, with stone walls that more fit my mental picture of European style buildings, but the same undeniable atmosphere. Soft beds separated by cool colored curtains, a desk with a medicine cabinet above it, mirrors to help give the room a bit more space, and plenty of windows for light.

“Finally awake I see. Well, let me be the first, and likely the last, to congratulate you on your acceptance to the University.”

I startled slightly at the interruption, turning my head to look at the source. A woman stood leaning against the door frame with her arms folded. Tall, with long blonde hair, her sense of fashion an eclectic mix of pre-modern styles. Trousers that could’ve come from any movie set before the 1930s, a blouse with a forest green vest that seemed closer to modern styles, but was clearly made of handwoven fabrics. Gold rimmed spectacles that sat on her face, certainly the stylings of a stern dean or principal.

I spoke warily, my throat felt scratchy and raw, “W-where am I? What happened to S-scion?”

The woman shrugged, “Last Rock, though I think the name won’t mean anything to you. As for your questions, I think only the gods have the answers you seek, for which I am sincerely sympathetic to your plight. It's not a fun position to be in.”

I thought to speak, but closed my mouth after a moment. Only with a few breaths passed did I try to speak again, “Explain.”

She snorted at that. “You think I enjoy playing the run around with you? Actually, don’t answer that. It’s true that I’ve done it a few times. No. The fact of the matter is that you were dumped on my doorstep half-dead with no explanation. It’s not that I don’t want to explain, it’s that I honestly have little idea of who you are or what may have happened.”

That...was surprisingly straight forward. I wanted to approach her cautiously, to work out where I was, who might’ve dumped me so far from my contacts and allies. I needed to know if we had won or if Scion was still out there. It was difficult to think straight, to put my thoughts and feelings into words. It felt like back when I’d had a concussion, like my brain was confused and unsettled.

“I’ll answer what I can, seeing as far as I can tell, you are wholly a victim in this,” she said with exasperation and a not small amount of sympathy. “You were brought to me by the god Vemnesthis, who is an unusually reclusive and quiet yet amazingly misguided bastard, comatose. He said you’d likely make the kind of student I typically accept and then, as is entirely typical of a being who has been largely unchallenged for eight millenia, left you here with no actual thought put into his actions.”

She continued, her annoyed tone softening as she shifted topic. “Naturally I examined you and found a number of unusual features. Materials that are beyond the manufacturing capability of any nation currently. Substantial injuries taken recently, indicating some sort of significant struggle. A whole lot of fuckery going on around you in another plane that’s clearly been tampered with on a divine level and which I will be picking apart at a later date. So, while I am inclined to be reasonably sympathetic to your situation, you are not the only one with questions. It’s not often I have what I suspect is a dimensional refugee on my campus.”

I grimaced, a mix of physical and mental pain hitting me. She had explained, in a way, and if she was telling the truth then she was just as confused as I was. A dimensional refugee, she had said. It would explain the small differences in how things were built, in the clothing, in the unfamiliar medicine bottles. The apparent casual existence of gods. An Earth furthered diverged than even Gimel or Aleph, perhaps? One that had clearly been overlooked by Scion so far, judging by the way it wasn’t exploding. Was it really that simple? Scion had been dimension hopping and the barriers between worlds had been broken through repeatedly during the fights.

“I’m...Weaver. We were fighting Scion. He was, is...not a god, but you can think of him like one. We don’t have gods, but he has access to powers that dwarf anything we could make. We were trying to kill him when whatever happened, happened.” I swallowed heavily, feeling oddly out of practice speaking. “He could still be out there. I don’t know. That’s why I need to find out what’s going on.”

I tried to get a sense of her reaction, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of her face. It reminded me vaguely of Nice Guy, how my vision had some sort of filter over it that was altering her features, making them impossible to put together into a coherent picture. There was no emotional effect. I immediately tested trying to feel hostile, friendly, or untrusting of the woman and none of my efforts ran into resistance. I imagined shooting her and found no difficulty there. Was she a Stranger of some type, protecting her identity?

She folded her arms, tapping her foot in thought. “Interesting. I’m afraid there’s no easy way back for you, however. Perhaps if you can draw the attention of the Pantheon again, you might be able to negotiate a return. No mage could work with such imprecise information however, not without spending a significant number of years on it.”

I tensed, about to speak when she continued on. “That said, you’re quite safe here. This Scion fellow won’t bother you here, nor will anyone else for that matter. I already mentioned, but you have my official invitation to attend the University here with our incoming freshman class. While a student here, you live in a realm already flush with gods who aren’t particularly fond of free market competition, and more importantly, myself.”

