The end of Arc 1 (or how the publisher’s prefer it: Volume 1) of The Allbright System.
It’s been… 22 months since I started writing this absolute behemoth of a Volume and never in a million years did I expect to get anywhere near the reception that I did.
Nor did I expect it to end up at like 850k words.
So, first and foremost, thank you all for the incredible amount of support on the novel so far.
I could give you a whole backstory and sob-inducing emotional lamentations of my life or whatever, but let’s be real, nobody here cares about that shit.
So I’ll get to the real interesting part, instead: The Post-Mortem of Arc 1.
When I started writing the very first chapters of TAS, specifically Arc 0; I had absolutely no idea where the story was going to go.
I am what is generally considered a “Discovery Writer”.
That means that I “discover” the story as I write it, rather than pre-plan every single little thing.
My writing process does not include exact outlines, drafts or anything of the sort, but rather relies on improvisation and imagination mid writing.
I generally have a rough idea of the kind of story-beats I want to add into a chapter, like ideas A, B and C, but when they show up or how exactly they come to be, is often completely up to the mood of the day—or rather: The rules of the world.
When it comes to my style of writing, specifically, I see myself as more of an Oracle, than a God; to put it in more abstract, but pointed, terms.
Where a God controls everything and can make decisions on a whim, an Oracle simply observes the happenings and maybe manages to nudge a specific event into one direction or another; but they are ultimately powerless to change anything drastic.
That is my style of writing.
The Allbright System, much like all of my worlds, has a very stringent set of rules that govern the world; which is part of the reason a lot of Arc 1’s lectures ended up being so pertinent and important to me, as an author.
For a Discovery Writer in the Oracle function, I don’t just benefit, but downright require the audience to understand a lot of the underlying rules of the world; much more so than a Planned Writer or a God function one.
The rules don’t just serve me as a guide-rail, but also serve the reader as an anchor-point, to where they will understand how certain situations will play out, without my explicit say-so.
They help especially with avoiding the much-dreaded “Deus Ex Machina” moments; where certain things feel completely out of character for the world, simply to further a character’s story.
With my style of writing, it is very hard to run into a moment where such a device is even viable to employ, as the readers, themselves, understand on a more fundamental level what the world would allow and what it wouldn’t.
And that’s a good thing, in my mind.
At the same time, however, being a Discovery Writer in the Oracle function, means that I also do not control as much of the story as you, as the reader, would like to believe.
While yes, I am the Author and I can technically write whatever I want; the second I break my own rules, is when the story dies.
It is similar to cheating in single-player video games, where you’re only really limited by your own strength of will and your own interest and moral guidelines to not cheat to make the game easier or “more fun” momentarily.
But once you cheat, it is hard to get back to the same feeling of enjoyment as before.
The same applies to writing in the way that I write; and why I can’t simply write whatever I want.
My writing is almost entirely dictated by one of three things (in order of import):
- The World’s rules.
- The Dice.
- Specific Story Beats
The first, I previously explained.
The second, might come as a surprise to some of you; though I have mentioned it in the Discord a few times before.
The Allbright System is partially written with “true” RNG elements, where I roll literal, physical dice to determine the outcome of a certain event.
This does not happen all the time (it is actually quite rare), but when it does happen, then the dice have 100% of the control of the situation.
One such example would be Thea’s survival on Day 1 of the Assessment.
When Thea turned into “Patches” and later “Banshee” and suffered innumerable, horrific wounds, barely managing to collapse on top of Viladia in the Silver Forest.
That was one such moment, where the dice had full control of the situation.
Thea, at the time, had a calculated 80% (or 70%?? I don’t remember exactly) chance of dying, but she got lucky on the dice roll; thus she survived the first day of the Assessment and the whole sequence with Karania at the tent played out.
This also led to Thea’s Awakening being during the travel back to the front, as the timeline had shifted as a result of her surviving (she spent more time in the coma than she would have, if she had simply died and respawned).
Thea’s Awakening, then, is the last of the three examples: A Specific Story Beat.
