The anime above is what made me think of this topic. Specifically, a scene where the main character (guy) starts accidentally absorbing knowledge. Not going to get into the plot, but he gains the ability to rapidly grow in powers, knowledge, etc. In the comical scene, he is in a library and the voice in his head keeps announcing different spells he is mastering simply by touching books. He is kind of freaked out, which made me think of other ways characters have rapidly gained knowledge.
Touch– All they do is make contact with a person, creature, or source of information. Then everything is absorbed. Sometimes, the physical object/person is taken along with the information. It doesn’t always result in mastery, but I’m seeing sudden expertise be the norm in certain genres.
Ingestion– This one is pretty self-explanatory and I think it’s mostly found in fantasy Isekai. Basically, a person arrives in another world and ends up eating monsters to gain their abilities. It can end up being people too if the person such as in ‘Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime’. Either way, they devour the target and gain both knowledge and abilities.
Sight– I’ve seen this one with a lot of written knowledge, but also with spells and fighting styles. The character merely has to see these things once and they have completely mastery over it. With the knowledge, this could be seen as eidetic memory, which is fine. Spells and combat are tougher because it bypasses the necessity to train for such things. Clearly, it’s a cheat.
Matrix Download– Just like with Neo, a character has everything they need downloaded into their brain. The thing with the Matrix is that there seemed to be limits such as it being skills or simply knowing the martial arts form doesn’t mean you will win. Yet, many people create a download system where it comes with god-like mastery and no weak points.
Telepath– Self-explanatory in that one steals the knowledge and skills right out of a target’s brain.
I’m sure there are more, but these feel like the main ones. In general, I’m not a big fan of how these trick is used. People make it run too smoothly with no downsides. I would like it better if new skills were gained at the sacrifice of others or they had to be crafted with what you get. Otherwise, the character becomes too powerful and you start to wonder how they will ever lose. Not to mention the issue of having multiple ways to solve a problem, so how would they choose in a pinch? There’s never any doubt in these characters when they come up with a solution, so they reach a level of ‘perfection’.
Maybe I’m being nitpicky though. Anybody know of a way to make this power work without it going too far? Can you do it without mentioning Rogue, Taskmaster, and other comic book characters? 😀
Hair– Blue Eyes– Green Race– Human gypsy Hometown– None due to gypsy clans being nomadic Career– Gypsy/Thief/Party Thrower Weapon(s) of Choice– Magic and Daggers Debut Book– Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies
When we first meet Sari, she is escaping the massacre of her clan and her life gets more difficult after that. Captured by Queen Trinity, made a servant of Kalam the vampire, and pushed to her mental limits, the young gypsy has suffered a lot by the time she unites with Nyx and Luke. With the appearance of Sari, the champion prophecy is revealed and she is given a chance at a new family. This makes her very similar to Nyx in how she acts towards her companions, but she keeps herself a little more distant out of fear of being abandoned again.
Sari is a hero with more tricks up her sleeves than she can remember. Her thief skills range from pick pocketing, burglary, crafting disguises, working with traps, and flirty manipulation. In combat, she is deadly with her knives and has nearly one hundred of them hidden in the layers of her enchanted skirts. Sari becomes an even bigger handful for an enemy when you include her mother’s boots that allow for slow falling, illusion and emotion-based magic, a cunning mind, and a family ability to make her body immovable even if an ogre tried to lift her. To neutralize this champion, one would need multiple layers of defenses and enough knowledge to plan for everything she can do.
Even so, Sari is fragile because of the death of her clan, which she doubts she will ever get entirely over. This causes trouble in most of her relationships because she tends to focus more on making other people happy. Creating smiles and making others feel loved helps to ease her own pain, but it also leaves her open to more anguish. Much like Luke’s bloated sense of responsibility, this can prove to be Sari’s biggest weakness.
While Rogue of the X-Men wasn’t the character who triggered this idea, I think she’s a good example. Although, she steals from other people while I’m thinking of characters who simply learn at a superhuman speed. I’ll go into specific styles on Wednesday, but I wanted to discuss the general idea today. So, what exactly do I mean?
I’m thinking of characters who find a way to learn new skills or gain knowledge without years of practice. They absorb the abilities in some fashion either temporarily or forever depending on the story. I’m not talking about powers here. This is specifically about knowledge-based skills and information such as lockpicking, chemistry, writing, etc. It can be born from a superpower that allows absorption of so many skills and knowledge, but that’s really it. Seems rather simplistic, but it can give a character so many advantages as they progress. After all, knowledge is power.
Typically, I find this ability in the genre currently called Isekai. This is the Japanese name where the protagonist(s) are transported from one world to another. They tend to gain some powers or even a new form when they are carried over. Many also gain the ability to learn at an accelerated or automatic pace. It isn’t always made clear, but you end up with protagonists that can swiftly break the laws of the new world to become incredibly powerful. This usually stems from them gaining knowledge at either a fast pace or it’s something nobody else knows.
