Date: September 02 2022 9:44 AM Title: A Taste of Power
Great stuff, seems like a good continuation of where chapter 1 left off. Although I do wonder where the story will go from here, as in if they’re be some grand adventure or plot line to be followed.
Author's Response:
It's a sort of play on DnD campaigns, so yeah there is a grander plot in store
[Report This]Date: September 02 2022 5:39 AM Title: In View of the Enemy
An interesting development with having the orc turn big again and the party shrinking. I'm glad to see her at full size and potentially joining the party. I'm definitely eager to see what happens in the future with her, hopefully we can see some foot domination action with her and Vann.
Also I thought it was really cute with the scene where Tyra was holding Vann closely during Vanns dream. I like Tyra and Vanns relationship, they have a nice sense of wholesomeness even with all the kinky stuff they do.
It was also interesting to see Elethas reaction when mentioning Chadwick again and her being against him being with the dwarf. I wonder if it really is because of her being a dwarf or something else.
I also did read Conquest of Earth as well while it was being released. Great series as well, glad to be following another one of your works with this piece. As always, thanks for another chapter.
Author's Response:
Yeah Tyra and Vann have a softer side to their relationship which I try to highlight. Eletha and Chadwick... well that's complicated, obviously lol.
[Report This]Date: September 02 2022 3:52 AM Title: In View of the Enemy
Looks like we're getting some Razita content next chapter. Hopefully she'll warm up to the party by the end of this. Really liked the fact that Tyra and Vann gave Eletha some pushback on her weird pet behavior towards Chadwick and themselves. The fact that she didn't deny that she was trying to get Tyra and Vann together just supports the fact that she needs to do some self reflexion before she alienates her "best friends" by treating them like theyre sheep beneath her judgement. Im surprised she considers Vann a best friend especially since she seemd to be indifferent to him before he got Zenovias favor. Makes me question if Tyra and Vann were also subliminally set up by Eletha but they seem to have already been heading in the childhood-friends to lovers direction before Eletha. Unless Eletha's been stalking orphans for a while which is just yikes.
Cant wait for the next chapter, and yeah that Zenovia disciple thing is as obvious as it is exciting!
Author's Response:
As Eletha says "they're new," you can take that to mean that Vann and Tyra's relationship is entirely organic. Obviously Eletha's actions and the party's reactions to them are coming to something of a head, and it's not a great time with them in the middle of the wilderness about to confront a would-be Dark Lady.
[Report This]Date: September 02 2022 2:24 AM Title: The Goddess Awakens
Oh and here the bikini armour thing, embedded links don’t work :(
https://www.reddit.com/r/ImpracticalArmour/comments/w96l5j/the_truth_about_chainmail_bikini_by_mcnostril/
And a good gag is Full Body Armour, search is on that sub or in r/gaming .
Author's Response:
I've seen it, very amusing!
[Report This]Date: September 02 2022 2:19 AM Title: In View of the Enemy
Another good chapter!
Wth just the efficiency, Vann could make some money writing some papers on how to improve the other shrinking or growing disciplines, add to general scholarly knowledge. If combined with whoever regularly uses bags of holding, or the wagon/cart/crate version, shrink the cargo first, put them in, then shrink the containers too(if there is not incompatibility between the spacial and shrinking magic).
And yeah, Eletha having it a bit rough dealing with Chadwick now, and probably on such and incredibly short timeframe of days compared to her previous years.
And now thinking about it, would a shrunken person yield the same amount of blood as their full size, maybe once it leave them it rapidly unshrinks, or with some modification to the spell. Obviously that could work on Embiggen so far. Reason for this thought is a vampier could use this to drain full people using this, ore more easily hid them and eat them, and with Embiggen they could get a big source. Or a follower took several vampires and make a deal to let them drink while shrunk to max out blood. That a benefit for the vampires.
Author's Response:
Zenovia's shrinking magic is probably mostly used offensively rather than as an enchantment, keep in mind she probably imagined those spells being used by powerful dominatrices shrinking their foes down to toy with them.I suppose a sufficiently powerful mage could shrink bags of holding within each other, plenty of DnD groups abuse the mechanic after all lol.
Eletha has a ways to go yet before she realizes why her friends don't approve of her behavior, even if she has the best of intentions.
A vampire could probably use shrinking magic to transport victims easier but would want to restore them to full size for proper feeding I'd think. I suppose shrinking potential thralls for the blood offering could be an easy way to create a lot at once.
