WarbyPicus

For those of you wondering what the hell Susan was talking about-

It's real. It's terribly real. I cannot possibly exaggerate how complicated the cosmology of the early Christian sects were. While that first diagram is labled "Schools of Gnosticism" please note that modern academics no longer believe that 'Gnosticism' was a thing. Rather, it was a catch-all term used by Ireneus and others to refer to several similar schools of thought, such as Valentinian, Sethinan etc. Some of you may remember Truth running into a fictionalized Ireneus when he recieved the...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 61 The Best At Jokes

Susan came down the stairs in a bathrobe and a smile. “Who’s there?”

“Boo.” 

“Boo who?”

“Don’t cry, it’s only a joke.” Truth’s voice was very soothing. He was smiling at the several large men glowering at him from the edges of the room.

“Hah! I see you have met my cousins.” She looked him over. “You are better looking than I was afraid of. Any chance of growing out a beard? Or at least shavi...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 60 Perilous Tribe

“It comes down to a change in the relations between people. No chance in Hell I’m going to be able to shape the government after the collapse. But I can set up cadres of young, fit people, people trained to operate in a no-magic environment. People that really believe in teamwork, and the notion that one person can’t win if everyone else loses. It’s got to be win-win all the way around. Competitive with outgroups, certainly. But internally? Strong bonds.”

Truth chop...

Salinas Chapter 3

I wasn’t that lucky. I got to enjoy my orange jumpsuit a while longer. 

The bag was sealed and I do mean sealed. Rolled up like a dry bag, with the opening held shut with magnets or some damn thing, I don’t know what. I opened the bag. This managed, despite the strong competition, to be a top five worst decision I have made since… well, since.

I will put this plainly. I have served three combat tours, seen awful things, spent almost ten years in pr...

Salinas Chapter 2

The rooftop was high up, though I don’t know just how many storeys. The wind cut through my prison jumpsuit like a shiv. Must be up pretty high. I walked towards the sun. I assume that’s the East, but at this point, who knows? It was a dense city, full of tall buildings. Big city too. I don’t know how big. To the East, drawing a golden line under the sun, I could just barely make out the ocean. Everything else looked to be buildings as far as my eyes could see. 

Th...

Salinas Chapter 1

I saw the door the second time I was in solitary. It was a heavy steel door, but not like the doors in Folsom, more like a door on a boat. The ones with a wheel in the middle, instead of a handle. Like it was sealing something off. 

It was day seven of twenty in the box, so I figured I was hallucinating. Happens when you do a stretch in solitary. You think you are going to finally get some peace. First time you go in the box, you think it ain’t nothing at all. You find...

Upside to Vacation- New Stuff!

Not sure if it's still a vacation if I am sill writing new Slumrat chapters every day, but close enough! Anyhoo, the extra mental space is good for a lot of things. One of them is new ideas.

Now, I want to be clear on something- I'm not launching this as a new series any time soon, if at all. Way too much going on as it is, frankly. However, somtimes you get an idea, and the only thing to do with it is write it down.

Which is a long-winded way of saying "I had two ideas about li...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 59 Crash Something

Truth let his thoughts drift for a minute. Should he ‘fix’ Niles? He probably could with Cup and Knife. He was actually a little scared to try. Not because he thought he would hurt Niles… or whatever his real name was… but because he had a horrible suspicion that it wouldn’t work. In a rather dark way, he had given Niles a ‘revelation’ and set him on a holy path. Now, does that sound like something that needed fixing?

Slavery? What’s slavery to an angel?

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 58 Spreading The Good News

“My Lord? There is no need-” Niles started to speak, but Truth cut him off.

“Accept it or don’t. Either way, I stand by what I said. Now, since I know you don’t think I have anything to apologize for, we will talk about your work. Looks like you have achieved great things.”

Niles struggled for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, my Lord. We have followed your instructions diligently. We took as our foundation your words- Faith, Family, Prosperity, and ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 57 A Long Overdue Apology

Truth worked quickly and methodically, letting Incisive guide him from those most urgently in need of help to the least. Not that there were any light wounds. Other than a few children and a handful of Level Zeros, most of the bus was filled with Level One citizens. Their apertures collapsed. They were in utter agony, and worse, they knew it was never going to get better. Until it did. Until two strong hands were placed on them, and a miracle happened.

