Question The Book of Darwin

I've always gotten the impression she's not actually ugly, she's just in a school full of Exemplars. As has been repeated many times, exemplars make everyone else unattractive by comparison even if in a situation lacking any exemplars they'd be considered Gorgeous. Someone who is merely "cute in the right lighting if she made an effort" doesn't stand a chance in the looks department.

Granted, maybe I'm wrong but the "Cute in the right light... etc." bit seems to fit with how I interpreted things and how the artists usually depict her in fanart at least.

However - Debating just Jadis is drawing us severely off topic - XDI can get comments on Jadis herself but not on the possibility of her and Jericho? Drat.

It's not totally off-topic because Dr. Dad is notably featured in this story.

My personal favorite has always been this internalized rant:

Oh, thank you very much, Misty. Rub my face in the fact that 'my incidentals are no bigger than two lentils’. Why don’t you point out that I inherited my father’s hatchet face, or his Roman nose, or those stupid ‘devil’s horns’ forelocks that are practically a Diabolik trademark, while you’re at it? Thank God, I didn’t inherit that knob chin of his like Malachai did. And at least, I have my mother’s eyes (I think), or I’d look like the wicked witch of the prom.

The Diabolik family is not known for their good looks. They know it. Jadis is very aware of it. Yet though Jadis cares about it, it is only inwardly. Even with all her proselytizing, love for explaining, know-it-allism, urge to be the most clever person in the room (no wonder she and Ayla are still good friends!), and overall nastiness about certain topics (the Melville girls' showers)...Jadis is one of the most well respected members of the Seeds. She follows her father's advice about treating others fairly and keeps aware of what goes on around her.

Jadis never judges others unfairly. That's why she has a network. She includes all, from the Outcasts to easily persuading the Alphas.

Eh. Jadis is a teenage girl. Show me a teenage girl who does not think she's way uglier than she actually is, and I'll show you a liar. I bet most of Venus Inc. have insecurities related to their looks.

I very much doubt that Jadis is ugly. From what has not been said about her (not even by her overly-critical inner voice), we know she does not suffer from the following problems:
- Overweight
- Underweight
- Facial asymmetry
- Body deformities
- Bad skin
- Unmanageable hair

That takes just about everything that would drive the needle towards "ugly." She might be sorta plain -- not particularly attractive, but not repulsive either. There is at least one boy who is interested on her (although Darklord's general sanity is debatable).
Away from the impossibly-high standard of Whateley, she might be considered "pleasant-looking", even "handsome" -- not "cute," she is not the "cute" type.
So she doesn't have big breasts or curvy hips. Neither do most of the haute couture models.
So she has a long face with a strong nose, instead of heart-shaped face with a button nose. It won't help her to attract guys who want a Barbie doll. But there are guys who happen to like smart, assertive women.

Iwasforger03 wrote: He's just wearing her down.

SEriously though - Jericho x Jadis

He's blind, so "super pretty" is FAR less important, even if he CAN see, and Jadis has always appreciated a keen mind and a good heart. It doesn't get much better on either spectrum than Jericho. Also we know Doctor Dad would approve of this pairing and not hunt down and eviscerate Jericho for having the gal to date his daughter. Jadis also doesn't have the prejudice against GSD many people do, making another point where they can get along.

Admittedly, the fact Jericho and Techno-devil are seemingly good friends by gearhead terms could work both for and against him.

Well, Rumor has it that Jadis DOES have some romantic entanglements coming-up this year...

I'd talk more often on what people are working on but I don't want to scare the muses away... oh, and there are the death threats to not reveal a certain authors projects...

Sir Lee, thank you. I happen to agree with you looking back at it a bit, cute is the wrong word, but Handsome or Pleasant could serve. That being said, I still support the idea that Jericho being someone who only judges himself by looks and no one else could give them another point in common.

As for you, Danzilla... orly? excellent! This is marvelous news!

Jericho's shield is Adamant.
Malachai's Feather is Adamant.
Destiny's Wave is???

