(WIP) Broken Fable [182k Words, Updated 2/2/24]

It seems that her main weapon of choice was the bow and arrows so I’m not sure why she fights barehanded in this one and I’m ignoring F/GO as they take way too much liberty with the mythology and legendary figures. But she is also skilled with other weapons and sometimes rides a lion into battle.

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You’re being disnegenuous. There is stark difference from Ishtar choosing to take medicine to Arthur’s uncontrollable bloodlust and Janus’ lack of clarity. Primarily, the two latter do not possess the agency to just stop. It doesn’t matter if they actually want to or not, it’s not something they can choose. This loss of agency is what makes them weak.

When Arthur took hold of frostmour- I mean excalibur, that agency of free-will ceased to exist. Janus, when they chose that fate as their own, similarly lost that agency.

Ishtar, on the other hand, can choose not to take the medicine. Will it fundamentally affect her ability to socialize? Of course, but it’s a choice she can get to make. What matters more to her? And if she chooses wrongly, she can always make and take those pills.

Though interestingly, all the fables say something along the lines of them not interacting with humanity much. Ishtar, in particular, no longer has a shortage of augmented people she can interact with, and if her aura has no effect on augmented, this makes her able to socialize (albeit in a limited fashion, but what’s new for them?) with others without the need to take her pills.

However you are also saddled with hallucinations that you cannot tell from reality. When you overexert your power you mind often shatters, resulting in these hallucinations. In the most extreme cases it can also lead to seizures. You can usually control yourself enough to prevent it from happening, but there are times when drastic measures are called for.

This strips Janus of their potential. This necessarily limits them.

And himself. Same with Janus. Their weakness strips them of their ability to be themselves (that is, if you take this state of being to be not themselves instead of their natural state of being). Ishtar does not (though I haven’t fully read the entire texts, I skip a lot, so I may be mistaken).

Now, Ishtar’s:

Your pills help with this but when you run out it is impossible for you to interact normally with humans. They also extract a considerable toll on you physically when coming off them.

The ability to subjugate most of humanity through sheer presence alone is scary. What’s scarier is that this medicine she chooses to take also makes her physically weaker. She’s limiting herself through her own agency. Which the others do not possess the luxury of.

So though I do think we agree she has her problems, our semantic differences makes us unable to reconcile this as her weakness.

I begrudingly say this, and only because I have anecdotal evidence from some of the people I know, but overconfidence, in many cases, is not a weakness. It propels someone who possesses no qualification or experience to a job or role that have no business being in. But surprise surprise, they get that job/role.
(Sorry for the rant).

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Yes, I was really surprised to read her ability as flight. Was kinda underwhelmed, then she did that thing with Ares.

This is precisely it, that’s why comparatively, he’s the weakest. Pair him against the other fables and I am hard pressed to see him win.

Janus precogs him so hard.
Zeus blasts him.
Ishtar does what it is she can do.

Also, he’s the youngest.

Maybe the next chapters will show a lot more of Arthur’s skills. But as of now, he’s not all that strong compared to the other three. And we have Sun Wukong coming.

I’m glad this thread is getting a lot of feedback.

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I’ll bet people are going for the Monkey King background more than the others. I know for sure it’s gonna be my main background with Arthur Pendragon as the close second. But what I’m really excited for is to see all of the characters’ reaction to the MC revealing who they really are and everyone but Khan gets a cold sweat.

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I agree, that one and Zeus are gonna be my mains I think.

Can’t go wrong with picking Goku.

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He’s arguably the most popular (with Arthur contending). Can’t wait to see what the author has in store for them.

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I love this already. Indestructible immortal stuck with a charge? Add the mythology in and you have got me hooked. This story has so many avenues open, I’m excited to see the direction you take. This is such an interesting take on both mythology and superhero themed ifs!