I wasn't sure how much I bought that explanation. Not much.

“And who are you?” I asked slowly.

She paused. “Huh, I suppose I never did introduce myself. I’m Professor Tellwyrn and I run this campus. Sadly, the effect of such a reveal is utterly wasted on you, but let me assure you this would be quite the moment for anyone else. You are at the pinnacle center of learning on the continent, with an offer of room and board until you finish your studies. I understand it may not be what you want right this moment, but do consider it before you rush headlong into a world you don’t understand on the back of grievous bodily injury and with no resources.”

I glared at her.

She exhaled hard, pinching her temples between the finger and thumb of one hand. I couldn’t process her face any better, yet somehow she managed to convey an absolute sense of disappointment. “You’ve done exactly that before, haven’t you?”

I wasn’t going to answer that one.

“Right, I’ll send Janis around later and if you haven’t run off by then, she’ll show you to your room. If you have, do remember this moment when you realize how woefully unprepared you are.”

With that she disappeared without fanfare, no motion or sound, just suddenly not there before I could ask one of the dozens of questions still on my mind. Leaving me to my thoughts and to figure out what the hell I was going to do. I couldn’t just drop everything and start going to some weird foreign college. Could I? What happened to my powers? Were my friends okay, or even alive? Was Scion still out there? What was this university? Were there really gods here? Why was this woman so apparently impressive? Was this all just some sort of Master power or illusion?

And lastly, lagging behind the busy parade of questions: did she just teleport?



A/N: So somehow, yet again, I've ended up deciding on Thursday as the weekly update day. For some reason I always end up picking Thursday. Go figure. Apologies for the weird notifications, it double posted and then deleted both posts and yeah.

 

[Apathy+Peeves]

As always it is nice to see someone expanding into some of the stories I've been following. The Gods are Bastards is uniquely suited for Taylor, since it is such a similar and yet different world. Still, if Taylor doesn't manage to make someone make her a prosthetic I'm going to be disappointed, especially with the ways she goes through grievous bodily harm.

Also, I'm wondering how she will get on not only with the rest of her class but with each of the cults.

 

[Gwyll]

Thinking who would be the best to pair with Taylor in the dorms. Juniper would be the worst choice, I would avoid putting her with Fross, Trissiny or Ruda, Shaeine is a drow, so best option would be Teal, to teach Taylor about the world.

Edit: Eserion's cult is almost ideal for Taylor.

 

[Apathy+Peeves]

Edit: Eserion's cult is almost ideal for Taylor.

Click to shrink...

Almost Ideal, but then again it's also got issues. Taylor coming into contact with some of the more extremist versions of them. Like the lady who captured Triss

Spoiler: not so serious spoiler

and her merry band of thieves

Spoiler: Serious spoiler

plus her brother

or Thumper or that guy's sexist anarchist (hates how his cult has organized and gather together into a central organization so just using anarchist for short) mentor, or the assassin who infiltrated the drow cities (was on a rescue/punishment mission, Rescue their guy, then punish the offending family for daring to takes him as a slave). I can't remember their names (and don't want to look it up) but any of those guys would basically send Taylor screaming into these are villains. Eserion's cult is very open about what they are and what they do, but it doesn't stop the fact that they are a bit crappy to everyone. As the foremost example, Bishop Darling is always playing all the sides against the middle. That means that no one can actually trust him beyond to do what he thinks is best for whoever he's supporting at that moment and that is just a stepping stone to whatever his actual goal is.

Avei might actually get a worse reaction. After all, the very first Aveist that we will meet is Triss or November. November is a bit of a fanatic, a fangirl, and has a power that Taylor doesn't currently understand. Trissiny, on the other hand, is the Avatar (or Hand if you want to use their terminology) of Avei, and has been raised in a monastery for her entire life. She's proud, aggressive, self-righteous, a feminist (you know that thing that is basically seen as being anti-guy in Worm because of Lustrum (which actual feminists aren't and it is very respectfully done in The Gods Are Bastards)) and has several other issues. Taylor would likely see into the instincts that drive Triss and know that something is up about her.

The two-faced nature of the Cult of Vidius would likely make Taylor wonder who came up with such a deceptive concept to make a religion out of.

She wouldn't really appreciate the Cult of Nemitoth, most likely seeing them as mostly useless book worms and librarians.

She'd hate the Huntsmen and their obsessive view of women as objects, and likely wouldn't enjoy time in any of their company.

I've no idea how Taylor would react to Verniselle, Goddess of Money and who's cult mostly consists of bankers and entrepreneurs but I don't think the cult would inspire Taylor to want to follow her unless they personally met (Verniselle is best goddess).