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[Report This]Date: September 01 2022 11:44 PM Title: In View of the Enemy
Haven’t commented on the last few chapters because I don’t wanna sound like a broken record, but this story is wonderful. I’m excited to see Orc on Vann action.
Author's Response:
Razita will get her turn with Vann before the end, glad you're enjoying it so far!
Date: August 30 2022 4:11 PM Title: The Goddess Awakens
I had to drop by to tell you, EXCELLENT WORK! I have to say, I usually don’t read too much in the realm of fantasy with elves and such. But this story has blown me away! Quite the concept, very refreshing to read! I’m most certainly hooked! Keep up the amazing work, appreciate you and your efforts! Also don’t worry, I’m not sleeping on your other works, you have quite the portfolio going!
Author's Response:
Good to hear, I feel like my back catalogue has something for everyone! A lot of people tell me they don't usually like fantasy or sci-fi but end up following it anyway, that's something that boosts the ego lol.
[Report This]Date: August 29 2022 11:29 PM Title: The Plains
Another great chapter with some nice plot developments.
I appreciate you adding and orcess to the story. It was fitting to have her lead a war band of goblins, what with might makes right with those creatures. I do hope we can see more of her at full size and getting in on the action with Vann. Perhaps after she has been reformed like another user said.
I also read your other story "A Diplomatic Mission" per your recommendation and that was a great story as well. It had a nice light hearted tone similar to this one.
Interesting development with the artifacts of Zevonia being taken from her temple. Maybe this Mistress villain was a former servant of Zevonia. I do wonder how the whip and boot artifacts will factor into the fun time with Eletha and Trya lol.
I also really liked the sweaty feet scene towards the end with Vann and Trya, hope we we see more.
Keep up the good work, I always look forward to reading more.
Author's Response:
Most of my stories have an upbeat tone or happy ending, glad you liked Diplomatic Mission, I guess if you liked that one Conquest of Earth is a sci-fi equivalent of sorts, harem giantess fun without a lot of high stakes. I don't think it's a huge spoiler to say The Mistress has a connection to Zenovia.
[Report This]Date: August 29 2022 2:25 AM Title: The Plains
I quite enjoy the goddess's idle musings on Vann meeting his end at the hands of some particularly cruel woman. Like in an earlier chapter when she mentioned the kind of divine intervention he WOULDN'T be receiving and here when she noted how much she might enjoy the orc lady having her way with Vann.
Can't wait for the next ritual!
Author's Response:
Zenovia is more protective of Vann than she'd like to admit, still if that orc hadn't stolen those holy artifacts Vann might have had a very different experience there.
Date: August 28 2022 1:15 PM Title: The Goddess Awakens
As a response to your previous response to me. Yeah I assumed Eletha's coping since if she keeps herself from getting attached to indivual friends she'll never have to mourn them which is still really unhealthy. Thus makes her look cold and arrogant since she's treating them like disposable/interchangable pets, as stated by Chadwich. Also even if she's bored of her Elvish family at least theyre all still alive. The same cannot be said about the rest of the crew who have all lost close family members. This is probably why she doesn't know how to mourn since she hasn't ever experienced personal loss unlike the rest of the crew. I wouldn't wish immortality on anybody, I'd probably kill myself before watching all my loved ones wither away especially those younger than me. Probably why Tolkien made Arwen mortal at the end of Lord of the Rings, to spare her from that same thing.
I guess immortality has made elves cold and emotionally unintelligent towards other races. Ironic as it may be I really like the fact that the Elves might not be as wise as they make themselves out to be with then having to rely on the races they look down on for advice/information. I wonder how long it'll take Eletha and the rest of the elves to replace that arrogance with humility.
Sorry for rambling on this one I just love your take on elves as deplorable and arrogant as they may be.
Author's Response:
Underneath all the elven smugness Eletha's actually dealing with some pretty difficult emotions, like Enid said she's not really going to be happy living among elves ever again, but living with humans means you've got to watch them die. While she's far from suicidal you might say there is a reason why Eletha accepts the possibility of dying someday a lot more readily than other immortal beings might.
