Fic Update: Sleep of the Just Finale
Jul. 19th, 2010 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodel Well, I promised I'd focus on non-Archanea works, didn't I?
So, the third and final installment of "Sleep of the Just" is posted here. Anyway, one reviewer noted that the previous chapter didn't have a lot of conflict for Innes-- basically he pieced his head back together, got laid, got married, and overall did very well for himself. Things get a lot more sticky in this one.
So, Innes realizes in due time that something is going very wrong with the Gradan reconstruction effort. Cash-strapped Ephraim has resorted to some "creative financing" to keep his part of the continent afloat, and once Innes sends his agent down south to do some snooping around, he learns that the Gradan economy (and, by extension, the economy of Renais) is enmeshed in a giant pyramid scheme. Even Innes can't maneuver his way out of this mess, so he hangs back, chewing his nails and attempting to lay contingency plans for when the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. It's not a question of making Ephraim look bad any longer; Innes has spent his entire adult life establishing himself as the shadowy, sinister counterpart to bright shining Ephraim. So Innes steps up and fully takes on the role he's been practicing since the War of the Stones ended....
[Spoilers for the overall story below]
I hate it when Innes is presented as an insane murderer, someone who's aiming to kill Seth so he can score with Eirika or who's willing to kill Ephraim Just Because. I think he's a perfectly sane murderer, thank you very much. Deliberate and justified, at least by his own lights. As I said last chapter, I'm going off High Renaissance standards here, and what Innes does is all perfectly in keeping with what a monarch needs to do in order to protect his throne and his people. Ephraim himself is the untouchable hero, but he's developed a reverse Midas touch and things are turning to crap in his hands. So Innes... does what he has to do.
People are going to think I hate Ephraim's guts. Seriously, he has a 100% fatality rate in my stories. I won't touch a hair on Alm's oddly-colored head, but Ephraim kicks the bucket every time. Mind you, I deep-six Rennac in this one (rather, Innes deep-sixes him), so it's not like I abuse characters I don't love. I just don't feel the temptation to have a giant spider tear Alm to shreds. I don't think Alm is set up so high on a pedestal that he has a giant spider coming. It's more fun to take down a colossus than it is to abuse the underdog, and Alm very definitely has the feel of the underdog about him in spite of his successes (he's being USED, after all). I like Ephraim a lot, but he's there, and he makes an splendid obstacle in need of removal.
[My motivations for screwing with Marth come from someplace different than my desire to beat up on Ephraim. It's a lot more complicated.]
Anyway, I had fun with this for all that it took the better part of a year. And now I'm out of FE8 plotbunnies aside from a Forde-themed thing that I will probably never write.
So, the third and final installment of "Sleep of the Just" is posted here. Anyway, one reviewer noted that the previous chapter didn't have a lot of conflict for Innes-- basically he pieced his head back together, got laid, got married, and overall did very well for himself. Things get a lot more sticky in this one.
So, Innes realizes in due time that something is going very wrong with the Gradan reconstruction effort. Cash-strapped Ephraim has resorted to some "creative financing" to keep his part of the continent afloat, and once Innes sends his agent down south to do some snooping around, he learns that the Gradan economy (and, by extension, the economy of Renais) is enmeshed in a giant pyramid scheme. Even Innes can't maneuver his way out of this mess, so he hangs back, chewing his nails and attempting to lay contingency plans for when the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. It's not a question of making Ephraim look bad any longer; Innes has spent his entire adult life establishing himself as the shadowy, sinister counterpart to bright shining Ephraim. So Innes steps up and fully takes on the role he's been practicing since the War of the Stones ended....
[Spoilers for the overall story below]
I hate it when Innes is presented as an insane murderer, someone who's aiming to kill Seth so he can score with Eirika or who's willing to kill Ephraim Just Because. I think he's a perfectly sane murderer, thank you very much. Deliberate and justified, at least by his own lights. As I said last chapter, I'm going off High Renaissance standards here, and what Innes does is all perfectly in keeping with what a monarch needs to do in order to protect his throne and his people. Ephraim himself is the untouchable hero, but he's developed a reverse Midas touch and things are turning to crap in his hands. So Innes... does what he has to do.
People are going to think I hate Ephraim's guts. Seriously, he has a 100% fatality rate in my stories. I won't touch a hair on Alm's oddly-colored head, but Ephraim kicks the bucket every time. Mind you, I deep-six Rennac in this one (rather, Innes deep-sixes him), so it's not like I abuse characters I don't love. I just don't feel the temptation to have a giant spider tear Alm to shreds. I don't think Alm is set up so high on a pedestal that he has a giant spider coming. It's more fun to take down a colossus than it is to abuse the underdog, and Alm very definitely has the feel of the underdog about him in spite of his successes (he's being USED, after all). I like Ephraim a lot, but he's there, and he makes an splendid obstacle in need of removal.
[My motivations for screwing with Marth come from someplace different than my desire to beat up on Ephraim. It's a lot more complicated.]
Anyway, I had fun with this for all that it took the better part of a year. And now I'm out of FE8 plotbunnies aside from a Forde-themed thing that I will probably never write.
