[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

O. Hinds wrote:I shan't talk about it here due to not wanting people to accidentally think that the idea is official PH, but I'm pretty sure it's in the headcanon thread.  Somewhere.

There.

Harmony Ltd. wrote:

O. Hinds wrote:I shan't talk about it here due to not wanting people to accidentally think that the idea is official PH, but I'm pretty sure it's in the headcanon thread.  Somewhere.

There.

Well, that's the discussion of some of the technology used, mainly. Though, now that you point it out, I suppose that it does give a very basic overview of the system. Thanks.

Thank you very much for the comments.  I kept meaning to come in and answer but I'm in a bit of a slog.  That and its holiday so catching up on my sleep is going on.  I'm glad that the chapter was... okay.  Some folks liked it and there were other folks that didn't.  I tweaked a few things regarding... yeah.  But this needed to be a breather and to include other people.  I'm 5p into 73.  Hopefully it will be out sooner than later.

Thanks so much for reading.  I really need to stop lurking here and engage more.

Also: interview here, if you want to read.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfx7y5v4xxw&feature=youtu.be  Edit: I sound so horrible...

Somber wrote:

Also: interview here, if you want to read.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfx7y5v4xxw&feature=youtu.be  Edit: I sound so horrible...

Let the record show my first post to the PH Discussion Thread in twenty six chapters is the following

Skype wrote:
[5:32:49 PM] Tyler Fair: Wow
[5:33:09 PM] Tyler Fair: Somber's a Solid 7-8 in the looks department

[looks at length]
Oh.  I'll want to see this later, but unfortunately I don't have time now.
edit: Or... maybe. I'll see if I can fit it in; if not, I can finish it later.

Somber wrote:Thank you very much for the comments.  I kept meaning to come in and answer but I'm in a bit of a slog.  That and its holiday so catching up on my sleep is going on.  I'm glad that the chapter was... okay.  Some folks liked it and there were other folks that didn't.  I tweaked a few things regarding... yeah.  But this needed to be a breather and to include other people.  I'm 5p into 73.  Hopefully it will be out sooner than later.

Thanks so much for reading.  I really need to stop lurking here and engage more.

Also: interview here, if you want to read.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfx7y5v4xxw&feature=youtu.be  Edit: I sound so horrible...

Haven't had the time to really watch it yet. Maybe listen to it on my 2+ hour drive home tomorrow. But first impression:

Somber wrote:Take the ugliest person you can imagine. Give them a bulbous belly, skinny noodle like arms and legs. A great growth of a nose. Brownish black teeth that smell like fish. Curly nose hair. Ear wax creeping down the sides of their neck. Tiny dim eyes devoid of any intelligence or charisma. A hunched back. Pasty skin with odd, poorly identifiable growths poking out of it. And a voice that sounds like a pedophile offering a young girl some candy. Take that horrible image and really cement it in your mind...

I'm worse than that.

YOU LIED TO ME SOMBER!!! LIED TO US ALL!!! WHAT MAKES YOU LIE!?  
Now, wait there, feller, hold it! You went and oversold it! I guarantee that yer face there will not scare! :D

See also Cptadder.

And you don't sound that bad, in the first minute or so, anyway.

Also, of course, should you be able to engage more, I'm sure it would be welcomed.    We're a pretty welcoming group, after all.

Somber takes self depreciation to Poe's Law levels of humor and it's great.

Cptadder wrote:

Somber wrote:

Also: interview here, if you want to read.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfx7y5v4xxw&feature=youtu.be  Edit: I sound so horrible...

Let the record show my first post to the PH Discussion Thread in twenty six chapters is the following

Skype wrote:
[5:32:49 PM] Tyler Fair: Wow
[5:33:09 PM] Tyler Fair: Somber's a Solid 7-8 in the looks department

Guilty as charged. My legit first reaction to the interview. Sorry Somber, gotta remember that you being hard on yourself applies in the same way that your hard on yourself with the chapters. Blatant lies.

Also everything I would've thought to say about 72 has already been said. As always I enjoyed the chapter. Also calling it now. One of the two companions are going to die very soon.

@Caoimhe
I think that the sexuality in the story is one of the more interesting parts of it. I think that the overall theme is less free love and more "different strokes for different folks" and that no matter how you try you cannot change that. Some people just are not compatible no matter how you don't want that to be the case. That is something I can strongly relate with and something that I greatly enjoy about this work.