Izara would likely make Taylor laugh about the fact that they made a cult out of free sex. I mean that's not what actually happens at all but for most people that seems to be their first impression. Izara is the goddess of Love, and Care, and all of her followers are empathic and the next best thing to being therapists in their world. They understand what a person who has come to them needs, and the reaction that one of them would have to Taylor is such an unknown to me that I hope it surprises me.

Taylor's reaction to Vemnesthis will likely be based almost entirely around the fact that he was the god who dropped her off with Arachne. That he has no cult and only reacts to people trying to mess around with time will likely make him out to be better in her eyes.

Salyrene's cult would likely get a reaction from Taylor, if only in her desire to learn. She might not be able to cast magic in this world, but that doesn't mean that she isn't interested in how their magic works.

Vesk's cult might be dismissed out of hand by Taylor, seeing them as just people who sing stories of the past.

Edit: missed a few.

That Naphthen is a bitch that curses at (throws storms or actually curses them) any being that desecrates her shrines and hates anyone who actively worships her might get a smile from Taylor but beyond that would likely be a non-issue.

Naiya might get some interest but beyond the fact that she the mom of Juniper would likely be ignored for at least a while.

Themynra would likely be a much more accepted Goddess then Avei, even though she has converted the drow into her personal army against the Underdark.

Elilial as the goddess of Deception, and demons, will likely have a good long while of being held under suspicion, which isn't unique to anyone who knows anything about her.

Omnu with his pacifism likely isn't going to win Taylor over, though how some of the old Hands of Omnu went about their business would likely interest her.

 

[Unaymus427]

I have been waiting for a cross like this for far, far too long. Thank you for bringing this into being and I’m very interested in seeing just how this changes things. On the pace, are we looking at similar pacing to TGAB itself, slightly sped up, slower? Trying to get my expectations set straight so I know what I’m looking forward to seeing in routine updates.

 

[Spectrum]

Thinking who would be the best to pair with Taylor in the dorms. Juniper would be the worst choice, I would avoid putting her with Fross, Trissiny or Ruda, Shaeine is a drow, so best option would be Teal, to teach Taylor about the world.

Click to shrink...

I would avoid Shaeine as a roommate not because she's a drow, but because there's a non-zero possibility that Taylor stubborns or failsocials her way into a spider box order before she manages to get her head on straight and decompress.

On the one hand, she may have the mental interference to not care about spiders still.

On the other hand, being trapped in a small confined environment sounds like a great path towards a re-trigger or some jank 3rd trigger.

Fross would be fine. She's an intellectual and a motormouth, this isn't offensive to Taylor.

Edit: missed a few.

Click to shrink...

Respectfully, you seem to have done a mix of a deep dive on specific members of each cult who are objectionable vs a very shallow overview of cults we, admittedly, know less about their inner workings. Not sure that's a particularly even treatment?

I don't even think that some of these are vaguely accurate. Taylor's not going to hate on the book-learning cult and she's going to appreciate the power of stories.

 

[Apathy+Peeves]

I would avoid Shaeine as a roommate not because she's a drow, but because there's a non-zero possibility that Taylor stubborns or failsocials her way into a spider box order before she manages to get her head on straight and decompress.

On the one hand, she may have the mental interference to not care about spiders still.

On the other hand, being trapped in a small confined environment sounds like a great path towards a re-trigger or some jank 3rd trigger.

Fross would be fine. She's an intellectual and a motormouth, this isn't offensive to Taylor.


Respectfully, you seem to have done a mix of a deep dive on specific members of each cult who are objectionable vs a very shallow overview of cults we, admittedly, know less about their inner workings. Not sure that's a particularly even treatment?

I don't even think that some of these are vaguely accurate. Taylor's not going to hate on the book-learning cult and she's going to appreciate the power of stories.

Click to shrink...

Honestly Shaeine is one of the most polite, kind and politically minded people in the class, if not the entire Campus, if anyone will get on with Taylor it's most likely going to be Shaeine (though most of the class are great people with specific issues), besides the fact that she doesn't have the authority to push one of her cultural punishments onto her classmates. Shaeine is absolutely one of those people who can't act rashly, as she is a diplomat and has been raised to not cause issues. About the harshest thing Shaeine does in her first year is telling Natchua's mother about her behavior but that was because she was showing a negative and false view of the drow and that was a continually threat that might hurt their diplomatic position.

