Jugdral 'Fic "Recs": Works By Iris Amergin
Sep. 9th, 2012 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelIris Amergin is another one of those names from the earliest days of recorded time... time as recorded by ffnet, that is. "Under the Stars" is the oldest story in the archive at present, #1 out of 6,502.
[Digression-- Jugdral fandom and the nascent Elibe fandom offer a fascinating study in opposites. They were running on different fuels entirely, which might explain why one basically died and the other got stuck in an apparently self-perpetuating set of grooves. But more on that later.]
Anyway, "Under the Stars," dubbed "THE SAPPY FIC" by its author, is a sweet little character piece wherein Nanna encourages Leaf to keep truckin' and not suck, which will ultimately manifest by Leaf promoting to his awesome FE4 class of Master Knight. It's a fusion of game mechanics and characterization that IMO seems to be a hallmark of the early FE4 works, whereas the contemporary Elibe stuff went right off into familiar categories (OOC yaoi, tactician-fic, and endless meditation on specific in-game events like the deaths of Leila and Ninian). It ain't perfect, but there's enough characterization in the opening scene of Leaf listening in on the Tirnanogue kids having a good time that it shows where FE4 fandom worked, where the author took enough passion and interest in some of these tissue-thin characters to sketch them out in a way that feels real enough.
Of course, FE4 writers also had the manga as a cheat sheet, which is a major influence on the drabble "Cursed" and her most ambitious FE piece, "Shades of Darkness," which even now is remarkable for having an actual god-damned creative plot that functions within the Jugdral world. It involves a necromancer doing some very shady things with the souls of the deceased major holy blood users, and all I can say is that I'm damned sorry it petered out at five chapters. Eltoshan is really appealing in this, despite being, well, not himself. Parts of it are effectively a dark buddy comedy featuring Elto and Cuan, which is a nice thing to see. But, alas, it's unfinished and clearly was only beginning to ramp up.
Her final FE work, "A Different Kind of Love," is a first-person POV take on Elto and Lachesis that IMO doesn't entirely work. Maybe it's the POV, maybe it's the story structure.
Anyway, you can breeze through her FE body of work quickly enough, and they (like the works of Nisei) offer a glimpse at where fandom might have gone had there been enough interest in the early games to withstand the onslaught of FE7 'fic.
[Digression-- Jugdral fandom and the nascent Elibe fandom offer a fascinating study in opposites. They were running on different fuels entirely, which might explain why one basically died and the other got stuck in an apparently self-perpetuating set of grooves. But more on that later.]
Anyway, "Under the Stars," dubbed "THE SAPPY FIC" by its author, is a sweet little character piece wherein Nanna encourages Leaf to keep truckin' and not suck, which will ultimately manifest by Leaf promoting to his awesome FE4 class of Master Knight. It's a fusion of game mechanics and characterization that IMO seems to be a hallmark of the early FE4 works, whereas the contemporary Elibe stuff went right off into familiar categories (OOC yaoi, tactician-fic, and endless meditation on specific in-game events like the deaths of Leila and Ninian). It ain't perfect, but there's enough characterization in the opening scene of Leaf listening in on the Tirnanogue kids having a good time that it shows where FE4 fandom worked, where the author took enough passion and interest in some of these tissue-thin characters to sketch them out in a way that feels real enough.
Of course, FE4 writers also had the manga as a cheat sheet, which is a major influence on the drabble "Cursed" and her most ambitious FE piece, "Shades of Darkness," which even now is remarkable for having an actual god-damned creative plot that functions within the Jugdral world. It involves a necromancer doing some very shady things with the souls of the deceased major holy blood users, and all I can say is that I'm damned sorry it petered out at five chapters. Eltoshan is really appealing in this, despite being, well, not himself. Parts of it are effectively a dark buddy comedy featuring Elto and Cuan, which is a nice thing to see. But, alas, it's unfinished and clearly was only beginning to ramp up.
Her final FE work, "A Different Kind of Love," is a first-person POV take on Elto and Lachesis that IMO doesn't entirely work. Maybe it's the POV, maybe it's the story structure.
Anyway, you can breeze through her FE body of work quickly enough, and they (like the works of Nisei) offer a glimpse at where fandom might have gone had there been enough interest in the early games to withstand the onslaught of FE7 'fic.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 12:38 am (UTC)Are we really such a batch of murderers and rogues, we Elibeans?
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 12:58 am (UTC)"What happened to the Fire Emblem people after they beat the game. Complete stupidity rains supreme"
"This is just something I am going to do when bored. Well all the characters are in Pherae for a few days and are going crazy! Based on FE7 for the GBA read and review!"
"louise is accepted to emblem academy to find her inner strenghths she meets alot of people including a blue haired sumone"
"The epic diary of a young, stolen tactician named Steve, with the horror of going on a quest and telling his experience duing "Fire Emblem". To sum it up, another diary story featuring the tactician as a writer. Inspired by Ivanfanatic."
"Matthew and Leila songfic, to Britney Spears 'Everytime' Took events from the game and elaborated on them. My first fic, enjoy!"
Etc.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 02:15 am (UTC)20011999.no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 01:50 am (UTC)I would say that what really pushed the Jugdral writers out was the dramatic falling-out of the LJ crowd, with Neonclover and Rosa Aquafire as the central players. As far as I know, the only one who was fairly close to that drama and still writes Jugdral is Sara Jaye.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 01:53 am (UTC)But I'm guessing it's still the same explosion that played a role in alienating them.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 02:05 am (UTC)Probably true. I don't know which one Neonclover was, but some of the wank around Rosa Aquafire was easy to trace when I got into things in '09. It certainly was a wank-prone sector of fandom, but the extant stories themselves just seem to be more on par with organic exploration of the world and its characters-- more "normal fanfic" and less of the things that makes overall FE fandom so quirky.
morbid curiosity? idk.
Date: 2012-09-10 03:19 am (UTC)Re: morbid curiosity? idk.
Date: 2012-09-10 03:35 am (UTC)