Template Blends/Fusions

[Kappa]

I think Anna plus Kingfisher gets you someone who has a strong urge to solve problems, a conflicted relationship with authority, absolutely no desire to be The Hero but won't turn down fame if it's on offer, and is comfortable in the role of "this terrible person's friend who guides them to be less terrible".

Rayne plus Chainsaw, on the other hand... it depends on which traits are ascendant? On the one hand you could end up with someone who had a Rayne's disinclination to care about anyone else's feelings, Now With Added Sadism. On the other hand you could end up with someone more in-between - I can see Raynes and Chainsaws as being sort of on a continuum regarding caring about other people, with Rayne way out on the far end and Chainsaw closer to the rest of humanity.

The thing is, though, being blended with a Rayne interferes with a crucial part of a Chainsaw's character arc. Normally Chainsaws start out self-hating, and grow to accept themselves either through discovering that it's possible to be an ethical sadist, or deciding to stop giving a shit. If they start out with their compassion dialed way down, and don't hit the self-hating stage at all... it would be pretty tricky to set things up so they don't become a serial killer. Maybe not impossible, but tricky.

*sees there have been posts since I started writing this*

...Oh my God, MatildaMiles. I. I don't know what to say. That would... I think that might legitimately depart the realm of things I can get myself to believe could run on a baseline human brain.

[anthusiasm]

Omg MatildaMiles!!!!!

Also I am Curious about everything going on beneath the surface of StevenChainsaws. :( My poor smol sons.

Would we ever see a fusion between two green templates?

[Kappa]

There are two major implementation problems with a MatildaMiles template blend:

1. I'm not sure I can convince myself that the logical outcome of this fusion is a mind that, like, can plausibly exist.

2. Combining two templates that both have a strong "intense, driven, heroic" side and are both extremely smart and competent and both see themselves as solvers of problems and both have strong template attractors for "rises to whatever occasion you put in front of them"... kind of results in a character that's really hard to match to a plot? Like, what is a problem that would genuinely challenge a MatildaMiles but that I could actually write and find a genuine solution for?

I should go to bed, but do please remind me tomorrow to talk about StevenChainsaws, because I am always ready to talk about StevenChainsaws.

[Marri]

I mean, Matildas in canon are kind of... explicitly already overloading a baseline human brain some, so there's that xD

Now my brain is distracted trying to come up with template blends of its own, and... thaaat's not going. Like, I tried to picture an EmmaJenny and they just laughed at me. I AM YOUR CREATOR, DISRESPECTFUL MINIONS.

[Kappa]

i should be in bed, but instead i am talking to marri about this and

matildamiles in summary: "take this one person who decides at six years old that she has the means and the moral authority to rescue her future adoptive mother and entire school from an abusive authority figure, and does it; take this other person who went into a POW camp to rescue one man and came away with the whole POW camp; pour them both into a bottle, shake vigorously, retreat to a neighbouring galaxy because this one is about to experience some upheaval."

[Atelos]

...Oh my God, MatildaMiles. I. I don't know what to say. That would... I think that might legitimately depart the realm of things I can get myself to believe could run on a baseline human brain.

Maybe MatildaMiles is Haut, or came about with Haut involvement. Though I get the impression that baseline Matilda has or approaches Haut level intellect. I wouldn't want to bet against a half dozen of her managing that stranded when smol on an uncolonized planet thing, though it might have to be more physically hospitable than half terraformed depending on their local version of magic.

[Ezra]

So one way to up the challenge a bit is to challenge them early. Miles doesn't ordinarily have to step up and save everyone as early as six.

[Ezra]

...I like Atelos's idea, can we have smol haut MatildaMiles (or, failing that, smol haut Matilda and smol Miles) doing the smol haut terraforming thing?

[MaggieoftheOwls]

Man, who doesn't have the moral authority to rescue a whole school from an abusive authority figure?

Means I will admit is less common.

[DanielH]

I think that a MatildaMiles not running on a baseline human brain might refer to Kappa’s. All characters run on their authors’ brains, and you can only cheat so much in making the character smarter than you are.