You know what kind of drives me crazy in MDZS fic set in the modern day? They don't seem to recall the that the Jiangs are just as rich as the Lans/Jins/Nies. Wei Wuxian (and JC and JYL) all grew up in that same tax bracket, probably going to the same or similar events. Even if, for some reason, WWX is in a poor financial state as an adult, he's not going to be awed by the Lan estate or whatever.
It feels like it tries to make WWX more of an Average Guy but the entire point is that he is exceptional in most ways! It's just really weird to me.
Hah! Yeah, that's a goofy one, but I think it bugs me less than a lot of similar foibles. Because it's so often the result of someone applying 'modern AU' as a package, as opposed to implementing it item-by-item in a deliberate sort of way, and the 'modern AU package' involves retooling the characters to fit not into a modern equivalent of their original scenario or role or anything, but into the norms of realistic fiction.
Something that is in many ways just as arbitrarily stylized as any other frequently used fiction conceit or setting. We particularly get norms lifted from the highly stylized romance genre(s) in mdzs, but you'll see stuff from contemporary literary fiction mixed in, too.
Much rarer that you'll see people doing modern AU in a way that's directly based on, rather than just inspired-by, their lived experience.
And there are a lot of extant Rules about how to do fiction set in Normal Life correctly, in a way that doesn't make you look like a fool or a child, and this typically requires an Everyman protagonist. Being superspecial is for genre fiction, where self-indulgence is to be expected. (Even there there's backlash but still.) Gotta be So Normal. Gotta be relatable.
So since this version of writing Modern AU is basically a genre pastiche, I just sort of accept the Normalization Beam as the mildly stupid genre conceit that it is, and am mostly only slightly annoyed. Sure okay, Wei Wuxian comes from a middle-class background, as all normal people do. Fine.
It's like if I read an E-rated fic it's gonna have porn, and I might find it gross. Welp.
But yeah, there are a lot of very specific class things being done in the source material, which it can be very valuable and interesting to try to translate! I've seen stuff done with it that was interesting, and stuff I didn't like, and stuff that was interesting though not well-founded in the canon, as well as all those people just doing Contemporary Normal Genre Fiction With Wangxian.
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I'm sorry this feels real weird, but I love PINTWILF a lot, and the fact that you really expanded on SQH's role and everything. And I really loved that you added the other unnamed peaks and melded them in, everything that you wrote about the peaks actually really fleshed them out and their roles. So what did you name the three other peaks, and what are their roles? I think I only really understand that Xi Jiao is an animal/beast peak?
Itās not weird! Iām quite pleased with the sect logistics Iāve been writing in PINTWILF (from a humor angle, not a realism angle) and so Iām happy to talk about it. This is the order of peaks Iāve been using in PINTWILF:Ā
Apparently theyāre responsible for general affairs. Iāve always assumed theyāre also responsible for dealing with other sects and politics, outside of peak-specific specialties where another peak lord has the authority to represent the sect.Ā
Peak of scholars and strategists. I assumed from there that they would also be responsible for a lot of library and archive-related duties, and that they would have some talisman and seal experts, etc., and that QJ and QD would be closely tied in many matters.Ā
(3) Wan Jian Peak - Peak Lord: Wei Qingwei (Canon)Ā
Peak of sword masters. I assumed that this meant both martial weapon specialists and sword smiths. I also assumed that this could be expanded to many kinds of metal work. Where WJ and AD meet is probably where a lot of non-weapon-related fabrication happens.Ā
(4) An Ding Peak - Peak Lord: Shang Qinghua (Canon, minus #?)
