Matched and a break from the blog

Okay, first of all, I've been going through some life changes and until I get some things straightened out, I think I will have to take a break from the blog. For what may be my final installment, (hopefully not though) I'm going to talk about the Matched trilogy. If you've never heard of it, it is a dystopian young adult sci-fi with a love triangle, much like the Hunger Games. However this story starts with the good and works it's way to the bad.

The central character is Cassia, whose story starts out so picture perfect that if you picked it up and started reading it without knowing something would go wrong, you would be bored by chapter 3. And if it weren't for a twist that almost artificially injects conflict into the story, it would end right there. However there is a twist, Cassia needs to choose between her dream guy Xander, the future doctor, and Ky, a boy she would hardly have noticed if it weren't for a glitch in the matching system that suggests for a slit second that he is the one she should be with. In Cassia's Society, everyone is matched up with a life mate systematically at the age of 16, then they spend a few years courting, marry at 21, and proceed to procreate until 32 at which point they are sterilized so they can spend the rest of their lives raising their children and die precisely and promptly on their 80th birthday. Depending on your perspective, the world is a perfect system, or it is a sterile individuality crushing hell; what is good for the individual is not necessarily good for the many, and what is good for the many is not necessarily good for the individual. Society has existed for about three or four generations and Cassia's generation knows only a perfect world where everybody eats exactly what the need for proper nourishment, get a precise exercise regimen for their body type, follow a path of education that leads to their most productive occupation and any luxury that is not absolutely necessary for survival including arts and entertainment and even fashion have been reduced to the top one hundred popular accepted specimens that everybody can choose from to spend a certain allotted period of personal time to relax and unwind after doing their part in this perfect Society. But little by little, Cassia discovers that the freedom of choice is an illusion, and that illusion exists to placate the few that might be unhappy with a system that lacks any freedom at all, nobody knows how to create anything new, nobody sings except the national anthem, nobody creates art, nobody paints nobody sculpts, nobody acts, and nobody writes, all examples of the arts are artifacts of the past, presumably so nobody wastes their time actually creating  anything that isn't deemed necessary and important for survival. The system is almost perfect, there are Aberrations and Anomalies, Anomalies are those who reject Society's restrictions and therefore endanger Society, and Aberrations are those who have expressed an awareness that is too far beyond Society's parameters to be trusted as an integral part of Society. Ky is one of these Aberrations, coming from a town on the edge of Society where enough Anomalies congregated that the whole place had to be bombed, Ky was only a child and he was spared, but only because he had an aunt and uncle in Society that could not bear children so he was allowed to exist under the restriction that he could not disclose the ugly truth of his origins and he would have to be single and do grunt work beneath proper Society folk. At the end of the first book, Cassia is forced to use her job as a sorter to sort him and his coworkers into two groups, one that would receive a promotion and another that would suffer for being less effective. She isn't actually told which group would be which, but they leave her feeling responsible for Ky getting the decidedly worse of the two options.

The second book Crossed adds Ky's perspective as the two star-crossed lovers seek each other out on the outskirts of Society, but the biggest twist of all comes in the third book when Xander's perspective is introduced and we find out that he is actually a rebel himself and the three of them together help overthrow Society. But that isn't the end, it's only the beginning of the third book as they experience a world in which the change of regime is not necessarily the solution they were looking for. As it turns out, human civilization has an inherent flaw in that those in power must restrict those they are in charge of to keep the peace, but if there are enough people, there will always be outliers that don' fit the perfect system no matter what it is, you just can't please everybody. While our love triangle figures this out, their dynamic gets more complicated as each boy gets an alternate girl that he may end up with if not Cassia. Xander is surprising in that the value of choice is more important than getting Cassia, although he can eliminate Ky, it doesn't mean anything to him to get her by default, he has to give her the choice and let her choose him. This becomes important when Ky falls victim to a mutant plague. The plague was engineered as a weapon against Society and the rebels believed they could control t with a vaccine, but it mutates and puts some people in comas that the original treatment won't fix. I was really impressed because the chapters alternate first person perspectives, but Ky's chapters get shorter as his coma robs him of his connection to the world, the most powerful chapter I ever read in my whole life was a chapter that was blank except for the chapter heading and the note that it is Ky, that contrast really showed the emptiness of  being in a coma.

Overall, the series is pretty good, but it relies on a formula that can seem overdone if you aren't ready to take it on with fresh eyes. If you ignore the basic love triangle formula, this is one of the best dystopian stories because instead of showing the horrors of a world that oppresses the common folk, it demonstrates how such a world would be supported by those who benefit enough to not realize the price they pay, a message as timely as ever.

