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So, I was on Discord the other day, and I made a reference to Who's On First. And the person I was talking to didn't know what that was. (If you also don't know: https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg)

So that set me wondering: What else do I assume "everyone knows" that they don't? What do I not know about? So that's what this thread is about. Post a fact or a piece of content or something that you take for granted. Maybe we all know about it, but maybe we don't. And then we will.

And I'll start with the concept of the Lucky Ten Thousand itself, in case anyone here is in the dark on it:

You may be eaten by an umlaut.



hS

But how would I know for sure?!

I've asked DOGA to take a look; they say they've landed in Hausnummer, Einbahnstraße, Ausfahrt, but are unable to confirm that they've actually found Germany.

hS

I'm starting to wonder if Germany exists at all. I mean, really - I've never been to Germany. I don't know anyone from Germany. I've never met anyone who's gone there, at least, not anyone I'd trust to not be In on It.

I'm starting to question even the idea of sending a team 'in' when, well... who's to say there's any 'in' for them to be 'sent' 'in' 'to'?

Or on not-so-original OCs. Since they are (re-colored) copies of an animated character, they should be made of ink. So, take the Suvian to a Reality Room and apply the Dip there.

HG, being silly.

Aside from the nonexistence of Bielefeld, there's also the Berg in Berlin, which certain people claim isn't there simply because they can't see it. Clearly we need to send a team in. Does anyone in DOGA speak German?

{Agent Huinesoron: I speak Grelvish.}

What? That's not even slightly... why would you volunteer that information?

hS

considering the place doesn't exist, unless you truly are as fooled by THEM and their agents as I hope you aren't.

As for minis: obviously that's up to the first person to use them in a mission. I'm pretty sure Kaitlyn didn't... and it looks like Nesh didn't either.

So... I'm always uncomfortable with sapient minis, and Mobiles are wizards in their own right. They're also already mini-sized - and not really monsters! So I'd argue against them.

Hmm... the thing that's popping into my head is the carnivorous cars in SoYouWiz. They're a minor enemy (like the Balrog, or Aragog), sentient without being sapient, and the idea of two-foot-long sports cars racing around biting things is hilarious. ^_^ I think mini-Lotus Esprits is a unique mini, too (whereas things like the kraken or the not-a-dragon thing are a bit generic), and using the specific make of that one car lets me avoid a generic name like 'mini-evil cars'.

So that's my pick. (Second option is the metal scorpions from Mars, but again I think they're a bit small.)

hS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld_Conspiracy

Ixi is a dumb. ;-;

(What I was trying to get at was she was given the push and would've been able to shatter the Maze, but I guess it doesn't really work, does it? Urk. I'm a little ways into Deep Wizardry at the moment, I'll let you know when I get to High.)

I'm EAIUBEROverlord on Smogon

It's two r's, one l.

(Also, what even is the mini for this continuum? Mobiles?)

The Dip works by using a mixture of chemicals that dissolve ink, specifically Acetone, Turpentine, and Benzene, all of which can be used to strip paint. That's all well and good within its home verse because Toons are still make of ink. However, other animated characters are made of flesh and blood within their home verse, which PPC agents enter. Hence the Sue would be made of flesh and blood, and The Dip will have no effect. Of course, this is just my own interpretation.

You've done a great job of explaining why Baby Wix needed the help the Powers gave her. What I'm really interested to know, though, is why the Powers need /her/ help. 'High Wizardry' (don't know if you've got that far?) goes on a bit about how brand new wizards - particularly the very young ones - are a major investment of energy, so the Powers choose them based on their ability to immediately use that power in a major move against the Lone One. (The canon confuses this slightly with Daryll's Ordeal, but Daryll is... different.) While I'm sure They would love to help out every receptive lost soul, entropy is running, and Their energy is limited. (As a potent example of this: the Planetary for Earth mentions in the last book that her infant son had a variety of leukemia. It was able to be cured by wizardry, but that doesn't mean Earth's wizards are now out curing every case. Rather, they've arranged for the non-wizardly aspects of the treatment to be leaked into the medical establishment.)

I know I'm rambling, but I just want to know whyyyyy--! ^_~

(As for your explanation of the Maze, yes, that's very clear. And I think you should name her Renesmee. >:D)

hS

The internet is full of self-inserts of people interaction on "forums". These self inserts often have improbable descriptions and claim to be far more skilled than they should be. Further investigation is requested.

I was more thinking about the Maze telling Baby Wizard that it was her Ordeal was just more preying on her fears/insecurities: "Yep, I'm your Ordeal, and you're an idiot for not realizing it earlier." It's not so much the Maze talking to her as it is a bit of herself that it's appropriated to wear. If that makes sense?

As for why her... something I'll have to flesh out in the hypothetical Part One. My thought process was something like this:

Baby Wiz is me, set around fifth grade. I was bullied a lot, blah blah, sad story, blah, started to internalize a lot of that, but at the same time I was desperately hoping for something, anything, to help me prove I was better than I (and they) believed. Becoming a wizard obviously wouldn't solve that overnight—it certainly didn't for Nita—but it'd be a push in the right direction, and sooner or later (later for me in the real world, sadly), Baby Wiz would've snapped and fought back, and being goaded by an enemy she knew she wasn't helpless against would have done the trick.