Date: August 28 2022 7:34 AM Title: The Goddess Awakens
What I mean about immortal elves is if they procreate ince every 100 years and don't die they will have the same numbers as humans if not more
Author's Response:
Most settings with immortal elves have them reproduce a lot less than that, for example in Lord of the Rings Elrond was like 8,000 years old and had two children in that time. For this story Eletha's over 800 and the only time she considered stopping for children was when she thought she was going to have to "save" Chadwick's lineage. The thing with an immortal species is they also don't need to prioritize reproduction and expansion the way a mortal one must.
[Report This]Date: August 28 2022 4:45 AM Title: The Plains
Oh yeah that elf king must be dam good at his job.
Yeah, Zenovia probably didn’t do much during that period compared to other deities, and yeah that must have been weird, but also might mean there are gods not a part of Creation, and things that stayed outside of Creation. Or what some of the gods discovered and built during that time.
Oh and it wasn’t a complaint about the boots, just an interesting choice. Could work out either way.
And theres a version that allows flight, wall/surface climbing (make any wall or ceiling the floor for the wearer), water walking, stealth enhancement, ones made of metal (for full plate) to crystal(especially magical), prison for tinies, visual customization, and maybe minor Enlargement if paired with other stuff. Or besides a Zenovia-magic-use boost/bonus/modifier. Or they have/can be unlocked or added in its own quest, it’ll have to be seen.
It’s all up to you as always and I trust you will do a fine job wordsmithing it.
[Report This]Date: August 28 2022 4:08 AM Title: The Plains
Was kind of hoping to see more of Razita at full size but I guess that'll come when she's reformed. I enjoyed the ominous foreshadowing of whats to come. I'm assuming the mistress is a former follower of zenovia but we'll see.
Ironically I love the newfound conflict between Chadwick and Eletha since she deserves some push back for her previous behavior/statements. Insinuating that your friend is interchangeable because he's not immortal is hilariously insensitive. Maybe its a coping mechanism for Eletha since she's gonna be forced to watch all her friends die but shes pretty incensitive when describing other races and their more normal lifespans so It's just hopeful thinking. Immortality always seems like a curse. Was kind of hoping Runala turned towards Eletha and said "Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul" but I guess there's always next chapter lol.
Can't wait for next chapter! Especially since we haven't really seen Tyra's new whip in action and that last scene left me wanting more Vann and Tyra scenes.
Author's Response: You might say a lot of Eletha's actions regarding Chadwick and his family, and other families she does this with, are a coping mechanism, like she definitely does love and care for them all but she's got a very warped perspective on things. To Eletha immortality is definitely something like a curse, she's too far gone to ever be happy in the Elven lands again, she's even made peace with the idea that she's probably going to die someday, which is a huge leap for an elf. Still she's unaging and an elf, so that impacts her decisions and hence the drama here where she's struggling with the idea that maybe her mortal friends might not find this whole thing acceptable.
[Report This]Date: August 28 2022 4:07 AM Title: The Plains
Huh, yeah there would be some elven ruler from the very beginning, must have been an interesting time when they were cave people, or living in thatch or mud huts. And just how good he is at king stuff, had to have gotten economic and diplomacy mathematics down to instinct by now at least.
And Creation being after Time, so some weird things must be from that period, not to walk of before Time. Or Space.
And two artifacts of Zenovia’s, a whip and heels. How curious you don’t even name a hight or what exact kind of heel, thought that might be variable, wether at the wearers command (a not immediately obviously setting) of Zenovia’s and what she thinks best fits the wearer. Like the speculation a few reviews ago, theres probably some instruction on how to make similar heels in the book. Now just to think what other artifacts do. And All the JEWELLERY.
And while in that section, though, there probably also taboos, and maybe needing shrunken for it to get the detail right.
Another good chapter!
P.S. heres "The truth about chainmail bikini" and you can look for inspiration on more of Zenovia’s artifacts, and the other female armour subs. Enjoy!
Author's Response:
To go into the elf thing it's a sort of Tolkien thing where even among an immortal people there are only a handful of them still alive from the very beginning, I imagine the Elf king mentioned by Eletha is incredibly wise and like you said has probably mastered politics, economics, etc, and it's thanks to him that the elves are still around and prosperous despite being haughty jerks to the rest of the world.
There are a few religions that detail what divine beings are up to prior to the creation of the world, and it's always trippy and weird, Zenovia probably wasn't the goddess of anything at that point and if it's not obvious she's not as serious as most gods probably are.
I'll try to give some more description of the boots next chapter.