Exalted

Pen and paper table top role playing games are not really my thing. Part of this is because I'm too spoiled by video games and part because I'm either too nerdy or not nerdy enough to be invited to a game. However, I have taken some time to look into some games and one that really captures my attention is Exalted. Essentially it is the anime of RPGs, if you want to turn your favorite JRPG vide game into a table top experience, this is the one to go through. I have no idea how the mechanics actually play out, but the story is interesting, so I'll go into that. Before we get started,  I want to note that it was made by White Wolf, who also made World of Darkness, the series that allows you to play monsters in the modern world. Because that was their flagship, Exalted is modeled as the mythical origin of the creatures of  the modern World of Darkness, but despite several references, ever since the WoD reboot over a decade ago, Exalted has strayed into becoming it's own thing. Largely it is anime in the most over the top fantasy style you may ever play.

In the beginning there was nothing, then there was Shinma. Shinma wasn't anything, it was the precursor of existence, and from Shinma came the raksha, the most primitive and chaotic beings who couldn't even define themselves. From this chaos came the Primordials, beings which defied order and craved a consistency that opposed all that came before it. Then came Creation, the world that the Primordials built and ultimately the world we exist in. The Primordials created the gods to oversee Creation, then came the Dragon Kings to serve the gods and finally humans to serve the Dragon Kings. There was conflict at first, but eventually the gods and the Dragon Kings got everythign under control and the Primordials felt there was no need to remain in Creation and retreated to their own separate realm of Yu Shan to play the Games of Divinity. The gods were not pleased with the Primordals' laziness, but they were not given the free will to rebel against their masters, free will was unique to humans who were so weak they could do nothing. Then in a stroke of brilliance, the seven Celestial gods, the Unconquered Sun, Luna, and the Five Maidens, Exalted humans, granting them enough of their own divine power that they could stand equal to the Dragon Kings, the gods, the raksha, and even the Primordials themselves, ad they would have the free will to rebel. The Exalted killed a few Primordials, which scared the others since they had created the very concept of death itself and thought they were above it, and they surrendered to the Exalted. Those that surrendered were exiled as demons, and those that were killed formed the Underworld and gathered the restless souls of mortals who defied the cycle of reincarnation. Both groups of Primordials were kept outside Creation, the gods ascended to Yu Shan, and the Exalted took over the world, beginning the First Age of man. In the First Age, the Solar Exalted ruled, married the Lunar Exalted, advised by the Sidereal Exalted and served by the Terrestrial Exalted. But they also carried a curse from the Primordials and after a couple thousand years, the curse took root and the Exalted became corrupt. The Sidereals who understood fate saw that this would lead to the ruin of the world unless something changed. Half thought the Solars needed to more advice, the other half thought the Solars needed to be replaced. The latter won and got the Terrestria Exalted, the only Exalted who could breed, to use their superior numbers to make up for their other weaknesses and bring down the Solars. The Celestial Exalted reincarnated, so the essences had to be collected and imprisoned.So began the Second Age of man, when the Terrestrial Exalted ruled, the Lunars were hunted, and both the Solars and the Sidereals were forgotten, the latter because they brought upon a curse on themselves that prevents others from remembering that they are even there, which can sometimes help them when they want to manipulate events. However, the Terrestrial Exalted were not as powerful and could not maintain Creation, it has been deteriorating, and after another couple thousand years, the raksha, the undead, and even the demons are starting to creep back in, and the Solars broke free of their prison. Half of the Solars were captured, fifty possessed by the demons to become Infernal Exalted, and the rest of the captured became Abyssal Exalted, slaves of the undead. Five years after the Solars escaped and the Scarlet Empress of the Terrestrial Exalted went missing, the Second Age of man comes to an end, the question is who will inherit the world as the Third Age approaches?

Basically, Abyssals are vampires, Lunars are werewolves. Since Abyssals were Solars, their new forms reject the Sun and the Sun rejects them, hence the vampiric weakness regarding the sun. Lunars are shapeshifters with animal themes which can be any animal but explains what the moon has to do with werewolves. After that, it all sort of falls apart, but the divine power of the Exalted tends toward anime heroes and villains, complete with flashy anima banners. Martial arts play a heavy role, and then there's over-sized weapons like daiklaives (see also Buster Sword).  If you need something more than werewolves, vampires, sorcerers, and demons, the raksha are better known as the Fair Folk and fill the role of fairies, the Terrestrial Exalted are better known as the Dragon-Blooded and have elemental affinities that can make them the most fun to play with, but if you really want dragons then go with the Dragon Kings, which are actually humanoid dinosaurs that are disappointed by being rendered obsolete by the Exalted and range from enlightened fire-breathing flying Pterok and water master Mosok to savage monsters who forgot what they were, and the Alchemical Exalted, cyborgs that exist in the alternate world of  the one Primordial who escaped the wrath of the Exalted but now that Primordial and his world is dying and the people have begun to invade Creation out of sheer desperation. And all of that is just the playable characters, game masters can throw in a variety of undead to accompany the Abyssal Exalted and populate the world with the various spirits and gods that still walk among men. With a little imagination you can play out any anime fantasy in this world. Great practice for amateur writers and especially budding fan fiction authors.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Grimm Everafter

I spent the last month working on a Grimm fan fiction and just finished it, all four parts are up on Grimm Forum but I did find time to watch Guardians of the Galaxy which I will review now.