Interview Comments:

re Somber's appearance:
I saw him once before when he accidentally started a video instead of audio chat, but yeah, I don't think he looks bad. Looking at him in the interview, he kind of in appearance reminded me of Arcade Gannon.

Thanks in general for linking this, Somber!

Oh, yes, and welcome back, Cptadder!

O. Hinds wrote:

Oh, yes, and welcome back, Cptadder!

I'm still around I just avoid this thread for spoilers since I stopped reading back in the 50s. But my grand recap is starting next week. Details this afternoon.

Last wrote:

Caoimhe wrote:Crap I forgot to include how the percepitron, in addition to being a well used narrative device, exacerbates the free love idea. Oh fooey, another time.

If by free love you mean love that is taken is free then you have to explain how Deus/Doof and the actions he took figure into this free love concept. I'm pretty sure this is wasn't what you were getting at (Or maybe it was, maybe this is the incredibly ugly extreme of the free love idea) but that device is truly disgusting when used in the manner BJ has used it. It goes many steps beyond voyeurism which is fucked up to begin with.

Briefly, pre-war Equestria was a utopia more or less free from problems. I have a headcanon idea that between whenever show-era begins and the precursor to the events of the buildup to the war, at some point the concept of shame was introduced into the world and very slowly the balance was riffed enough to get to this almost contemporary world of pre-war conflict. One of these concepts is evident where more ponies are prone to wear clothing in the prewar visions going into the wasteland era. I know that showcanon has clothes but they are mostly used as accessories (and more so, to differentiate characters in an easier way as another narrative device), but one can see the clothing as a way of hiding shame. 

So now with the anarchy of the wasteland we have this odd hybrid of the ideals of a utopian society, contemporary real world perspective and lawlessness. An extreme counter to everything that's NOT utopian society is shameless guilt free sex. It's a flawed reactionary resistance to the norm as well as one of the only ways to find carnal pleasure in a bombed out death-ridden society, but also it's a way to exhibit power and have needs satisfied in a world where there is no power.

Doof was "not all there" in the head to begin with, but he also was enslaved and corrupted. His violent sexual aggression I see was a way of expressing extreme power and control in a chaotic element, this is evident in his new name. I'll have to read back up on him to postulate more.

On the other hand, the perception is a forced societal evolution into the pre-war ideas, where Pink's benevolent dictatorship surveillance state is becoming the norm at the same time of all this liberation. Too early to tell where this goes because we really haven't seen much resistance to the privacy violation this device causes, but it's interesting to see how an element of order quickly mashes back to some the previous shame-influenced ideologies that existed pre-war. 

Blah  blah, war never changes, etc. maybe?

Somber's interview running commentary:

Spoiler:

Cptadder wrote:I'm still around I just avoid this thread for spoilers since I stopped reading back in the 50s. But my grand recap is starting next week. Details this afternoon.

Ah, neat.


@Harmony re the flash drives:
The problem is that Somber does some of his writing on computers at the schools where he's working, and he's often not given internet privileges.  Yes, really.  Because why would a substitute teacher want to use the internet?

O. Hinds wrote:

SilentCarto wrote:Unless he needs them to actually fall back into the Core, which I feel would involve destroying the great bulk of the people he was trying to sacrifice.

...Why would pushing them into the Core prevent him from sacrificing them?  Wouldn't it make it substantially easier?

No, I meant the opposite. The idea that Amadi is trying to sacrifice the population of Hoofington is potentially interesting, but his behavior doesn't seem to support that. If he just needed to keep everyone within X miles of the city center, a la FMA Brotherhood, then there would be no reason to press inward; the Brood could just form a perimeter and hold them there until the ritual was complete. (Assuming he had to attack at all to pull that off.) If he needed to push them all into some specific smaller area, for example the Core, then using a slowly-constricting circle of Brood seems like an inefficient way to do it because most of the sacrifices would die fighting back before they reached the breaking point and fell back into the Core itself.

Now, the encirclement might make sense if he wanted to simply kill everyone in the Hoof in hopes that the EoS would capture enough souls, but solid military tactics would still make that go faster. In short, I can see no reason Amadi would deliberately use poor tactics, whatever his goal.

Caoimhe wrote:*Snip*

Not sure I agree with the assumption of clothing=shame. With humans this assumption makes a lot more sense simply because of the way we move, where are bits and bobs are placed. If we didn't cover ourselves we would be exposed to the world simply by walking around. But consider the way a pony is shaped their bits and bobs are just as easily hidden by a bushy tail as a dress or pair of pants. I guess as a person you could have really long hair, but that is only practical to Bayonetta.