It slowly got quiet by ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 56 A Fork In A Straight Road

The trip to Harban was dull. To his intense horror, he had run out of books. He had been right there in a small city, and didn’t even think of stopping by a local bookstore and picking up some schlocky romances. Second hand books must be cheap as Hell right now. And yet, somehow, he whiffed. Shameful. Just disgraceful. 

It was a boring few hours. He tried to spend the time thinking about what he wanted his revolutionary organization to look like, but kept going around ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 55 The Celestial Clockwork Slips A Gear

Truth laughed and walked forward, arm slung over the Prophet’s shoulder. He didn’t respond to the question. Someone walked straight through Etenesh without noticing her. Had anyone asked, she definitely would have denied yelping. She started looking around furiously. 

It was almost like a nightmare- everything was familiar, but wrong. This market should be teeming with spirits and demons, but she didn’t see a single one. There were wagons, sure, but ones pulled by ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 54 "Who's Your Friend?"

“Why would I want to run, person that I have never met before?” The Prophet laughed awkwardly. Meeting someone’s reincarnation wasn’t weird. The world was only so big, after all. It was just… usually the changes were bigger. More dramatic. This was, even for them, an uncanny degree of carry over. Even the aura of obstinate interest was the same. 

“Dunno. You looked shifty. Some reason you don’t want to cough up the goods? Mmm? You wouldn’t happen to be a ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 53 The Pinky Toe Dilemma

Truth slowly blinked at Cho, then checked the crystal again. He eventually found the summary page that said essentially what Cho had- that Starbrite was ritually sacrificing himself to himself to achieve the lifespan of “the very stars.” There was some speculation about whether he would force people into a mass suicide and the life energy of the sacrifice would somehow become his life, but by this point the summary had devolved into wild speculation. 

“This is the ...

Weeaboo Epilogue

His name, like his face, was hidden in a dark hood of endless blackness. A forbidden name, too terrifying to be uttered, recorded only on slabs of abyssal lead and stored in the most forbidden depths of the Night Dragon Crypts of Eternal Midnight. Not that he was going through one of those phases. This was just normal for him.

His name was also known by his parents, but that's kind of… so what? You know? They don’t count. The important thing is that nobody e...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 52 The Serpent's Tale

Truth met Cho’s eyes. There was only truth in them. The silence stretched again. The secret policeman was still. Returned to the absolute calm he had cultivated over a lifetime of being everyone else’s worst nightmare. Truth could watch the man sort through his options. All the things he had learned from this meeting and the recorded meeting at the Sung Clan. Every action they thought or suspected Truth was related to. Every inference of his politics, his ideology, his motivations. Trying...

Weeaboo Chapter 67- Wrapping Up and Digging In

I couldn’t name my feelings. Happiness, pride, grief, horror… none of them fit. All of them fit. What do you call it when you are feeling all the emotions at the same time? I… had done it. I had led my people through this calamity. We would have a powerful mage supporting our tower.  And whatever other rewards came with this place. We achieved something here. We had given these restless ghosts some measure of vindication. 

I’m millennial enough to have a nih...

Weeaboo Chapter 66- A Weeb Roars

I could feel that pit in my stomach, the sinking weight that pulls down your guts when you realize that you have severely messed up, and things aren’t magically going to get better. I had forgotten to deliver Daphne's letter to Madame. I hadn’t asked her about the Reverend, and his connection to the monsters. I didn’t close that loop. I turned to her, urgently, desperately, but the Home Guard were on us.

There was a fanatic look in their eye. I could smell the stink on ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 51 Dispensing With Niceties

Truth tried to think very rapidly. This was a cop. A high end cop, but a cop. And cops didn’t ask questions that would benefit you. This was a fishing expedition-

Colonel Cho snorted. “The contents of Great White Mountain were not known to us. After it blew up, we were able to see who had been working there, and work backwards. Our analysts were very busy for a while. Since the Shattervoid are still here, ‘she’ didn’t die in the eruption.”

...

Weeaboo Chapter 65- The Coward’s Test

Chapter 65- The Coward’s Test

Nothing good could be said about the sons of Crusher Jim, except this- they were strong. Terrifyingly strong. They jumped up to the top of the wall in a single step, then down to the ground and into melee with the monsters in two more. The front line exploded into ribbons of skin and garlands of gore. Meat was pulverized and sent flying with teeth and toes and shattered bones. 

Nothing good could be said about the sons of ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 4 Chap. 50 It Makes Sense But...