The movie is ridiculous, but when the heroes are Chris Pratt, a raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper and a talking tree that only says "I am Groot" you should expect nothing else. The movie opens with a great battle, half of which is off screen while Baby Groot dances around the edges of the battlefield to music provided by Peter Qwill. It's hilarious and sets the bar for the rest of the movie.Rocket steals some of the batteries which they were supposed to be protecting, which draws the ire of their employers and they have to make a mad get away. This leads them to an unlikely rescue by none other than Peter's father Ego, the celestial avatar of the eponymous living planet. While Peter gets reconnected with his long lost father, everyone else has their own family issues to contend with, most prominently Gamora and Nebula the latter of whom wants to make the former suffer for how Thanos replaced her body parts every time she lost a confrontation with her sister, but it turns out they have a sisterly bond stronger than hate. The other big one is Yondu who is action packed with issues, exiled by the Ravagers for abducting Peter as a child, relating to Rocket for being a lonely outcast and finally the revelation that "I'm Mary Poppins y'all"...but really he feels more like Peter's dad than Ego. The whole mess comes together in an epic battle that can only be handled with such nonchalant casualty as the Guardians of the Galaxy can pull off. The one weakness of the movie is that the theme of finding family is delivered a little too heavy-handed, some of the sub-plots seem forced to fit the larger narrative. Fortunately, despite the strain on the core story, the jokes, action and visual effects are so damn entertaining it's worth it.

I found time to finish Dragon Ball Xenoverse, months after the sequel came out and nobody cares about the original, but it's still good, so get it and play it before the servers get cut off. Xenoverse gives the Dragon Ball story a fresh take by working the future Trunks time traveler angle. After Trunks traveled through time in the Cell Saga he gets caught by the Supreme Kai of Time who employs him to fix time distortions. When his own timeline gets compromised, rather than tamper himself and earn more ire from Time Kai, he uses the Dragon Balls to wish for a third party to step in, and that is you. Pulled from some random point in time disconnected with the main story, you are a human, saiyan, namek, majin, or "Frieza Race" that is tasked with correcting time. At first you just go through the main story of Dragon ball Z starting with Radditz, but little details go differently, someone has changed the course of time so the story is not what we know. As you fight through these battles and set things right, you will return to Toki Toki City where you can train under the Z Fighters and take on parallel quests which are bizarre alternate realities that you can learn more techniques from. This is the ultimate fan fiction, you can create whatever kind of character you want to look any way you want and use any techniques you want, and most likely you will play a Saiyan, dress like Goku and spam kamehameha, and you can do that. In the Frieza saga things kind of go sideways as Towa and Mira show up a demon and her android who want to take over the world, but can't because the Z Fighters left a planet too powerful for them so they want to kill Goku before he raises the bar for Earthling fighters. Later you find out these two are just pawns for Demigra, a demon god Time Kai trapped in a crack of time and now he's trying to get out. Once you complete the known DBZ story, all that's left is to fight Demigra himself, and if you make it that far, Goku helps you and you get to finish off Demigra with a double-team Kamehameha, which is just so awesome, you HAVE to play this game because it is worth every headache to see your OC kamehameha with Goku. I mean really, it is a thing of beauty! As far as headaches, I'll be honest it took me a while because I rage quit multiple times. The worst hands down is a mission where you have body swapped with Ginyu which means no matter what awesome build you have going, you're stuck with Ginyu's presets, and even worse it's an escort mission with Krillin and Gohan. One thing that helped was I purchased one of the DLC, specifically the second one which allows me access to high level parallel quests and Nuova Shenron which means level up big time. Anyway, seriously, if you haven't done it yet, play this game and make your DBZ dreams come true!

As for Grimm Everafter, this is my fanfic for Grimm featuring Kelly, Diana, and the triplets twenty years in the future, and also when they are thirteen going through their first woges. It jumps back and forth telling a big story that involves a vibora dorada, a damonfeuerer, the Coins of Zakynthos, and the Royals. First Kelly uses a glove made from a damonfeurer by a vibora dorada to fight some geiers, and during that fight Diana finds the Coins of Zakynthos which builds up into a megalomaniacal scheme involving the Royals bringing her back home to Austria. Sound interesting? Check it out and maybe we can make this the spin off!