What wins?

I expect Destiny's Wave to win. I mean, the others are fine magically-made artifacts, but at the end of the day, they are just artifacts; DW is also a fine magically-made artifact, but it also has the Tao powering it.

Granting that I've never been a fan of the Tao's omniscient morality license and therefore am biased, I'd like to run into a few things the Tao empowered Destiny's Wave STILL can't cut, no matter how much it wants to. If they don't exist, it feels like tacit acknowledgement that the Tao is the be all/end all of morality which to me seems exceedingly wrong.

That being said? I'd say based on what information we have so far, Sir Lee would be correct and the Tao+Desitny's Wave could slice through both sword and shield if it needed to.

JG wrote: spoiler: **** **** ********* ***** * ******

Chou will administer apportion Molly a smooch

Solved it!

JG you just made me smile so bright.

CTT6 wrote: Nikki swung and swung again, slamming the adamant-edged blade against Mule’s chest with enough force to do some serious harm. He parried her swings with his bare fists and slugged her twice in the jaw. She backed off a bit and snarled, noting with foul humor that he let her, but always stayed right inside her reach. She attacked again, Malachim’s feather skittering along the invisible barrier blocking his skin.

You see my confusion?

My impression is that you don't see a lot adamant weapons because even beyond it's absurd rarity, it's impossible to shape. So unless the piece you find happens to be in the shape you want it to be already (conveniently, large flat objects make good shields), you're hosed.

Besides, my impression was that a certain degree of flexibility is required in a good sword. It's possible that being utterly indestructible would make up for that, but I'm not sure.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: My impression is that you don't see a lot adamant weapons because even beyond it's absurd rarity, it's impossible to shape.

It's impossible to shape once forged. (Forged is as good a word as any in this case)

It is notoriously difficult to forge curves with it.

JG wrote: she hasnt come to understand the one gaping hole in the Tao's seeming plot omniscience.

we've been sitting on this one for YEARS.

spoiler: **** **** ********* ***** * ******

Betting that one of those four letter words is "Loom", and the last is "Mythos". The single character might be "&"... Not sure if there's punctuation and apostrophes in that sentence-thing.

'Cause, as I've noted, I'm quite sure that the reason for its omniscience is the Loom Artifact that's somehow stored in Tao-Dreamspace.

I've needed to break the Tao's omniscience and power for a while to make a few world-changing ideas work. But, Balance Theory / Idea makes things work well, as there is inherent balance in my ideas.

I would enjoy immensely seeing the Tao brought a bit lower, and I have to wonder about Gen 2 letting Iron Dragon take over China and threaten to conquer the rest of Asia.

Well, the Tao reads Artificers and Luck Manipulator weirdly, as seen when Chou encounters Clover and Eldritch in Call The Thunder 5: Idiots 'R Us...

From Ayla and the Birthday Brawl, part 5:

"But I wanted to check out my new adamantium tactical baton against some of the team, so I started with Chou, before the rest of the gang showed up. She pulled out Destiny’s Wave and I rested the extended baton against it. Then I retracted the baton, went heavy with it, and extended it so it was momentarily heavy. I touched that to DW so it could study the baton while it was extra-dense too.

After a couple moments, Destiny’s Wave said to Chou, “This is interesting. Will you try several light attacks against this metal staff?”

Of course, Chou obliged. I was feeling like I would regret this, but I went along. I held the baton in a defensive stance and let her take a couple light whacks at it.

After the fourth whack, Destiny’s Wave said to me, “This is interesting. It will hold up to us in sparring. If we ever wish to, we will be able to slice through it, even when you are ‘heavy’, as you call it. But it is sturdier than most materials.”

Well, that answered a couple questions. DW wasn’t going to cut it up. Unless Chou really had to come at me for keeps, in which case it was probably just as well that I couldn’t stop DW."

Adamantium is NOT immune to magic!