Those are semi-common, but their actual timing is completely reliant on the other two aspects, which is why it’s at the very bottom of the list.
In the example of Thea’s Awakening, the actual Specific Story Beat was simply “Thea needs to have an Awakening when she invests X amount of points into Perception/Resolve”.
That was the Specific Story Beat I had set out before I had even begun writing the first Assessment chapter, because I knew it needed to happen during the Assessment to work with the overall story.
But WHEN that Awakening was to occur, was completely up to the whims of the other two deciding factors: The World’s Rules and the Dice.
The World’s Rules dictated that Thea would gain X amount of Contribution Points from her actions, enough to level her up to level Y, giving her Z amount of Attribute Points to invest.
The Dice dictated that Thea survived the suicide mission, rather than dying and respawning, which caused her to desynch from the rest of the squad, minus Karania.
The result was Chapter 65 - Fragmentum Excitat, in which Thea had her Psychic Awakening as a result of investing her points during the drive back towards the front.
Had she died in the forest and respawned instead, she would not have gotten enough CP to level up to that degree; thus not creating the Awakening at that point in time, but sometime later in the Assessment instead.
That is but one example of how the three main dictators of my writing style interact, but I hope it illustrates some of the chain of events that happen in the world of TAS, behind the scenes.
The way that I write TAS is by merely observing Thea move through the world.
She is a fully fledged out character with wants, needs, dreams and goals, as well as capabilities to reach those goals and everything that happens is merely a natural consequence of her following those.
I do not force events, I merely observe them happening as a result of the World’s established rules being enacted upon by the characters and the characters being enacted upon by the World’s rules.
This leads to a bit of an issue in terms of word count, at times, as some events simply cannot be “accelerated” with my style of writing.
They happen at the natural speed that the world dictates and there is nothing I can do about it.
At best, I can skip describing the parts in between the prior event and the next one, but that is also not always an option.
Ultimately, it’s a trade-off I chose to make when I started writing in this way.
I write the same way I play TTRPGs: By simulating the world and simply describing how the characters move through it.
Without this framework, there would be no chance in hell that I could have cranked out 850k+ words on this story.
So for everyone that dislikes the wordy nature of my writing and that some Arcs are slower than others, going more in-depth on characters, the world’s rules or whatever else the characters might be focusing on; I can only say: Tough luck; it won’t change.
While I have gotten better at skipping over less important bits, keeping the pace up in areas where it makes sense and removing unneeded stuff; and I hope I will keep improving on that regard; the truth of the matter is that my overall STYLE, won’t change.
I will continue to be a Discovery Writer in the function of the Oracle; which by definition is the most wordy of possible combinations.
Lastly, I just want to take a quick minute to give a rundown of the planned size for TAS, as it will inevitable come up:
The Allbright System is a Sci Fi Epic.
It is designed as such, written as such and will become as such.
What that means for you guys, is a LOOONG time of reading this stupid story, while for me, it means a long time of writing this stupid story.
The current outline for TAS is planned for around 10-12 Arcs of a similar length to the one we just finished.
Yes, I understand that this is a lot of words.
Yes, I understand that this means, at the current pace of 1 Arc/2 Years, we will be here until 2040+.
That’s fine with me, because I plan to keep writing as long as people are reading the stupid story; so just buckle the fuck up.
That’s all I really gotta say about that.
There is only three instances where TAS ends earlier:
- People stop reading.
- Thea dies.
- I die.
The first is obvious.
The second might make you go, “wait a fucking second, what?” but if you’ve been paying attention to what I said earlier about my writing STYLE, then this shouldn’t actually be that difficult to understand:
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
- Thea does not have plot armour.
There is a very good reason that the UHF is the Faction with the “respawn” Trait, and that reason is that I like to give natural consequences to a character's decisions.
And that includes the MC.
If Thea does stupid shit; she dies.
It’s that simple.