[Report This]Date: August 24 2022 6:24 PM Title: Out of the Mountains
Exceptional work! Can't wait to see more scenarios shaped out of Vann's piety!
Author's Response:
Thanks, we'll see more of Zenovia's "guidance" in the world.
[Report This]Date: August 24 2022 4:50 AM Title: The Goddess Awakens
Yeah, fair that she couod be young and not realise it, and all the pain of and work to make a perfect king, cause like you said woth Crusader Kings, its way to easy to loos it all, and thats assuming being in isolation and extreem controll. Some other humans might notice/find out and not want a king put there by an elf period, or some unluky plague gets the perosn, and then thers even older elves which might come along to stop it becaus they’ve been wiser.
And then there the elfes that sucseded at theses, the backfire statistic (some elf had to have looked into those even for intellectual curiosity), or the evil elves that needed to get stoped, or some early history horror stoies, might inform some more official rules on it and why elfe children ard how they are a out this, if one asked thier teachers/elders. But thats all decent background lore, not neceseraly relevent to the first male shosen of a feail domination godess that has macro and microphilia.
For akilmilo’s fair point on the true immortality, might be the slow growth or maturation rate thats normaly there, or elves have an ultra low breeding chance compared to others, medieval infant mortality rate (if they already have a hard time with germ theory, without some elf only diseases as well), dying in wars that they had to have had in the past, elf on elf murder, dying on theses adventures (since if Vann handt shrunk, had more magic, skill and had wanted too, he could have killed Eletha, meaning another more powerful mage could, and thats just mages in a straight up fight) or anything else that can kill anyone.
Or at least these might contribute enough.
Author's Response: There will be more on Eletha's development as we go on, probably not a ton on elven society as a whole since it's not super relevant to this particular tale. Vann could definitely beat her if he really focused on it, he's more powerful and he could spend a few days having fun with Tyra and come at her almost unstoppable, of course they're all on the same side luckily.
Date: August 24 2022 4:15 AM Title: The Goddess Awakens
Immortal elves? The first time I see ones. Usually they just live 10 to 100 times longer than humans. Immortality usually preserved for divine (like champions in this case), transcendents(who transcend the species(demon king, maybe his 4 main subordinats, human heroes born with supertalent in everything once per 1000 years or so, elven royality that possess superitem or some blessing from some primordial elf(blessings are limited in number, usually 12)) or some evil witches who need to sacrifice something for eternal youth. This is how you make sure there is no overpopulation or some kind of race domination. The more you live the harder it is to make kids and immortals can't have immortal as a kid without paying a price or at least have to limit it to one.
If you make an immortal race that can procreate then world will collapse from overpopulation and that race dominating others.
Author's Response: These guys are a lot like the Tolkien elves in that they do truly live forever, but they also reproduce and mature very slowly, and many of them never procreate at all. This being the kind of story it is you might say that they definitely have a sex drive, but for most of the time it's truly a recreational thing for them. As far as dominating other races, if you've got one elf who has practiced the sword for a thousand years against a hundred humans who have practiced the sword for six months, the hundred humans are going to win. Overall this story's elves are generally a benevolent lot, so they're easy friends with humans even if a lot of them are assholes.
[Report This]Date: August 24 2022 3:43 AM Title: Out of the Mountains
Really like the relationship between Rumana and Chadwick, glad they got together. This chapter made me feel for Chadwick, I'd be pretty pissed if I found out an elf had been stalking my family for ages and treating them like poodles only to trick me into thinking our relationship wasnt predetermined by her. "Never trust an elf" words to live by. Hope she's paying for the ale when they have the talk (I'm not a dwarf I swear). All in all, I can't wait for next chapter!
Author's Response:
There will be some more exploration of Eletha's doings later in the story, yeah the dwarves definitely have a point on those elves lol.
[Report This]Date: August 24 2022 2:48 AM Title: Out of the Mountains
Fair of why the elves take these new ideas and changes so slowly, probably also why it will be a while till they get why it might be questionable to be ‘guiding’ a family line. Even if not malicious a majority of the time. And I know that the world was found be round so long and ago and know, hence the mention of figuring it out by now
Wonder it would be considered insanity by normal elves for an elf to actually adapt as fast as humans or dwarfs. And orphan or kidnaped elf baby raised by humans and so has the mindset and timeframe.