JG wrote: nope. malachims feather is mithril.

destinys wave is white jade.

when destinys wave hits adamant the unstoppable force hits the immovable object. and glances off.

adamant cannot be altered by any force known. destinys wave is known. tennyo is known.

there are no known exceptions.

and for scale reference: Just because DW CAN slash through things doesnt mean it WILL.

we do have a scale and Chou has never faced artificer-forged sword or armor. she has never faced a thing with its own legend.

she hasnt come to understand the one gaping hole in the Tao's seeming plot omniscience.

we've been sitting on this one for YEARS.

spoiler: **** **** ********* ***** * ******

amratner, the above which I quote is Word of God from one of the authors. Plus Adamantium and Adamant are two different materials.

I think this will make you smile, Joe.

I pulled up and qued Battery by Metallica at the same time Dr. Dad qued it up in the story while rereading Book of Darwin part 2 this morning. It finished just as I finished reading

He closed the eyes of too many people for the last time.

Excellent timing...

I've spent most of my career in Darwin and have been trying to work out where the battle was fought. My first thoughts when Eldritch hears the radio broadcasts and recognises what's coming, was that they had to be on Smith St - probably just NW of the Mall. Problem is, Smith St has always been pretty narrow (especially with all the parking spots taken) so they'd be hemmed in badly. Nonetheless, starting there lets them push through the Woolies carpark (sited between Whitfield and Searcy Sts), collecting a LOT of people in the process, and onto Cavanagh; which is a really broad avenue (nearly 5 lanes) that leads fairly directly to the Stuart Hwy and escape. Immediately opposite Woolies is the Post Office carpark (not actually owned by the GPO), which means you have good sight-lines to the E, the fairly low mass of the Travelodge to the N, straight-lines NW and SE along Cavanagh, and generally reduced building congestion.

As the battle escalates and time passes, I kind of assumed that the Outcasts were using the Stuart Hwy as the escape route for the civvies they're escorting. While most of the city's higher buildings (in '06/07) were concentrated in and around the CBD, there were a couple of apartment blocks that would have disrupted line of sight and/or provided sniper/observer posts. If they'd taken the Tiger Brennan route, this would have been even worse! Back in '06, that road was still a 2-lane back-road into Darwin mainly used by Palmerston-dwellers trying to avoid congestion on Stuart Hwy in the morning commute. Expansion of Tiger Brennan has only happened in the last couple of years. So, they would have been walking/running down a comparatively narrow road with lots of ups and downs, and plenty of blind-spots that Killbots could pop out of with zero warning! Hence why I figured that they must be using Stuart Hwy; which is far more level (elevation-wise) and thus easier on elderly, injured and exhausted people to flee along.

Ooh, Darwin Naval Base (down at Larrakeyah Barracks) usually has a couple of patrol boats alongside, and available for naval gunfire support. The last of the Fremantles didn't pay-off until May '07, so there would've been a couple present; armed with 40mm/70 Bofors and 50cal HBMGs. We had a Kellick Boatswain's Mate on Geelong who used to regularly shoot para-flares out of the sky with 40mm shells, so hitting Killbots shouldn't be out of the question. I'm pretty sure that the first of the Armidales had finished their acceptance trials and been based at DNB by Xmas that year, so their LL/IR camera-controlled 25mm guns would also have been useful; even if an aluminium-hulled patrol boat couldn't be expected to survive long itself.

A final point. No matter where you start in the Darwin CBD-area, you are constrained in getting out. I am assuming that this DID start in the CBD, as you quickly get into fairly low density residential areas outside of that. Your choices are either Stuart Hwy, Tiger Brennan, or Gilruth Ave (which takes you back to Stuart Hwy, though it does have plenty of hiding places). Darwin, as a city, is really spread out and had relatively few high-rise apartment blocks in '06. These tended to cluster along the Esplanade, an escape route firmly blocked by the harbour to the W and S, and an area you'd be trying to get the hell away from as quickly as possible.

Wait... Did Connor Edwards, the Rager of Rager's Night, have a codename?