An alternative is they arrive with knowledge from our world, which they use to gain an advantage. I find this one odd, especially when you have young heroes who seem to know high level tech. For example, a high schooler is brought to a fantasy world and suddenly knows how to craft themselves a gun from scratch. It could be possible for a 15-year-old to be able to do this, but they usually don’t have any experience. Stories go ‘they read about guns’ or ‘used guns’, which makes the audience go along with it. Instead, it seems more likely that they absorbed some related knowledge and skills as they jumped over.
This ability comes with a downside too. A character can become too powerful because they know everything. This means they can mess with the overall system and get out of every problem. A villain without this power wouldn’t be able to predict everything they know, so their traps will usually fail. This is a common part of late-stage Isekai where the hero is never really in danger even when caught by surprise. So, this internal library of knowledge and skills makes the hero unstoppable. Even if they are physically weak, they can think and craft a way out of it. I mean, look at how Batman is treated on the Internet as the Unstoppable God of Prep Time thanks to him always knowing exactly what he needs to win.
Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of this power when it’s a permanent thing. I don’t mind a character borrowing skills and knowledge. This can help them develop the basics and learn them for good through effort. The other way makes things too easy and creates a temptation to have them learn everything. I do understand if the story is moving quickly and you don’t want to waste time on education scenes or time passing. It works solely as a plot device, I guess. Still, I prefer to have such things gained slowly and spread throughout a group instead of one person knowing it all.
What do other people think about characters who can simply absorb and use knowledge and skills?
Today is National Winnie the Pooh Day because it’s also A.A. Milne’s birthday. I was thinking of what to post for it since I remember watching the Disney movie of Pooh Bear a lot as a kid. I even had a 100 Acre Wood game on the computer way back in the 1980’s, which involved finding missing items. No moving graphics and totally old school compared to today. That made me think of noting my favorite as a kid and the one I relate to more as an adult:
Kid– Tigger because I was always bouncing around and happy. I mean, most kids loved Tigger with his high energy and song.
Adult– Eeyore because he’s not that happy, but still does stuff and socializes. He finds moments to be happy while not letting it go too far. Eeyore strikes me as a pessimist with anxiety and some depression, but he’s not letting it destroy him.
So, who is your favorite Winnie the Pooh character?
Not a single day went smoothly this week. If this was a rollercoaster, it would be nothing more than spinning with random parts where the cart has to jump a ramp. Pettiness, high emotions, health stuff, and the Verizon outage were all there. Guess I’ll dive into this and try to find some positives.
I did manage to finish chapters 12 and 13 of Darwin & the Joy Path. It didn’t happen last weekend though. One of the sections took a lot of juggling as well as me waking up later than expected. So, I only got one section done that day, which meant I didn’t have enough time to finish. It wasn’t too bad since I needed some thinking time, but not as much as others. With all of the scenes being walking and talking, I didn’t have to consider high action. I’ll take it even though the result was creating a twist in one character’s purpose and shifting a few other things. I may have inadvertently created foreshadowing for this . . .
(Okay, I’m apparently writing this post while my computer tries to update itself. This has been going on for an hour and I want to get the post done. My son has midterms to study for and we want to get some Pokemon in before the weather turns too much for driving to be a sane endeavor. Why do things keep shifting and the window needs to be clicked again?)
. . . Well, the Verizon outage resulted in me not being able to do anything outside of the house. That meant I couldn’t go to the Pokemon event much like nearly everyone else around here. So, I managed to muster what little energy I had to write the end of chapter 13, which is where a bunch of changes happened. I guess they’re changes. They do give Darwin a bit more urgency and focus without altering the whole story. Others involved were heading in this direction, but I kind of pushed them further along. Guess I’ll see how it goes whenever I do an editing read down the road.
Work was really busy since we have (why did the screen go black for a minute?) midterms coming up. This means a big change of schedule for a few days, which can cause a lot of tension. Not only with the students, but us too. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for parts of the day since I can’t bring my laptop along. Pretty rude to be writing after the kids go home while my coworkers are around. So, I might just relax and save chapter 14 for the evening or next weekend. It’s another 3-parter, which means I have a decent shot at getting it done.
An added frustration with the outage was the timing. The beginning of the week still had weather that allowed me to walk outside for a bit. Only my son had a lot of work and Tuesday was a wreck. It was nearly dark by the time I got home, so my son and I had to do our Pokemon stuff and chatting at the mall. At least on Wednesday I could go to a different park and get fresh air before the polar vortex returned Thursday morning . . . Only Verizon was out and my phone was basically useless. I couldn’t even play music, which made the walking around difficult. I like having music or a game to keep me focused a bit. So, I just drove home and finished chapter 13.
There really wasn’t anything else of note this week because the rest was just ridiculous drama. Stuff I can’t go into here even though I want to. Some people are insanely petty and will go scorched earth at the slightest provocation. I’m still dealing with the fallout from one of these people. Glad I have a 3-day weekend with my son to help take my mind off these things.
I started re-watching ‘Fallout’ on Amazon Prime too. Season 2 came out, but I’m not able to watch the long episodes that quickly. The final episode should be released around the same time I catch up. If not, I’ll throw on a comedy or anime. Hard to get the exact timing down since I can’t predict how chaotic things will be. At least the show is entertaining enough that I don’t mind it being the second time through.