For TAS, she will have a buffer where she gets to revive multiple times, but that buffer is governed by the World’s Rules, as mentioned earlier. And those World’s Rules are THE MOST important aspect of the story, even before the Dice and even before the Specific Story Beats.
That means if the World’s Rules dictates that Thea dies, again and again, then she will die, again and again.
And at some point, her Faction Trait cost will be so high, that she cannot respawn.
That is the natural consequence of the World’s Rules; and the natural end of TAS as a story.
While that is a distinct POSSIBILITY, it is highly unlikely with the way that the story is setup, but I wanted to point it out to people that weren’t aware of this from my earlier talking points.
As for the third option, that one should also be pretty obvious.
If I fucking die, then the story also ends… Unless somebody picks up the mantle and keeps it going.
You have my full permission to write off-shoot fanfics of TAS that follow YOUR vision for the story at any point, as long as proper credit is given.
I might be dead, but I still want my fucking name on it somewhere, alright?
Now, I’d say we’ve gotten enough yapping for now, as we might have more posts like this during the Volume 1 -> Volume 2 transition (thanks to my work being an utter fuck-hole at the moment, that makes writing actual chapters downright impossible); but if you have any questions regarding this philosophy of writing, or want more examples of things that happened in this way as a result of the dice or w/e, feel free to ask in the comments.
For now, I’d like to answer some of the Q/A questions that you fine folks have been submitting over the past week-or-so.
Thank you, everyone, for your continued support on the novel and for the questions!
—————————————————Q / A—————————————————
The following questions are not sorted in any way, but I tried to not double-up on any.
Q: When will we get Mecha Lucas?
A: Bit of a loaded question, cause “Mecha Lucas” can mean just about anything.
But in my eyes, there are three distinct versions:
- A platform-based exoskeleton-armour system, that can be equipped with more dakka, carry more equipment and stomp through the landscape as a one-man-Mecha.
- An actual Mech that Lucas gets to own as part of his interest in the heavy machinery of the UHF AD.
- Lucas joining the UHF AD and becoming a full-on Behemoth Pilot, taking charge of something like the Wolf Lords we’ve seen during the Warfare 101 lectures.
The first is fairly easy, as the Ultra Heavy Armour category of equipment does have quite a vast variety of different “thick” options.
From more exoskeleton in design to downright mini-mechs, almost anything is possible in that category. The larger options are generally not used in the UHF Marine Corps, however, as they severely limit the versatility of a given Marine.
Being TOO large is often more of a detriment than an upside.
That said, some of the options DO come with platforms that can either mount extra weaponry, equipment or potentially even squad-members.
Mecha Lucas with Isabella and Thea on his shoulders? That could be reality; but very unlikely!
As for the second and third, we will have to see where, exactly, Lucas’ interests end up leading him.
Right now he is fully enveloped in Alpha Squad’s struggles, trying to make a name for himself as part of Sovereign Alpha (and keep his spot!)
If he ends up losing his spot to someone like Rachel Veronica Masters, however, there is a good chance he will join the UHF AD instead, becoming more focused on the actual vehicle side of things than trying to cram vehicles into the Marine Corps.
Q: What exactly is the relationship between Thea and Kara?
A: Jesus Christ, one loaded question after the other, huh?!
As for their relationship… It’s complicated. Severely so.
Thea, being an orphan from a Midworld that grew up with exactly 2 people she spoke to on a regular basis, that being Thomas and James, has absolutely 0 experience with anything friendship/relationship related AT ALL.
Thea does not even know what friendship really IS, as is portrayed many a times throughout Arc 1. She is so inexperienced, that she relies on the Ship’s AI and GalaxyNet articles to guide her through some of the intricacies of it all.
And we all know how good those are…
Thea is far from really understanding what romance is either.
She has academic understanding thereof, of course, from books, games and series that she had on Lumiosia, but having no real peers to speak off for the entirety of her life except for a few fleeting acquaintances here and there, ultimately means that she has 0 experience.
Thea, at this point in the story, has neither sexual interest nor romantic interest in anything; mostly because she doesn’t even REALLY understand what either of those things are to begin with.