(As for why Baby Wiz doesn't have a name, I was still going by my deadname at the time and didn't really feel like doing a rehash of Juliette's own story, so no name it was.)

I'm pretty much free to do it whenever now. Want to try for tonight?

... I found one!



Found on a piece of playground equipment near home. Clearly a tree-loving wizard has been out reinforcing the equipment to prevent accidents. Thanks, cousin!

hS

I jest, I jest (mostly).

I really like the spell in the new section (I've already commented on the first part, right?). The physical mirroring of the name to match the mirroring of... huh, she never gets a name, does she? Ixiwiz - is excellent, and feels very Duane-ish. I also like the idea hinted at that the House of Mirrors isn't just Ixiwiz's fears writ large - it's a malevolent entity (possibly even an entire parallel dimension?) that feeds off people's fears. That fact turns this from a story about Ixiwiz gaining self-confidence (which, under most circumstances, wouldn't in itself justify the Powers' offering wizardry to her) into one about her taking down a major problem that could practically have been designed to trap her.

There's a principle in the books that 'all is done for each' - that while you're out solving problems with your Art, the problem solving ends up helping you, too. This is very much at play here, at least in the subtext.

One thing I will highlight is the fact that in the /first/ half, you pulled all the subtext out and named it. It started off unclear, but eventually the Mirror was flat out saying 'I'm your Ordeal'. The transition to all the themes being unstated, only seen by implication, is mildly jarring; I'm actually wondering if it migh be deliberate? The shift happens at the moment Ixiwiz starts completely ignoring the Mirror, so it could be thematic.

Another thing I like is that you've done something none of the rest of us did, but all the main-series canon Ordeals do: you've made Ixiwiz an active participant in getting to the Hall of Mirrors. Where Jacob, Lise, Julia and Marisa just found themselves in the relevant locations, and Siobhan was dragged there by a parrot, Ixiwiz actively teleported there. Sure, it was accidental - but Nita and Kit didn't intend to go where they did, either.

The one question I really want to see answered - the one that makes me actually ask for Part One - is: why Ixiwiz? It's clear why the Hall of Mirrors needed to be shattered, but what made Ixiwiz uniquely suited to the task? In the other completed stories, we have geekery, rocketry, and cyber...y, all making the kids in question The Right Person to take on their various threats, but here it almost seems the opposite: like Ixiwiz was a /bad/ choice, because she was likely to fall prey to it.

What's running through my head as an explanation (I can't help it, I headcanon everything) is that maybe that's the point. The Hall of Mirrors is obviously old and powerful - if I'm right, it's an entire universe of the Lone Power's domaim - and it must have learnt caution. A confident wizard who would blow it up with fire would never be able to find it. But someone who could be her own bait - who was exactly the sort of person it wanted to feed on, and a wizard to boot, so the Lone One would be delighted to take her out - but who was at heart strong enough to overcome it... that's someone who the Powers could extend the Oath to, and let her solve Their problem and find her own solution along the way.

hS

I think that this Sue assassination method should be restricted to God-Mode Sues and the absolute grossest Sues (i.e. Big Mac from Sweet Apple Massacre). Due to it's instant Toon-dissolving effect, Dip is only useful against animated and anime Sues.

One: when humanity's own inventions gravitate to the garbage, we have problems.

Two: Cloudberries are a Tundran fruit. Quick, we must check all games set in Tundra settings to find out where it came from!

What've you got?

Department of Geographical Aberrations

-The Queen's House, Greenwich (just below the Royal Observatory in London) seems to have a gravity-distortion field around it that has affected the filming of multiple blockbuster movies. In 2013, the climax of Thor: The Dark World took place there, and that whole movie was stuffed with gravity problems. The massless, inertialess tanker early on was only the start of things!

More recently, the 2016 film Now You See Me 2 tried to use a strobe light to generate the illusion of levitating water drops at the same location - only the distortion field instead actually levitated the drops! It was very clear that the same droplet was being seen in each flash of the strobe. (The uncontrolled environment rules out an ultra high-tech illusion, sadly.)

It is clear that a DOGA investigation is needed, probably with support from the Department of Analytical Science: this geographical anomaly has to be dealt with before it can affect the running of the Observatory, or somehow distort the Prime Meridian.

Oh, wait.

The Department of Misplaced Flora and Fauna

-Cloudberries have been identified as an obvious transplant from a fictional world, likely a fantasy setting, and probably a game of some description. If the name didn't give them away, the fact that they are a vivid golden colour probably should. The fact that they are nearly impossible to cultivate, and thus can only be found growing wild on the misty mountaintops, is pretty much the icing on the cliche cake.

Over to you!

hS

It’s just misleading phrasing, although the time manipulation is an interesting theory.

I haven’t really undertaken a detailed study of the geography of HQ, but I’ll make a note of that for future.

Once again, thanks!

I recently watched (spoilers), and I must say, it held up mightily well for an adaptation of a book. I was surprised that they managed to make the dead father's character arc fit into the limited length of a film, and the fake bird was dead on.