As for my rather uneven treatment of the cults that is because that overview is likely how Taylor is going to find out about them, especially as Thumper isn't that far away in the story and Triss is even closer. She has a couple of very religious people in her class and a desire to know about the world and besides an overview she probably won't trust the overzealous (Triss effect again) views of the believers, especially about rival cults.

Honestly I might be pushing my own view a bit about the cult of Nemitoth, but they are basically harmless paper pushers, who do paperwork for the Universal Church and care for books like they are children. I don't think Taylor will respect that very much especially when there is another cult of knowledge seekers who are a much bigger threat and more interesting besides in the cult of Salyrene. As for Vesk, we've heard him go on about the power of stories but honestly it doesn't seem to hold much ground to anyone but the god and his followers.

Honestly when I think about it Taylor will probably get on well with most of the class. Gabriel will likely put his foot in his mouth but that's what he does and he doesn't have a problem with Taylor like he's about to with Triss. Triss I've already covered and likely will be an issue. Ruda will take Taylor a bit to adjust to before the realization that she's a lot like Lisa if she wasn't such an insufferable know-it-all. Juniper is a mixture of some adult mannerisms with quite a bit of childish innocence alongside a small bit of childish arrogance and that might frustrate Taylor but in an endearing manner as she does get on semi-well with children.

Now Toby, Fross, Shaeine, Teal and Vadrieny are much more likely to get along well with Taylor. Toby could befriend a rock given enough time, as shown by his friendship with Gabriel (kidding). More seriously he's a caring guy that is willing to help with issues, a great listener and helps keep the peace during their first year. Fross is a motormouth yes, but she's a highly intelligent being that is conscious of the difference of the cultures between the people in the class. She likes to verbally establish the relationship she shares or rules of a group and sometimes that's exactly what Taylor needs.

Shaeine I've already covered but again, one of the most polite people on the entire Campus. Teal will be an interesting relationship for Taylor. Not just because of her Jekyll and Hyde nature but because she is so close to what a modern person from Earth is like. She wears suits and mostly men's clothes, the latter a lot like Taylor will. Her somewhat closeted nature as a lesbian will be utterly accepted by Taylor (the effects of Legend on Worm, one of the few positives in that world) and then her nature as a soft spoken but talented musician (which takes quite a bit of effort as Taylor would know from when she used to play the flute) will hold Taylor's respect. Vadrieny, on the other hand, might get more chances to manifest with Taylor wanting to know the limits of her teammates abilities. Taylor, in turn, might get to know the brutish demon princess as they train together and be reminded of another brutish woman she knows who doesn't necessarily get people the same way others do.

 

[Unaymus427]

Honestly I might be pushing my own view a bit about the cult of Nemitoth, but they are basically harmless paper pushers, who do paperwork for the Universal Church and care for books like they are children. I don't think Taylor will respect that very much especially when there is another cult of knowledge seekers who are a much bigger threat and more interesting besides in the cult of Salyrene.

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No. Just... no. Taylor’s mom was literally an English professor. One of Taylor’s pastimes is reading. There is absolutely no way she would dislike or disrespect people whose entire purpose is based around preserving books and knowledge. You’re acting like all Taylor would do when she’s judging the various cults is decide how useful they are to her, which ignores a lot of her background that would be influential in the decision. I’d have to agree that it seems like you are pushing your own view of the cult on Taylor. If anything, I’d almost expect Nemitoth to be one of her favored cults; they don’t have conflicts with people, they don’t collect dangerous knowledge or make WMDs, they aren’t sexist or militant. They simply care for their books.

 

[Apathy+Peeves]

No. Just... no. Taylor’s mom was literally an English professor. One of Taylor’s pastimes is reading. There is absolutely no way she would dislike or disrespect people whose entire purpose is based around preserving books and knowledge. You’re acting like all Taylor would do when she’s judging the various cults is decide how useful they are to her, which ignores a lot of her background that would be influential in the decision. I’d have to agree that it seems like you are pushing your own view of the cult on Taylor. If anything, I’d almost expect Nemitoth to be one of her favored cults; they don’t have conflicts with people, they don’t collect dangerous knowledge or make WMDs, they aren’t sexist or militant. They simply care for their books.

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Been awhile since I last was really into Worm so I forgot details like that one. Still Taylor herself is very concerned with the usefulness of everything that she can possibly do, and a religion that isn't useful to her doesn't seem like it would attract her. Still you are right that she'd have a good opinion of them if only because they are both knowledge seekers and preservers.

Still you are right that I am overly harsh on Nemitoth. But that's more of a personal opinion on my part, and I agree with the Nemitoth girl in Principia's squad that it doesn't help their followers really prepare for what life has in store for them and more has them sheltered away from life instead.