I chose Janus for my first route, and I already see so much potential with it. In my opinion, precognition is one of the most fucked up powers there is, add that up with hallucinations, and you’ve got yourself one angsty canon. I’ll be trying Ishtar next. I gravitate towards the more originally feminine figures, but I can’t wait to try the masculine ones too!

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You can play Zeus as a woman but Arthur is genderlocked male.

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I’m going Zeus fun to smite people with lightning

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THE PELE UPDATE IS LIVE

I’ve had the complete Pele update ready for a while, so gonna go ahead and upload it along with a grammer patch. I ended up making them gender customizable.

Patch .01

  • The Pele branch is now flushed out and in the demo
  • Many grammer mistakes and bugs have been fixed

Sun Wukong is still in the works, and I am very excited to upload it within the coming week.

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Just tried out Pele and it’s interesting how it stands out, you did a great job making each origin feel different so far.

Ares didn’t get a good match up this time but he was surprisingly clever.

Pele might have the most versatile / potent power set so far but they also have the most directly crippling weakness in a fight / the most ‘kryptonite-like’ weakness.

One point of criticism I noticed is that it’s kinda weird to have Takashi dismiss you as a weakling in the same way regardless of the origin when you choose to give an ‘overview’ of your ‘augments’. I understand why he’d dismissive Arthur and Ishtar but it’s harder to justify with Zeus’s ‘I can control electricity’ since it’s pretty similar his mom being able to control shadows and it’s kinda ridiculous when he call Pele a ‘third rate weakling’ when he just got told ‘I’m basically a mini version of a particularly dangerous Volcano’.

Can’t wait for Sun Wukong.

I found a typo

It should be ‘by layering one strip of lava’, not ‘by layering a one strip of lava’

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Even then it’s ZEUS man. Takashis trying to hard to be cool. Although he doesn’t know your real name and probably never will.

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That is a good point about Takashi. I’ll rework the dialogue a bit to suit each character more and upload it when I upload Sun Wukong.

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To be fair he doesn’t know that so he’s probably just judging from what you actually said but like there’s nothing to disparage about ‘I can control electricity’, at least not in a way that wouldn’t also insult his mom.

At least with ‘I’m a swordsman’ and ‘I can fly’, you can easily see Takashi’s reaction of ‘Swordsman = Doesn’t even sound like an Augment’ and ‘Flying = Doesn’t sound powerful / Isn’t an offensive or particularly devastating ability’ even if we, the Reader, know he’s massively misreading the situation.

Glad I could provide useful feedback!

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Whoa, nice, I am looking forward to the complete game

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May I ask if Arthur was previously a minor augment, or just a ridiculously talented human, before he got Excalibur?

Also, does Sumairah Khan also have a weakness? Or is this a spoiler?

And in regards to Pele, I know nothing of Hawaiian legends, but you have certainly lent considerable gravitas to their origins. The only fable (yet) to feel primordial, and the only fable aside from Ishtar to not actually just be an ordinary augment. Excited for what you have in store for Wukong.

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Augment just seem to be the word for anything superhuman so technically, they all are ‘actually just augments’ even if they are also legitimately gods.

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I agree, that’s why I used the word ‘ordinary’ to delineate them from the more human origins. It’s interesting how Ishtar doesn’t actually know her origins, while Pele just sprung forth from the earth. Zeus came from Kronos, Arthur came from an ordinary family, and Janus from a not so ordinary family.

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I haven’t posted anything in years, but for this I’m going to make an exception for because i love the core concept of this more than any WIP I’ve seen in a long time. I wish though that all the backgrounds were gender selectable, the 3 that are I liked a lot, i couldn’t finish the goddess one because once that kiss happened I was like “Ew not happening” but, again, the core idea is amazing and I can’t wait to see how this turns out, I haven’t been this exited to see something since Tale of Two Cranes which never seemed to get published for some reason

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I like the concept.

Oh, and I found a typo.

“It’s 1943 now, and you have dealt enough damage to German infrastructure for you to consider your due’s’s to the British paid.”

At the beginning, when you choose to target Germany’s key factories.

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