Let’s jump to the goals:
Help son study for midterms this weekend.
Work on March blog posts when he studies on his own.
Lego sets for screen break.
Pokemon outing before weather turns or at mall.
Biking on days I can’t go outside.
‘Phi Beta Files’ tinkering.
Laundry and house cleaning because I’m an adult with responsibilities.
Sleep in if possible.
Finally finished a puzzle I started before my hospital stay and recovery. Took a while because I couldn’t sit down for very long. It was a challenge even recently because I’m still having days where I’m sore. Here it is:
Greatest invention for an author. Sure, pictures can tell a story, but words are what I work with.
(Anyone ever try to go so far off the norms that they get stuck?)
I wish to tell a story
For all the world to hear
Using neither prose
Or poem form
I do not want a dialog
Or meters with strict rhyme
I do not want dactyls
Or descriptions that carry on
I wish to tell a story
But I do not want a scheme
I want to write it freely
Using my own way
Depending on a rhythm
That beats within my head
Flowing like a river
That has rapids now and then
I wish to tell a story
Yet I fear my path is false
Because I dodge the standards
That we have all been taught
I risk the wrath of peers
Who hold the rules so high
t makes me wonder slightly
Should I carry on?
One of the interesting things with the flight ability is that one can say it comes with a bunch of secondary powers. It usually isn’t mentioned or gets explained by having the flight come from a special source. For this post, we’re going to talk about what would come with pure flight powers that don’t come from a device or other power.
Temperature Resistance
It gets really cold in the upper atmosphere, especially if the hero can get into the low Mesosphere. I think. Didn’t take Earth Science. I know it gets really hot at a certain point as well. Not to mention reentry can create heat. Still, these characters don’t react to any temperature changes that can come from being high above the planet. Even the high winds don’t have much effect on them.
Radiation Resistance
As you get higher in the atmosphere, you get exposed to more radiation. There is less ozone protection up there. I think that’s how you explain it. Either way, a hero flying high above everything would be exposed to this energy more than someone on the ground. So they would need some type of power to protect them from negative effects. This can range from using the radiation as a power source or simply being immune.
Improved Breathing
The higher the altitude, the less oxygen a person has. This is why people bring oxygen tanks when climbing Mt. Everest. Now, a flying character might go even higher than this, but they show no signs of lacking oxygen. This can be explained by a secondary power where their bodies are able to absorb and/or process oxygen more efficiently to compensate for the lower levels.
Eye Protection
With the speeds that these characters fly, one might imagine the wind going into their faces. There may even be bugs and some small debris like one would notice hitting a windshield. Now, how are these characters still able to see when they have these going into their eyes? There’s the threat of the eyes drying out as well. Birds have this solved with a three eyelid system where the third is a horizontal one for moisturizing and cleaning. People would notice this, so there could be another power protecting their eyes from the effects of fast flight.
Enhanced Hearing
Again with the wind here. Without protection, the flying hero will have the sound of whipping winds in their ears. How can you hear anything else with that noise? I mean, a window down in a moving car can make it hard to hear music, so this has to be much tougher. This would require something that either enhances their hearing or gives them the ability to filter out ambient noises.
Navigation Power
This might not be a big one, but I think a flying person would have trouble finding their way around. They would know cardinal directions, but going to a specific location from high above can be tough. We are used to seeing landmarks from the front instead of the top, so it would take the hero time to figure out a landscape. This doesn’t even explain identifying a person from above since you can’t see faces. A power that allows for navigating and recognizing individuals from above would help here. This would mean the hero won’t have to keep stopping to figure out where they are going.
Hair– Black Eyes– Violet Race– Half-elf/Channeler Hometown– Gaia; Birth town unknown Career– Caster Weapon(s) of Choice– Magic Debut Book– Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower
Casters require years of training to master the gestures, incantations, and ingredients that are needed for spellcasting. Nyx can create a tornado of flames if she sneezes, which means she is in a class by herself. Orphaned at the age of 2, she has been raised by Willow and Cyril in the esteemed caster school called Rainbow Tower. Nyx has excelled at her studies with the knowledge that she is meant to face an ancient darkness. Having no skills at surviving outside of a city and not getting along with horses, this young woman has just as much of an uphill battle as Luke Callindor.
It doesn’t help that she has spent most of her life ostracized and feared by the other apprentices. This has caused Nyx to be rather standoffish and short-fused when she is first encountered. Yet, her bond with Luke helps to soften her edges and reveal that she is a fiercely loyal hero. Having lost her family at such a young age, she sees the champions as her brothers and sisters. Except for Delvin Cunningham, who is in the unique position of making her blush on a daily basis. Still, many enemies learn that threatening anyone in Nyx’s family is unhealthy since she is prone to invent spells on the fly. This can include a fire blast that will avoid a hostage and incinerate an enemy, but she does have a love of fighting.
Over the course of the series, Nyx proves to be the most powerful of the champions. This results in her being targeted more often than her companions. Sometimes it is to kill her while other enemies are interested in using her as a living weapon. No matter what their goal, they always find that Nyx is a force to be reckoned with.
Legends of Windemere 