 

[Spectrum]

I'm sorry, but there's just so much wrong there that I don't even know where to start. You have a very biased view of large parts of the cast and you seem to be forgetting a lot.
1) Shaeine's politeness and 'niceness' is a large part Narisian reserve and the mask she wears. Her fake socialness is also going to be a thing that triggers the shit out of Taylor.
2) Shaeine's position as a diplomat means literally the inverse--everyone else needs to watch what they do to or about her because she is forced to view things done to her as an insult to her position. This is how people get spider boxed. Now yes, I'm obviously making a joke about the real likelihood of Taylor getting a spider box order, but there really is a chance that Taylor fucks something up in this regard.
3) Shaeine/Natchua behavior actually highlights a huge issue of how Narisian culture is still fucked up--Natchua's one of the only genuine drow out there that aren't going to smile at your face and angle to how to backstab you. If anything's a 'false' representation of drow, it's that she isn't fake.

Cult notes:
Taylor is going to be very wary about Salyrene because there are a lot of parallels you can make about their experiments and building things for the hell of it and crazy-fucking-Tinkers.
If all she gets about Nemitoth is book preservation, Unaymus427 already covered that, that's going to be positive based on feelings of nostalgia about her mom.
Veskers similarly are going to be respected because she has the background already to recognize what shaping stories does. The same way that there's a chord of rep management from the Eserites, they have this as well.

...

Now, all of this is moot because this is post-GM Taylor and the fandom hasn't let me down yet, meaning we're going to have to suffer through 10-15 chapters of Taylor stubbornly monologuing about ignorant people, how there's no such thing as magic, and how everything is really Shard and Entity based, but it's early days yet.

 

[NotZiz]

I have been waiting for a cross like this for far, far too long. Thank you for bringing this into being and I’m very interested in seeing just how this changes things. On the pace, are we looking at similar pacing to TGAB itself, slightly sped up, slower? Trying to get my expectations set straight so I know what I’m looking forward to seeing in routine updates.

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I like the discussion on the cults and classmates going on. It'll be a little while before too many cults get introduced, which segues nicely into the pacing question. Pacing wise, I'm not planning to catch up to TGAB or follow its pacing. I'm aiming for a bit more Constellations-style pacing, where it's slice of life and explores some of the smaller moments and details, but hits the highlights of the story and doesn't waste time with filler chapters (ideally, depending on my skill). So not a million chapters and not a lethargic pace, but also not jumping straight to the action constantly.

Now, all of this is moot because this is post-GM Taylor and the fandom hasn't let me down yet, meaning we're going to have to suffer through 10-15 chapters of Taylor stubbornly monologuing about ignorant people, how there's no such thing as magic, and how everything is really Shard and Entity based, but it's early days yet.

Click to shrink...

Now I'd like to think I'll do a little better than that. Part of the problem though is if you have Taylor go slow, people complain it's too slow. If you go fast, people complain it's unrealistic that Taylor would accept things that quickly. It's a bit of a balancing act to make it well paced and also believable.

 

[kayangelus]

Now, all of this is moot because this is post-GM Taylor and the fandom hasn't let me down yet, meaning we're going to have to suffer through 10-15 chapters of Taylor stubbornly monologuing about ignorant people, how there's no such thing as magic, and how everything is really Shard and Entity based, but it's early days yet.

Click to shrink...

And then Taylor visits the Elder "God" ruins where the the AI helpful tells them how the Infinite Order terraformed a planet. And she realises that a) no these guys are far more bullshit than Shard based hax b) these guys as far dumber than Entities

For some of what the Infinite Order did:

Spoiler

• They looked into the past to discover how life evolved and developed on Earth, and recorded the entire process of evolution from the formation of the first life form to the time when they lived on Earth
• They traveled to a different, uninhabited star system that they were going to colonize
• The planet they were interested in had 3 moons, so they got rid of them and replaced them with a single, Earth's Moon sized, hollow object that had a dark matter generator inside, to serve as a source of infinite energy. Because worrying about entropy is for puny losers
• Adjusted the planet's orbit and size so that it would be a close match to Earth
• Seeded the planet with nanomachines, that would guide the evolution of life to completely match that of Earth
• They didn't feel like waiting, or they tossed up a temporal bubble over the planet, and made a billion years of evolution happen over a few days, until they got a ~96% match to what early 21st century Earth looked like
• They conquered the place, and then proceeded to start inventing new technologies

and in case the above does not sound all that impressive, that was the stuff they did when they were starting out. Before they started making connections of fictional universes - which may or may not have caused those universes to come into existence - just so they could rip off their technologies. Which they eventually used to transcend to a higher state (the Infinite Order, despite having Godlike power, insisted until the end that they weren't Gods. The current pantheon actually largely calls themselves gods because the term pissed off the Elder Gods).

