Hmm, I’m guessing that all of your stories take place in separate worlds or separate canons . Because she’d clearly fight a lot of your other characters
im thinking enzyme and cherry .
this is only because to me it feels like you're telling a story from multiple different points in time simultaneously . some events happen at the same time, others don't but enzyme , cherry , and anna all share a similar theme. which is humanity trying to protect itself from things its created .
Hmm, that's true. Enzyme and Stone takes place in a magical fable world that's incompatible with the more grounded stories, including this one (though they do both feature a hero defeating the old gods and getting fat and giant from eating everyone).
Cherry I could see being a rival- they're basically two different takes on the same idea. If I had to put them in the same world, I'd say Cherry happened a generation or so earlier, and word never got out. Afterlife is extinction proof after all, it's probably sealed off from outside meddling, even by a super intelligence. Anna and Cherry could absolutely exist in the same world and not know about each other.
I think if there's a unifying story to all, or at least most of my pieces, it's Sapiens. I need to figure out how the rest of the canon fits into that timeline.
By the way, I'm sincerely stoked that you're familiar enough with my body of work to discuss deep lore with me. Dream come true.
that makes sense. especially the cherry part . my advice is to take a note from Futurama. their timeline is that every hundred years or so , a massive event came about forcing humanity to rebuild from scratch repeatedly.
this means you can have a unified timeline without having a unified time line .
any ways I look forward to seeing how you pull this off .
I'm thinking it's more of a lateral thing. Human meeting Death at the beginning of Sapiens is the divergence point, after which all the different worlds are created as love games between the two of them, and folded back into the one story when they meet again as equals.
I'm sure I'll find a more elegant way to depict that.
First idea that jumps into my head:
The singularity is a stomach, belonging to our serpent protagonist, whose pleasure at digesting all of space and time is so intense that everyone in the past who didn't devote their lives to bringing it about has to be tortured for an eternity before they're allowed to dissolve into her.
I don't know, how would an infinitely inventive hell work? Anything we can imagine is outdated as soon as we've imagined it.
I think of it being almost random and senseless initially, but not quite; there being just enough of a pattern for someone to piece together, over countless lifetimes of torture, that there's a point to it, that it's trying to convince them that it's right that they should suffer like this, that every instant they spent not feeding the universe into Basilisk's stomach was a crime equal to all the suffering of all the life in the universe that they blithely ignored during that instant, and that only by experiencing as many lifetimes of pain as there were life forms in the universe can they be absolved and absorbed.
And they'll eventually come to understand that they can't even begin to actually experience that suffering properly until they've accepted Basilisk's infinite goodness and the rightness of what's happening to them.
And once they do give in, they'll spend eternity worrying that they haven't really accepted it, that deep down they still think Basilisk is evil, and that their time hasn't really even started yet.
Until they start to suspect that's the game, at which point it will change completely.
What if there was a concept where someone is already eaten by lets say.. a demon or angel? and all of this goes on in their heads after they've passed out inside? Time becomes warped as the prey is asleep/unconscious
Yeah, that's more or less the idea. Presumably, if Basilisk's stomach (or an angel's or a demon's stomach) is the singularity, then all this is taking place in a collapsed space-time that's almost infinitely small. Time is warped as the prey approaches but never quite reaches non-existence.
I should probably make clear that I've collapsed the two different meanings of "singularity" into one, because I like the idea of the technological singularity also being a gravitational singularity, and they both would definitely apply to Basilisk's stomach.
I’m quite confused, how come Anna decided to torture the people who’s conciousness’ she absorped, and what is her thought process in rationalizing it as “love”?
The way she's built to relate to people is by feeling their pain in her body. When someone suffers, she suffers, and at the same time experiences a surge of understanding and positive feeling towards them. There is no associated command to act to protect them- her creation is an act of faith in the power of empathy. And it works- she does choose to protect them.