I think the much easier answer is that Rarity and tailors like her were replaced by factories as industry moved in and clothing was more readily available to the average joe. Clothing in my opinion isn't a result of shame in equestria but probably status.

It relates to the Garden of Eden mythology. There was utopia, then Satan introduced sin and shame into the world, so Adam and Eve covered up.

Caoimhe wrote:It relates to the Garden of Eden mythology. There was utopia, then Satan introduced sin and shame into the world, so Adam and Eve covered up.

I'm aware of the tale. Satan as a snake tempts Eve... so on and so forth. And the tale makes a degree of sense because by covering our bodies with clothing we hide our privates. Pony's tails and legs in my opinion would do a sufficent job of that without the need of clothing.

SilentCarto wrote:No, I meant the opposite. The idea that Amadi is trying to sacrifice the population of Hoofington is potentially interesting, but his behavior doesn't seem to support that. If he just needed to keep everyone within X miles of the city center, a la FMA Brotherhood, then there would be no reason to press inward; the Brood could just form a perimeter and hold them there until the ritual was complete. (Assuming he had to attack at all to pull that off.) If he needed to push them all into some specific smaller area, for example the Core, then using a slowly-constricting circle of Brood seems like an inefficient way to do it because most of the sacrifices would die fighting back before they reached the breaking point and fell back into the Core itself.

Now, the encirclement might make sense if he wanted to simply kill everyone in the Hoof in hopes that the EoS would capture enough souls, but solid military tactics would still make that go faster. In short, I can see no reason Amadi would deliberately use poor tactics, whatever his goal.

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

O. Hinds wrote:re Somber's appearance:
I saw him once before when he accidentally started a video instead of audio chat, but yeah, I don't think he looks bad.  Looking at him in the interview, he kind of in appearance reminded me of Arcade Gannon.

Ha, I thought the same thing.

Ok... My first post here...
I've been reading Project Horizons since December 10th and I just finished reading Best Night Ever (57) a few minutes ago. And I just want to say that this is the most intense and nerve wrecking story I had ever read. Somber is a true artist with his words and his editors are equally as good.

"Almost" every chapter ends with a cliffhanger, not that saying I didn't like it. But normally I'm just not a fan of that. But PH changed that for me.

I remember last week just reading PH after lunch one day and when I looked up from reading, it's dinner time and almost 7 hours later. I just can't stop reading :D

Plus, I also wanted to catch up before Somber finishes the last chapter. Now I've been reading for almost a month (27 days today) and I almost catched up with the 1.6 million words O.o

It's nice to meet you.  I'm really glad you like my story.  Not really sure why, but glad you do!

Also, where has this been my whole life!  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AooOD3qTRlQPdGRXb1U5YzRGbW9JNk5Dd1NYOUhFS1E#gid=0

swicked wrote:Hi guy!

Out of curiosity, did no one else like Toaster?

Only you, which tells me that I did him well.

Edit:  Hugs.

Somber wrote:Also, where has this been my whole life!  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AooOD3qTRlQPdGRXb1U5YzRGbW9JNk5Dd1NYOUhFS1E#gid=0

That is quite a lovely spreadsheet for reference. Though I'm surprised they didn't note Blackjack's real name, also there's a typo on 257 B.

Somber wrote:Only you, which tells me that I did him well.

Exacta, this is accurate.

Somber wrote:Edit:  Hugs.

*hugs very gently*

@ILM126:
Welcome to the forum!
Oh, if you're joining that far back, you ought to be aware that this thread tends to drop spoiler marking for a chapter not all that long after its release, so you read here at your own peril until you catch up (unless you don't care about spoilers, of course).
I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so much, though. :)

Ryx wrote:also there's a typo on 257 B

What do you mean?

O. Hinds wrote:

Ryx wrote:also there's a typo on 257 B

What do you mean?

Honestly I don't know why I didn't just say it...
On line 257, for Legate Vitiosus, his spoiler name is listed as "Admati" rather than Amadi.

Oh, cell 257 B. Thanks.
...Though, right, I can't do anything about this. I'm used to being able to correct all the errors pointed out in this thread. :)

O. Hinds wrote:Oh, cell 257 B.  Thanks.
...Though, right, I can't do anything about this.  I'm used to being able to correct all the errors pointed out in this thread.  :)

Heh, ah I forget terminology like that too easily... Ah... and there is that, yeah. I wasn't sure if mentioning it here would be a good enough way for it to get back to the person who made the spreadsheet... Apparently it is open for adding "comments" though, so I tried putting a note on the cell and hopefully they'll be able to take care of it...

swicked wrote:

SilentCarto wrote:In short, I can see no reason Amadi would deliberately use poor tactics, whatever his goal.