 

[Spectrum]

Now I'd like to think I'll do a little better than that. Part of the problem though is if you have Taylor go slow, people complain it's too slow. If you go fast, people complain it's unrealistic that Taylor would accept things that quickly. It's a bit of a balancing act to make it well paced and also believable.

Click to shrink...

Ehh, if you go slow, people aren't complaining that it's slow, they're complaining that they have to listen to a self-righteous narrator who can't recognize her own position of ignorance. That this is an entirely true to the character portrayal doesn't make it any less frustrating.

And then Taylor visits the Elder "God" ruins where the the AI helpful tells them how the Infinite Order terraformed a planet. And she realises that a) no these guys are far more bullshit than Shard based hax b) these guys as far dumber than Entities

Click to shrink...

So that's...what, 300 chapters in by TGaB's plot?

 

[Apathy+Peeves]

I'm sorry, but there's just so much wrong there that I don't even know where to start. You have a very biased view of large parts of the cast and you seem to be forgetting a lot.
1) Shaeine's politeness and 'niceness' is a large part Narisian reserve and the mask she wears. Her fake socialness is also going to be a thing that triggers the shit out of Taylor.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, she not just her mask. Shaeine is very much a nice person who wants to help those around her and has a rather deep connection with her classmates. Sure Shaeine's niceness is channeled through the focus of her culture, but she's still a very nice person who's been put into a position she did everything she could to avoid. She likes her classmates and Taylor isn't likely to be an exception to that.

2) Shaeine's position as a diplomat means literally the inverse--everyone else needs to watch what they do to or about her because she is forced to view things done to her as an insult to her position. This is how people get spider boxed. Now yes, I'm obviously making a joke about the real likelihood of Taylor getting a spider box order, but there really is a chance that Taylor fucks something up in this regard.

Click to shrink...

See this is more wrong then my own position. You forget the situation of the drow at this moment. The Drow are literally dependant on the Empire for food, and Shaeine knows this better than most as her family works to make all the sharp edges to their culture stop from provoking the Empire into cutting them off. Shaeine literally went up to that crazy old racist lady and tried every reasonable manner to calm her down before deciding that she was too emotional to be reasoned with and putting her harmlessly to sleep. You can do a lot of thing to Shaeine without worrying about provoking her, and Taylor just doesn't have the acidic personality and background to be worth making an issue about.

3) Shaeine/Natchua behavior actually highlights a huge issue of how Narisian culture is still fucked up--Natchua's one of the only genuine drow out there that aren't going to smile at your face and angle to how to backstab you. If anything's a 'false' representation of drow, it's that she isn't fake.

Click to shrink...

Sure Natchua's behavior is 'less fake', but it's not her true personality either. She puts on the show of being one of the crazied underdrow, but that isn't her anymore then Shaeine's politeness is all of her. Besides that, we know for a fact that there are other drow that don't fucking care about any of the backstabbing or whatnot. They live in a former ghetto in the capital of the empire that they have beatified into a nice home for their children. As for your other issue of false representation of drow, it's because they are an immortal race that has realized that if they don't change they are likely all going to die to the humans when they do something that gets a war called against them. Shaeine's mother near literally sacrificed her life to the empire to start peace talks. If it had been anyone but the current Emperor (who is noted as being extremely reasonable), they might have had her killed on the spot and continued with their current semi-cold war with the drow, while building up arms to destroy the slavers that kept raiding one of their oldest supporters.

Cult notes:
Taylor is going to be very wary about Salyrene because there are a lot of parallels you can make about their experiments and building things for the hell of it and crazy-fucking-Tinkers.

Click to shrink...

Except that's a false representation of the cult. Sure the last Hand of Salyrene was into building things for the hell of it (and pushed for those things to be used), but the cult itself is about learning about Magic and expanding their understanding of what it can do. At the end of the day their less Tinkers and more scientists

If all she gets about Nemitoth is book preservation, Unaymus427 already covered that, that's going to be positive based on feelings of nostalgia about her mom.

Click to shrink...

Nemitoth literally is just the cult of preserving knowledge. Literally, the Nemitoth girl in Principia's squad was thought of as being too emotional and that she would make a better librarian's wife then a librarian herself. The only other thing that they, as a cult, do is paperwork for the Universal Church.