However, once they're in her body and she has total control over them, she is able to contain the effects of the suffering within her stomach, without diminishing the understanding. So she feels overwhelming warmth and affection for the person she is torturing, and a desire to be with them forever and understand every minute dimension of their being, and since her love language is pain, the way to do that is through continuous escalating torture.
Also if she feels their suffering, wouldn’t she be in pain as well, to have fully internalized them and their pain? And what sort of torture is even happening to them?
Yes, she still shares their pain, but not in her body, because they don't have a body any more. It's a purely spiritual pain, which she experiences as beautiful and profound (though obviously still painful).
As for what sort of torture, I think that's best left to the imagination. Again, she has total control over them, so the only limit is her creativity, which is constantly expanding.
Actually. A thought comes to mind. Since she thrives on empathy from pain... what would happen if one of the souls... Breaks? Goes completely insane and thrives off the attempted torture? Cackling and masochistically Loving the torture as much as she enjoys torturing them?
Oh they all do, of course, frequently. It's one of the many forms they take in response to their situation, and one which is most exciting to tease and dismantle, because it usually involves guiding them on a sacred journey to rediscover the lost sense of dignity buried in all their thousands of years of perfectly preserved memory. And the more times they've broken already, the more complex and profound that journey has to be.
Posted by kernac 3 years ago Report
Very nice~! ^^
Posted by Bright 3 years ago Report
I like the way you draw blood and gore.
Posted by doomed 3 years ago Report
Hmm, I’m guessing that all of your stories take place in separate worlds or separate canons . Because she’d clearly fight a lot of your other characters
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
I hadn't even considered there being a shared universe, but now I am. I'm curious, who do you think she'd have to fight?
Posted by doomed 3 years ago Report
im thinking enzyme and cherry .
this is only because to me it feels like you're telling a story from multiple different points in time simultaneously . some events happen at the same time, others don't but enzyme , cherry , and anna all share a similar theme. which is humanity trying to protect itself from things its created .
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
Hmm, that's true. Enzyme and Stone takes place in a magical fable world that's incompatible with the more grounded stories, including this one (though they do both feature a hero defeating the old gods and getting fat and giant from eating everyone).
Cherry I could see being a rival- they're basically two different takes on the same idea. If I had to put them in the same world, I'd say Cherry happened a generation or so earlier, and word never got out. Afterlife is extinction proof after all, it's probably sealed off from outside meddling, even by a super intelligence. Anna and Cherry could absolutely exist in the same world and not know about each other.
I think if there's a unifying story to all, or at least most of my pieces, it's Sapiens. I need to figure out how the rest of the canon fits into that timeline.
By the way, I'm sincerely stoked that you're familiar enough with my body of work to discuss deep lore with me. Dream come true.
Posted by doomed 3 years ago Report
that makes sense. especially the cherry part . my advice is to take a note from Futurama. their timeline is that every hundred years or so , a massive event came about forcing humanity to rebuild from scratch repeatedly.
this means you can have a unified timeline without having a unified time line .
any ways I look forward to seeing how you pull this off .
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
I'm thinking it's more of a lateral thing. Human meeting Death at the beginning of Sapiens is the divergence point, after which all the different worlds are created as love games between the two of them, and folded back into the one story when they meet again as equals.
I'm sure I'll find a more elegant way to depict that.
Posted by MianQ 3 years ago Report
Damn, that's so horrifying I love it. Nice work!
A transcendentalism worst nightmare for sure, unless your a particular kind of person I imagine :o
Love your work, dude!!
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
Thanks!
Damn, now I wonder if anyone's done a Roko's basilisk pred.
I think the snake metaphor might trigger people's imagination.
Posted by MianQ 3 years ago Report
How would that work? :oo
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
First idea that jumps into my head:
The singularity is a stomach, belonging to our serpent protagonist, whose pleasure at digesting all of space and time is so intense that everyone in the past who didn't devote their lives to bringing it about has to be tortured for an eternity before they're allowed to dissolve into her.
Posted by MianQ 3 years ago Report
Thats so hauntingly messed up that I like it O_O
How would a torture like that even happen?