As for Karania… She is in a bit of a different boat, but similarly complex and oddly mirrored.
Karania is somebody that has experienced TOO MANY such emotions over the course of her life, as a result of her memory vault.
She can accurately re-experience any individual moment of her life with 100% emotional impact, whenever she chooses to.
As a result, all of her favourite memories have been locked up in her vault and she has lost any real connection to them.
Her first kiss, the first time her parents told her they were proud, her first patient that she saved, etc.
She doesn’t FEEL those memories, at all.
They are emotionally dead in her heart, brain and body; UNLESS she actively re-lives them.
This was her life for around 13 years, until her teacher taught her how to stop the addiction: Namely, locking away memories to relive them over and over, but losing the real connection to them as a result.
It took a lot for her to get rid of that impulse, but she promised herself she’d make real connections as part of the UHF; and once she did, she wouldn’t lock away any of those memories, no matter what.
And then she met Thea.
A person so thoroughly different, yet similar to herself in an odd way; where they both lack the emotional depth to really be able to tell that they have experienced romance (since Karania lost her romantic memories, emotionally, in the vault) but for entirely different reasons.
For Karania, Thea is both a mirror of herself, in a way, but also a beacon of change; of potential—something she highly values.
It also helps a lot that Thea is very cute when it comes to being oblivious about anything happening around her.
Despite her immense Perception, Thea is as dense as a black hole, as the comment section likes to say, which makes her very adorable in Karania’s eyes.
Kind of like a puppy that is only now learning how to walk, in a way.
That, coupled with Karania’s inherent want for connection after the cold-turkey addiction stoppage of using her vault, caused Karania to get utterly infatuated with Thea.
She isn’t even entirely sure, herself, what kind of feelings she holds for the Cyan, at this stage in the novel, but she is absolutely certain that it is more than mere friend or kinship.
Whether it’s actual love, simple infatuation or a more scientifically-based, deep-seated curiosity, even Karania can’t quite tell.
Where their relationship will go, I do not know.
The World’s Rules and the characters themselves, will dictate it.
Just know this: TAS is not a romance story.
I will not force romance, where there is no place for one.
If Thea and Karania end up romantically interested in one another, I will observe and write it out, as is my role as the Oracle of TAS.
Q: How long until the Thea x Rachel Enemies-to-Lovers arc?
A: This is a highly unlikely scenario.
Q: Something about the world: Do notable Marines ever get their image out to the public or is the knowledge about Aces kept secret from all others outside the UHF?
A: Great question, though a bit complex to answer!
Generally speaking, unless keeping your existence a secret is a benefit, you will be used for propaganda purposes.
There are quite a few mechanics in the System itself, that rely on broad knowledge of your existence (example: Titles); so more often than not there are vastly more benefits to publicizing a certain Ace’s accomplishments than keeping them under wraps.
In certain scenarios, however, it is better to keep the existence of Aces a secret from the general public (and thus, most of the enemy).
This is particularly the case with Assassin-type Aces or Strategic-type Aces; which have vastly disproportionate impacts on the Battlefields compared to more traditional Aces that are focused on front-line combat.
We will go a bit more in-depth on this during Volume 2, when the Title feature will be explained (System 101 classes, most likely), but I hope this short answer gives you enough to think about to tide you over until then!
Q: How much of a threat to Alpha Squad are the new POV's introduced during the awards chapters?
A: Great Questions!
The answer varies, but generally equates to: A pretty big one.
The PoVs were specifically introduced as they were the top-dogs of their respective classes or types of Marines; so they are the most likely to become real threats to Alpha Squad members as a whole.
When it comes to overall threat level, the duo of Jin and Yonbu are currently at the lowest of the three PoVs introduced, as the UHF does not put TOO much stock into squad cohesion and teamwork quite yet.
This will, however, change over the course of the first year (read: Volume 2), where teamwork will become more and more of a focus as increasing numbers of individual Marines hit Level 10, and thus, reach their ceiling in terms of overall progression in raw stats/abilities.