Veskers similarly are going to be respected because she has the background already to recognize what shaping stories does. The same way that there's a chord of rep management from the Eserites, they have this as well.

Click to shrink...

Sure the rep management might strike some chord to Taylor, but she is so much more than that. Brian was more into reputation management than Taylor ever was. She used everything at her disposal, including her reputation, but largely that was to save as many people as she could.

 

[Spectrum]

Yeah, she not just her mask. Shaeine is very much a nice person who wants to help those around her and has a rather deep connection with her classmates. Sure Shaeine's niceness is channeled through the focus of her culture, but she's still a very nice person who's been put into a position she did everything she could to avoid. She likes her classmates and Taylor isn't likely to be an exception to that.

See this is more wrong then my own position. You forget the situation of the drow at this moment. The Drow are literally dependant on the Empire for food, and Shaeine knows this better than most as her family works to make all the sharp edges to their culture stop from provoking the Empire into cutting them off. Shaeine literally went up to that crazy old racist lady and tried every reasonable manner to calm her down before deciding that she was too emotional to be reasoned with and putting her harmlessly to sleep. You can do a lot of thing to Shaeine without worrying about provoking her, and Taylor just doesn't have the acidic personality and background to be worth making an issue about.

Click to shrink...

Do you not even read the latest chapters? She's so much of her mask that she can't show real, heartfelt emotion while wearing it.

More to the point, those are just words, but we all know Taylor does not leave things at words when she feels threatened--she overreacts to a hilarious degree and escalates. Doubly so because she's a traumatized girl who can't deal with social situations.

It's to everyone's benefit that she cannot (currently) bug swarm people.

Sure Natchua's behavior is 'less fake', but it's not her true personality either. She puts on the show of being one of the crazied underdrow, but that isn't her anymore then Shaeine's politeness is all of her. Besides that, we know for a fact that there are other drow that don't fucking care about any of the backstabbing or whatnot. They live in a former ghetto in the capital of the empire that they have beatified into a nice home for their children. As for your other issue of false representation of drow, it's because they are an immortal race that has realized that if they don't change they are likely all going to die to the humans when they do something that gets a war called against them. Shaeine's mother near literally sacrificed her life to the empire to start peace talks. If it had been anyone but the current Emperor (who is noted as being extremely reasonable), they might have had her killed on the spot and continued with their current semi-cold war with the drow, while building up arms to destroy the slavers that kept raiding one of their oldest supporters.

Click to shrink...

This is a total non sequitur to the point that it has no relation at all to what I was talking about. And it's also so wrong to the point that I have to ask if you just skim the story or something? First, Natchua on campus is not current Natchua, and neither are 'crazied underdrow'. Her current behavior is fronting about being [a questionably sane warlock].

Second, that current 'polite but entirely fake' drow are slightly better than past 'actively murderous' drow in no way changes the evaluation of the former.

Except that's a false representation of the cult. Sure the last Hand of Salyrene was into building things for the hell of it (and pushed for those things to be used), but the cult itself is about learning about Magic and expanding their understanding of what it can do. At the end of the day their less Tinkers and more scientists

Click to shrink...

And the Tower of Salyrene and basically any other time they come up. Beyond that you're whitewashing typical Salyrene behavior, the distinction isn't black box Tinkers vs scientists (again a completed unrelated point), it's <people who are inclined to build things that break their surrounding environment and don't think real hard about consequences>.

Nemitoth literally is just the cult of preserving knowledge. Literally, the Nemitoth girl in Principia's squad was thought of as being too emotional and that she would make a better librarian's wife then a librarian herself. The only other thing that they, as a cult, do is paperwork for the Universal Church.

Click to shrink...

So...you're trying to point at one Salyrene as an outlier but then you try to base everything you react to on one Nemitoth follower, even if we take your recollection as accurate...? (And I don't because both most of Principia's squad and Nemitoth thus far are fairly large non-factors)

Sure the rep management might strike some chord to Taylor, but she is so much more than that. Brian was more into reputation management than Taylor ever was. She used everything at her disposal, including her reputation, but largely that was to save as many people as she could.

Click to shrink...

People are complex, multi-faceted entities, yes. And no, Taylor does things to not-lose. Saving people may or may not be a current objective, but it's not the core of her being.

 

[Apathy+Peeves]

Do you not even read the latest chapters? She's so much of her mask that she can't show real, heartfelt emotion while wearing it.

More to the point, those are just words, but we all know Taylor does not leave things at words when she feels threatened--she overreacts to a hilarious degree and escalates. Doubly so because she's a traumatized girl who can't deal with social situations.