Truth wasn’t quite sure how to handle this matter. On the one hand, he had the overwhelming urge to slap this banal monster to death. On the other hand, she wasn’t a monster. She was just banal. He’d have to slap the whole city to death. Which was tempting, but probably unwise.

Probably. He could see the sacrificed man in front of him now. The expression on his face was… hard to read. Numb with terror, maybe, or confused by the noise and the pain to the point where he...

Weeaboo Chapter 64- Bloody Hands

I quickly checked how many bones I earned and almost went blind. Should have slowed down. Eased into it. That is a lot of zeroes. 

“Ossain, any new units I can recruit? Any new anything?”

“Yes! You can get Scrapyard Lansiwr Gwaywffon, and you can recruit the Ancient and Honorable Birdwatching Society.”

Time was at an absolute premium, but I still had to take a second to try, and fail, to process that. “Lancer Gainfon...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 49 Seaside Sunshine

It took a while going around a whole damn mountain to avoid a single roadblock, but it was still less annoying than slipping through the roadblock by playing dead. He kept picking at the question of why the birds were messing up his ability to cast Earth Folding Step. It wasn’t even all birds. Just cop-birds and Starbrite birds. It made zero sense. 

The trees seemed to be conspiring against him. They were densely packed together, but small. The worst of b...

Weeaboo Chapter 63- Fury of the March

The giant beasts roared back, outraged by Versai’s proud defiance. Not so proud that they wouldn’t gang up on her, though. One from each side, and the middle one charged straight ahead. Ready to tear her into at least three pieces.

Fair enough. She was madder than them, and aimed to leave them in even more pieces. She didn’t even wait for the Revels to finish casting.

“VERMIN!” She yelled, launching herself shield first at the center monster. She mo...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 48 A Cut Above

The dawn was rising, and with it, a rock. Specifically, the earth demon he had sent out.

“Fuck you, pay me.”

“Everyone’s so cynical these days.” Truth sighed, and activated the punishment runes built into the summoning. Then added on a few more of his own. Then just stomped the rock for a while. The Blessing of the Brass Sea really did a number there, but he was pulling his shots and not letting the demon get banished. 

“You ...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 47 Obviously Different

Truth blinked in confusion. He looked down at the dog. The dog wheezed heavily through his nose, but made no further explanation. He then opted to look inquisitively at his rough patron, who rolled his eyes and explained.

“One angel, but he has been recorded and classified under two names and with two natures by the humans on your rock. His rock. Whatever.”

The big man pointed back towards the shadow. “Looks like a duck, but it’s actually a dog. Looks...

Weeaboo Chapter 62- Balanced on a Blade’s Edge

I looked at the words etched in blood and fire across the sky. 

“Was I making too much progress? How does knowing this justify ramping the difficulty up?” 

I was numb. I haven’t even passed wave ten. Hell, I only just passed wave five. First it was the Monster Alpha out of nowhere, and now they drop Atrocity Mode? Any chance it comes with a tool tip explaining what that means? No? No, of course not. 

“RAKIM GET YOUR MIL...

Upcoming Plans and News 5/13/24

As one of you guessed in the comments, the current arc of Weeaboo ends in ~2 weeks. So this seems like a good time to share some news.

That first paragraph looks wierdly ominous. Actually, it's mostly good news. Lets get into it.

First- Slumrat. Vol. 3 drops in, I believe, August. I don't want to get out ahead of myself until I have a contract inked, so no further news on Vol. 4+, but there is a genuine LOL there. You will see. Those of you with KU/Audible gonna be getting some e...

Weeaboo Chapter 61- Combined Arms Battlefield

“Like a hippo, a sheep, a bat and a wolf all made beautiful love together, and then their inbred grandkids robbed a “I need four guns to get a Frosty” tough-guy’s house for armor.”

“I’m quite sure I didn’t understand most of that.” Madame murmured.

“Don’t worry about it. Stand by with Final Revel.” I was staring down the road. Miyuki was doing her usual outstanding job. She was nailing a foot or leg to the ground, and letting the armor...

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 46 Mudball Dreams

The night sky was a brilliant explosion. No, he was wrong, it was no longer the night sky, it was the other side of the sky, the truth behind the light. It was every mystery and love and horror and truth, or as close to the reality of those words as a little clay doll could hope to see. He was freefalling, pinwheeling amongst trees that spanned worlds and songs made of birds and three headed demons scourging the frogs hauling its chariot across the black vastness of the universe. 

...