Tiberius Soren is right in the middle, where he is a pretty big danger to a good chunk of Alpha Squad as a whole.
He could theoretically replace Corvus or Isabella, as he can both lead adequately and he has proven that he can kill en-masse, just like Isabella can.
Just because we see the Alpha Squad members a lot, as a result of the PoV being locked to Thea the majority of the time, does not mean the rest of the Marines in the UHF are irrelevant or can’t be a real threat.
The best example of this is, of course, the last name on the list: Rachel Veronica Masters.
She is an insanely dangerous person for everyone in Alpha Squad, but Lucas specifically, since she shares a role with him as a Defensive Heavy.
Where Lucas is almost entirely defensive in his style, Rachel uses the far more risky and difficult-to-employ hybrid style of offense AND defense.
It is technically the superior style, as it is far more versatile and has a LOT more impact on the Battlefield as a whole, but it is also a ludicrous amount harder to actually pull off.
Switching between offense and defense at a moment's notice, while also keeping your entire squad safe, is REALLY hard.
The only reason Rachel can do that, is because she’s a bona-fide Legacy of an Inner Planet.
From the very day she was able to walk and stand properly, she has effectively been moulded to be the perfect Defensive Heavy for the UHF.
She lives, breathes and thinks Defensive Heavy combat, on a level that Lucas is likely never going to get to (if he even wanted).
So the danger level of her challenge is EXTREME; as Lucas will have to truly hunker down and show his own strengths, hoping that the UHF will see them as more beneficial to Alpha Squad as a whole than Rachel’s.
Or to put it more bluntly:
If Rachel was given the same Abilities and Attributes as anyone else in Alpha Squad, she would handily beat every single one of them into the ground in a 1v1.
Where Isabella seems like a daemon on the loose to Thea, because of her couple-of-years real life combat experience before joining the UHF, Rachel has that, but like an additional 10 years of top-tier Legacy-level training on top.
Even with the current Attributes and Abilities, a fight between Rachel and Isabella would be fairly close; with a slight edge going to Isabella for simply being almost a direct counter to Rachel’s “playstyle”.
But given the same stats and stuff? Isabella wouldn’t stand a chance.
So the danger level? Extreme.
Q: How long do gunfights typically last- for example the showdown in the tunnel when Thea trusted her psychic senses?
A: This is another question where the answer is: It varies greatly!
Gunfights in TAS so far have lasted from anywhere between minutes-hours (initial ambush on day 1), to days (assault on the eastern front; tho we’ve only seen around 2-3 hours of that fight) and down to seconds and even fractions of a second.
Generally speaking, if a gunfight erupts and Thea uses [Sensory Overdrive], then you have a very clear definition of the time-scale for that moment.
[Sensory Overdrive] at its current level, lasts for a little less than a second (0.95s).
That means that the entire sequence in the tunnels you mentioned lasted less than a second to everyone else from the moment that Thea activated her Ability.
There is some amount of literary freedom used in some of those instances, to include a bit more of the reactions of people around her and what other members of the squad are doing at the moment that Thea activates it; so don’t be TOO much of a stickler and try to pin down exact micro-second movements or w/e the fuck.
Remember that this is still a novel intended to provide fun, so sometimes a single second has to be stretched by a small margin to include a fun moment.
Most gunfights, however, last a couple of minutes; as a general rule of thumb.
Q: Are there Psyker class awards at the end of assessments like the rest of end of assessment rewards?
A: Yes! But those are held in a different ceremony entirely. A bit of a more exclusive one that generally happens a day or two after the overall awards ceremony has ended.
Psykers often need some extra time to recover from an Assessment, so it’s not unheard of that they don’t show up to the general awards.
Alright that’s it for the questions for today!
I actually didn’t get through too many, but we’re already at a decent word count because of all my yapping earlier.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this yapping/Q+A session and I’ll see you in the next one!
Thank you for your continued support!
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