It's to everyone's benefit that she cannot (currently) bug swarm people.

Click to shrink...

No, I'm not currently caught up on The Gods are Bastards. The last chapter I read was when the paladin trio first met the goddess of Cruelty. I'm also most likely going to reread it, for the third time, before continuing. Again, though Shaeine's culture very much effects her. She has no reason to reject it, has no desire to reject it (at least in the first year), but still visibly loves Teal and Vadrieny towards the end of the first year even through the public mask that she thinks of as mandatory for social interaction.

I don't understand what you mean by the second half of this bit by it being just words and whatnot. Taylor does try to reason with everyone she thinks might support her goals, and I don't think of Shaeine as being particularly threatening to Taylor. People overrate Taylor's lack of social ability, especially when she was still able to convince others to continue following her instead of abandoning her.

This is a total non sequitur to the point that it has no relation at all to what I was talking about. And it's also so wrong to the point that I have to ask if you just skim the story or something? First, Natchua on campus is not current Natchua, and neither are 'crazied underdrow'. Her current behavior is fronting about being [a questionably sane warlock].

Click to shrink...

First current Natchua, for this story, is Natchua on campus before the start of anything. So yeah she's currently strutting around campus trying to show off how badass she is because she's an 'uncivilized' drow. But what I was talking about, was that you made the point that drow, as a species, only really want to enslave others. I reasonably pointed out that there are people that totally reject that philosophy, so much so that they left the culture and made a home in the empire. Plus we have insight from Shaeine and other young drow that that behavior is not as accepted as it once was but is such a part of their society that it hasn't changed yet.

Second, that current 'polite but entirely fake' drow are slightly better than past 'actively murderous' drow in no way changes the evaluation of the former.

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Um, the 'polite but entirely fake' drow is a result of having a society and culture that demands stoic behavior or makes you risk cruel punishment and rejection by your peers. They haven't changed their culture much, besides to start relying on the empire to help them survive and that started probably a bit less than thirty years ago. With a population that can remember living ten times that length, the changes to their current society and as a result their culture are still just in their infancy. So yeah they haven't had enough time to change, but we can already see the effects in their young.

And the Tower of Salyrene and basically any other time they come up. Beyond that you're whitewashing typical Salyrene behavior, the distinction isn't black box Tinkers vs scientists (again a completed unrelated point), it's <people who are inclined to build things that break their surrounding environment and don't think real hard about consequences>.

Click to shrink...

Um, I think you're whitewashing a bit as well. Schwarts is a Salyrene, and he has nearly no inclination for 'building things to break his environment'. From what we have seen of the cult, mostly through Schwarts and what little we see from their group on the Campus, largely what they are concerned with is learning about magic and expanding its horizons (you know, as scientists do). The Tower of Salyrene was more about challenging those who wanted to gain Salyrene's attention not about 'building a thing that breaks the environment and not thinking about it'. It's explicitly about thinking things through as well so...

So...you're trying to point at one Salyrene as an outlier but then you try to base everything you react to on one Nemitoth follower, even if we take your recollection as accurate...? (And I don't because both most of Principia's squad and Nemitoth thus far are fairly large non-factors)

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Yes because taking Principia's squad that is modernizing the Aveist's armed forces as a non-factor is a good idea. We have literally one consistent character that was a Nemitoth, and my reactions to the cult are as a result of her and the viewpoint of the murdered character that we got to see was a senior Nemitoth.

People are complex, multi-faceted entities, yes. And no, Taylor does things to not-lose. Saving people may or may not be a current objective, but it's not the core of her being.

Click to shrink...

Yes, Taylor does things to not-lose but one of her motivations is the preserving of life. She doesn't actively want people died, except in the case of those harming her own interests (you know Jack Slash with his whole kill the world thing, Alexandria who was acting as though she was going out and killing Taylor's friends, Tagg who was supporting Alexandria well this happened or Coil who had tried to kill her multiple times.) or if it's more of a mercy for them to be died then to continue as they are (like Aster or those still stuck inside of Noelle).

 

[The Stormbringer]

So is this like... Hogwarts University but with Gods? That's my overly basic explanation of what I'm seeing. if so, it sounds awesome!

 

[Spectrum]

No, I'm not currently caught up on The Gods are Bastards. The last chapter I read was when the paladin trio first met the goddess of Cruelty.

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Okay, no offense, I'm going to respectfully cut this off right here. A lot of what I'm talking about is new information from literally just being released chapters. We're speaking from different bases of knowledge and I'm not going to tell you to take my word for it, so we don't have much to discuss at this juncture.