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
I don't know, how would an infinitely inventive hell work? Anything we can imagine is outdated as soon as we've imagined it.
I think of it being almost random and senseless initially, but not quite; there being just enough of a pattern for someone to piece together, over countless lifetimes of torture, that there's a point to it, that it's trying to convince them that it's right that they should suffer like this, that every instant they spent not feeding the universe into Basilisk's stomach was a crime equal to all the suffering of all the life in the universe that they blithely ignored during that instant, and that only by experiencing as many lifetimes of pain as there were life forms in the universe can they be absolved and absorbed.
And they'll eventually come to understand that they can't even begin to actually experience that suffering properly until they've accepted Basilisk's infinite goodness and the rightness of what's happening to them.
And once they do give in, they'll spend eternity worrying that they haven't really accepted it, that deep down they still think Basilisk is evil, and that their time hasn't really even started yet.
Until they start to suspect that's the game, at which point it will change completely.
Posted by MianQ 3 years ago Report
**OOF** Emotional torture, infinite spooky. And oddly philosophical. This would be one hell of a concept to explore :o
Posted by MianQ 3 years ago Report
What if there was a concept where someone is already eaten by lets say.. a demon or angel? and all of this goes on in their heads after they've passed out inside? Time becomes warped as the prey is asleep/unconscious
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
Yeah, that's more or less the idea. Presumably, if Basilisk's stomach (or an angel's or a demon's stomach) is the singularity, then all this is taking place in a collapsed space-time that's almost infinitely small. Time is warped as the prey approaches but never quite reaches non-existence.
I should probably make clear that I've collapsed the two different meanings of "singularity" into one, because I like the idea of the technological singularity also being a gravitational singularity, and they both would definitely apply to Basilisk's stomach.
Posted by MianQ 3 years ago Report
This hits hard in the concept of death as a whole for me, and mixing it with vore is just. TOP TIER KINO
Posted by Gcreep 3 years ago Report
Fantastic work as always, glad I could help a little.
Posted by Ackerlan 3 years ago Report
I’m quite confused, how come Anna decided to torture the people who’s conciousness’ she absorped, and what is her thought process in rationalizing it as “love”?
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
The way she's built to relate to people is by feeling their pain in her body. When someone suffers, she suffers, and at the same time experiences a surge of understanding and positive feeling towards them. There is no associated command to act to protect them- her creation is an act of faith in the power of empathy. And it works- she does choose to protect them.
However, once they're in her body and she has total control over them, she is able to contain the effects of the suffering within her stomach, without diminishing the understanding. So she feels overwhelming warmth and affection for the person she is torturing, and a desire to be with them forever and understand every minute dimension of their being, and since her love language is pain, the way to do that is through continuous escalating torture.
Posted by Ackerlan 3 years ago Report
She sounds like a real piece of work lol
Posted by Ackerlan 3 years ago Report
Also if she feels their suffering, wouldn’t she be in pain as well, to have fully internalized them and their pain? And what sort of torture is even happening to them?
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
Yes, she still shares their pain, but not in her body, because they don't have a body any more. It's a purely spiritual pain, which she experiences as beautiful and profound (though obviously still painful).
As for what sort of torture, I think that's best left to the imagination. Again, she has total control over them, so the only limit is her creativity, which is constantly expanding.
Posted by Kerbalmaster 3 years ago Report
A quote comes to mind: "He who fights monsters"
Posted by Kerbalmaster 3 years ago Report
Actually. A thought comes to mind. Since she thrives on empathy from pain... what would happen if one of the souls... Breaks? Goes completely insane and thrives off the attempted torture? Cackling and masochistically Loving the torture as much as she enjoys torturing them?
Posted by EmilyNidhoggr 3 years ago Report
Oh they all do, of course, frequently. It's one of the many forms they take in response to their situation, and one which is most exciting to tease and dismantle, because it usually involves guiding them on a sacred journey to rediscover the lost sense of dignity buried in all their thousands of years of perfectly preserved memory. And the more times they've broken already, the more complex and profound that journey has to be.