Or some humans found out or got told (this couldn’t have been the first time), and took it far worse then Chadwick, and did something. Killing or ensuring some long term hatred of elves is the least that could happen. I could see someone erasing the elf’s memory, taking some illusion flesh crafting for the ears, and passing them off as a humans and made to life as sone for a whole, not even noticing the lifespan themselves. And thats if the person has the magical skills for it, things could be so much cruder, and some use for a magical and immortal creature could be found. Or other curses.
And then there wether any gods care about this, or even what the ones who do do. Or some culture or secret society of human is around to deal with this somewhere because they didn’t approve.
So interesting stuff.
And not really a spoiler to me, of course some of Zenovia’s followers are up to no good still. It would be interesting in itself of the history of the followers of other gods and how they do thing the diety doesn’t wish, what they were, how they were dealt with, and what/if divine law/protocol is about this. When it becomes relevant of course, doesn’t even need detail just casual comments.
Author's Response:
I think that as the elves age maybe some of them realize why humans react negatively to it, for Eletha at 800 she's still a "young" elf who thinks she has humans figured out but clearly doesn't. Elves are probably saved from too harsh of a reaction by the fact that ones who do this probably cultivate a positive relationship before the revelation, that said yeah there are probably some people who took it worse than Chadwick, outright murder is probably pretty rare but some elves might not find their reception with their friends to be as warm as it was.
The gods probably don't care, the elves are "immortal" in the sense that they don't age, most of them still find their end eventually. To the likes of Zenovia Eletha's 800 years are nothing and she's no different than the rest of the group, even more spiritual beings like Enid, who may or may not be immortal themselves, don't spare a lot of concern for what the peoples of the world are doing unless they really start upsetting the balance of things. I doubt the elves would be successful manipulating their way into power over humanity as a whole, this world has too many other players and humans are capable of their own magic, divine intervention, or technological growth. Any elf who wanted to use this tactic against humanity would also run into the same problem as a Crusader Kings player, 300 years breeding your perfect king and then one lucky assassin brings you back to square one.
[Report This]Date: August 24 2022 2:02 AM Title: Out of the Mountains
Well, I bet other elves take the human “guiding” a little farther then even Eletha would be conformable with, or even thinking about.
And outright immortality, yeah some elf follower of Zenovia has got to still be around, and doing her own human breeding program for all those millennia. The smaller since make storing and controlling easier, and they could easily kidnaped new people for more diversity if needed. If were talking practicality. Might have even forgotten what Zenovia is all about, and so has to get a reminder or dealing with now that shes awake, and to clean up the mess now that she might need to change her image and not get on the worst side of whatever keeps the gods in check. Or the elf went insane as immortal can, having somehow avoided whatever normally let elves not go crazy from time.
Some pantheon of Order Undivided, or some chaotic lawfull eldritch thing is their enforcer, lawfully in that it follows the laws of physics, and somehow doesn't need magic or even divine power to do anything, and chaotic cause chaos theory and quantum mechanics. Maybe even the gods are unnerved by it, needing “sock puppets” in its “appendage”, that doesn’t make peoples heads explode, go mad, or freak out, to even interact with mortals.
Could be funny if it had an anti magic effect, in that the laws if physics beat up magic for its oucnk miney and then assert dominance with a T pose, causing all magic to undo its effect and everything follows physics, get everyone’s interviews of whatever divine legal case it was doing, and then leaves. Just weird.
And the Dwarves already know the world is round, kinda surprised the elves didsn’t figure it out, going to some high enough mountains and looking, or just being around so long so notice.
Guess we’ll find out latter, goblins need dealing with.
Author's Response:
The thing is elves in this setting are (mostly) not evil, just kind of arrogant. The ones that do what Eletha does really do believe themselves friends of the humans they "guide," like most would never do anything to hurt them and would be really troubled if they upset them somehow, at the same time they don't really understand why humans might find the knowledge that their best friend basically acted as a mentor to everyone in their family for centuries might be off putting.
Without going into spoilers there are some servants of Zenovia who are still around and doing things they shouldn't be.
Knowledge that the world is round was actually pretty common among educated classes since something like 300 BC, mostly thanks to Greeks and various groups that learned from them. This world is a sort of medieval fantasy mash up, so they'd actually be late in making that discovery, but the dwarves here are more scientifically oriented rather than magically inclined. There are probably elves that do know the world is round, but their society and ideas change slower than others.