I figured there were technological restrictions.
You remember the starmetal broadcaster when Blackjack cracked the guy open?
A limited cue or range of instructions. Latency issues. The need and/or potential rarity of "relay" Brood hidden within the ranks.
These "smarter" Brood might be his attempt to adapt the Brood so that more sophisticated tactics can be realized before much longer. If that's the case and Storm Chaser allows herself to become complacent with her "stupid" enemy, she's in for a nasty surprise.

There's no need for him to relay orders solely through his implant. He could just as easily use an ordinary radio to transmit verbal orders to the internal radios that every Brood has, like any other military commander.

I think he's uninterested in commanding large-scale actions, or learning to do so. He'd much rather be on the front lines, kicking ass and taking names, which he's good at, but it leaves his troops acting like idiots. He probably had tacticians at his command when he was leading the zebras, but not for the Brood. But then he has an unlimited supply of Brood, so there's no particular need for awesome tactics.

But really, he's an immortal master of all martial arts and dark sorcerer. Does he really NEED to get the "tactical genius" hat as well?

Somber wrote:It's nice to meet you.  I'm really glad you like my story.  Not really sure why, but glad you do!

Also, where has this been my whole life!  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AooOD3qTRlQPdGRXb1U5YzRGbW9JNk5Dd1NYOUhFS1E#gid=0

I think I first mentioned it here late in 2013, and linked to it about a year ago when someone mentioned having trouble tracking characters. I probably could have done more to enhance its visibility, though, and for that I'm sorry.

swicked wrote:

Somber wrote:Only you, which tells me that I did him well.

Awww... well, you really did. The guy's just such a fun total bastard.

I think he works to fill a role similar to Brass and then Charm. I think there are differences in how I reacted, though, because he is specifically targeting people other than Blackjack (compared to Brass), is more competent (than Charm), and comes across as, effectively, a domestic abuser. He's still someone to root against, but I don't find him as fun.

O. Hinds wrote:Oh, cell 257 B.  Thanks.
...Though, right, I can't do anything about this.  I'm used to being able to correct all the errors pointed out in this thread.  :)

Would you like to be able to? I could add, at the least, Somber and the editing team.

WavemasterRyx wrote:

O. Hinds wrote:Oh, cell 257 B.  Thanks.
...Though, right, I can't do anything about this.  I'm used to being able to correct all the errors pointed out in this thread.  :)

Heh, ah I forget terminology like that too easily...  Ah... and there is that, yeah.  I wasn't sure if mentioning it here would be a good enough way for it to get back to the person who made the spreadsheet...  Apparently it is open for adding "comments" though, so I tried putting a note on the cell and hopefully they'll be able to take care of it...

That one should be fixed. I've also added "Go Fish" as an alias for Blackjack.

More on the 72 interview/recent discussion here: I think that I have a philosophical difference with Hinds, in that very often I don't think the specifics of how things work is of particular importance in stories. That's far from never, of course, but the operations only matter to me if they make a difference to what's going on, or if that is what the story is about. For instance, as far as I can tell, the only thing that we really need to know about tanks is that they are self-repairing tanks, with limits. The fuel source and similar technical details, though well-thought out and developed in the Setting thread, are something extraneous to what's going on. Deus runs, and that's what matters. If he runs on magic, or cic, or a compact nuclear reactor or battery doesn't matter unless that will be used to define what he can or cannot do in relation to the rest of the world. Does he need refueling, and if so, where can that be done? Will he cause a nuclear disaster if blown up? What do you need to do to beat him? It's questions like these that define what I think I need to know, and even that can be fudged if what happens feels plausible. Of course, if your genre is hard sci-fi, it's different.

swicked wrote:I wouldn't expect him to be a tactical genius, but I still figure him to be familiar with it.
This army exists to keep the good guys occupied while he works on other things, certainly.
I'm not sure the radio idea has merit, depending on how the Brood operate. If they'd be able to particularly recognize his voice or his com system was encrypted such that some of the other old world tech across the wasteland couldn't be used to hack it.
'Cause then he'd lose control of his army to any decent impersonator, right?

It worked well enough for Lighthoof... Pipbuck broadcasters have built-in encryption, remember?