10/10

okay this is really cool, does Bioshock Infinite with its multiverses and lighthouses fit into this idea, and if so, how?

I interpret the first two Bioshock games as a cosmic horror story that the protagonists are just glancing off the outer edges of. Slugs don't do that to your genetic code, for one thing, and genetic code has very little bearing on pyrokinesis or teleportation or the ability to grow swarms of bees inside yourself. It's also mighty convenient that Ryan happened to have picked the one spot in the ocean that happens to have The Slugs That Can't Do That- it's obviously part of the mythmaking of Ryan Amusements that they put such a fine point on where he abruptly stopped the boat and declared that he was going to put down the foundations of Rapture, and there's a dash of narrative anthropic principle on top of that, but it's still very convenient. And In terms of aesthetic and narrative outcome Rapture from 1960 onward is certainly checking all the boxes; madness, mutation, moisture. Impossibly grandiose societies brought down by hubris, science run amok, "look upon my works ye mighty", horrible familial truths, the whole shebang. And of course you have that brilliant light below Persephone.

The story doesn't necessarily parse as cosmic horror immediately because it fronts the impression that there's a grounded explanation for every insane thing that happens. You're supposed to just take it as part of the premise that they can build something like Rapture with human technology in 1945. You mostly hear about plasmids from professionals doing practical research and development with them, so you get the impression that there's a well-understood body of science here that just happens to be outside of your personal understanding. But for every Professor Armitage who understands the whole shape of the Dunwich Horror, there are a hundred Massholes who just saw a barn explode for no reason and now have to cope with the very real invisible something laying waste to the countryside regardless of the full truth of the matter. And from within the exploding barn of Rapture it doesn't matter to Jack or Delta whether the foundations were laid down atop Rl'yeh or whether ADAM is actually the extracted blood of a Great Old One or whatever the fuck. Maybe there's someone down there who understands the deep lore and went mad from the revelation in the genre typical way. But nothing about the situation requires you that you dig that deep to develop a working understanding of what's going on. Rapture's downfall is totally legible as a mundane death spiral of bad leadership, shoddy ideology, economic pressures and bog-standard human greed. Impossible weapons swung in careless arcs by human hands.

I mean Twig has this in spades especially later on if you want to read it

A story structure Wildbow hasn’t yet attempted- which I would be very very interested to see him tackle- is the “Walking the Earth,” journey-focused Odyssey-type thing, where the protagonist and their gradually swelling band of hanger-on true companions travel from wacky side-adventure to whacky side-adventure in pursuit of some larger goal. 

The parts of his writing I’ve read tend to be very sedentary, tied to a central location in some way, treating that location almost as a character in its own right (in the case of pale, he does so literally.) The beats on the heroes journey either come to the protagonists doorstep, or the protagonists go on Sorties to other plot relevant locations before eventually returning to home base. I’d love to see him handle a protagonist that’s genuinely, perpetually on the move, defined by their fleeting connections to lots of places, and the lessons learned in each.

woke up today and realized that tumblr entirely killed fuck ya life bing bong so here ya go again

This is just Sharon and witch hunters that’s all this is just an otherverse skeptic

ghost hunting team that keep a nonbeliever named steve around as an emergency supernatural suppressant

Also Lynne Hammond (MAG 100 lady who just ignored a ghost to make sure her house wasn’t burning) the dream team to survive the change

joshua gillespie (MAG 02 Do Not Open coffin guy), karolina górka (MAG 71 Underground buried subway lady), sebastian skinner (MAG 87 The Uncanny Valley plumber who saw a fucked up mannequin clown factory) and robin lennox (MAG 100 I Guess You Had To Be There guy who was going to be late to dinner) have the same energy

Does anyone remember that chart that showed all of the word counts of all the chapters Wildbow has written

Shhhh no spoilers

Y’all forgetting magnolias