Iāve seen people put An Ding anywhere from 4th to 12th. Iām not sure that An Ding has a canonical number. I prefer An Ding being 4th because of 1) how closely Qiong Ding and An Dingās work would be tied and the importance of logistics, but 2) mainly how funny I think it is if SQH is only three murders away from being the sect leader.Ā
SQH:Ā āWei Qingwei, you cannot die. The chances of Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan offing each other is too high for you to die on me. YOUāRE MY LAST LINE OF DEFENSE. DONāT MAKE ME BE SECT LEADER.āĀ
(5) Xian Shu Peak - Peak Lord: Qi Qingqi (Canon)
Itās unclear what specialties XS has, probably because it only existed in PIDW as the āhot lady peakā (and MXTX never actually expanded it post-transmigration). Itās never come up, but I kind of dig the idea of XS doing some textiles work, anything from weaving fine fabrics to rope-making. (Who makes stuff like Immortal Binding Cables? It could be Xian Shu.)Ā
(6) Xi Jiao Peak - Peak Lord: Tang Qingling (Non-Canon)Ā
Yes, this is an animal/beast peak, because Iāve seen it brought up in a few fics, and I thought it would be funny for SY to be entranced by the idea, only for SQH to go,Ā āBro, I hope you have the stomach for blood and literal shit, because thatās where they butcher monsters for parts and collect crap for fertilizer.āĀ
I also like the idea of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect having actual pipelines based on the specialties, which make it a very profitable and efficient sect. (Also, where are they getting their food? Do they have livestock? Do they buy it all from the surrounding towns and cities? Xi Jiao is me deciding that, yes, they have livestock.) Liu Qingge brings in a monster, it goes to Xi Jiao, then the parts go out again to Wan Jian, Qian Cao, Zui Xian, and others. to become armor, medicine, potions, etc.. Or maybe just to An Ding to sell.Ā
(7) Bai Zhan Peak - Peak Lord: Liu Qingge (Canon)Ā
They make people who fight good.Ā
(8) Qian Cao Peak - Peak Lord: Mu Qingfang (Canon)Ā
Trains healers and makes medicine. I assumed that they would grow as many of their own plants as they could and do a lot of plant breeding. Medicine could also be a great source of income for the sect (another reason why QC is one of Shang Qinghuaās favorite peaks).Ā
(9) Ku Xing Peak - Peak Lord: Wang Qingjie (Canon, minus # and peak lord)Ā
The peak name is canon, but I canāt remember if they have a canonical number and they donāt have a canonical peak lord. Theyāre all all-male peak with an ascetic lifestyle, living akin to monks.Ā
I think I decided that they specialized in talismans and the creation of other spiritual tools, including and as well as ceramics. So, they work closely with many of the other peaks, but especially An Ding in supplying other peaks. I canāt remember why I decided this. I think maybe I decided that Ku Xing might have a philosophy thatĀ āto create purifying objects, the maker must also be free from impuritiesā? Hence the ascetic lifestyle.Ā
I also thought it would be funny if Ku Xing and Qing Jing had a little bit of a rivalry going on. Shen Qingqiu makes very good talismans and Wang Qingjie is NOT angry about it (in the way of someone trying not to be angry).Ā
(10) Zui Xian Peak - Peak Lord: Zhang Qingyan (Canon, minus # and peak lord)Ā
Again, the peak name is canon, but I canāt remember if they have a canonical number and they donāt have a canonical peak lord. This is the peak that apparently specializes in alcohol.Ā
So, I decided that they might as well be responsible for brewing other potions and solutions. Maybe they have people who specialize in alchemy. Qian Cao and Wan Jian and Xi Jiao (and nearly every other peak) probably do their own brewing of certain things, but it probably helps to have someone else dedicated to brewing on a large scale. Qian Cao grows the plants for a common medicine, then ships them to Zui Xian for mass-production, and the An Ding takes the result and sells it to all the nearby towns and cities.Ā
Zui Xian probably saves and makes Cang Qiong so much money.Ā
(11) Long Sheng Peak - Peak Lord: ??? (Non-Canon)Ā
This is a newer invention and I havenāt come up with a peak lord yet, but theyāre named afterĀ āThe Dragonās Backboneā and they specialize in plants and agriculture. This is myĀ āthis is how the sect gets fedā peak, alongside Xi Jiao.Ā
Maybe they donāt grow all the sectās food themselves, but they support and work with the surrounding towns and cities to make sure that the local harvests survive all of PIDWās horrible plants and monsters. Sometimes you need cultivators who can tell you why this yearās harvest is haunted and what to do about it! Maybe Airplane invented the equivalent of magical locust swarms and didnāt think twice about it, so someone has to deal with that! Maybe they grow the materials for Xian Shuās textiles work!Ā
They work closely with Xi Jiao, Qian Cao, Zui Xian, and An Ding.Ā
(12) ???Ā
I havenāt actually named the last peak. I havenāt really seen a need to invent one yet and itās kind of been a in-joke with myself. Itās fun to imagine people being like,Ā āCang Qiong has twelve peaks, right? Whatās that last one called again? I can never remember what that last peak is called.āĀ
Notes:Ā
I imagine that most of the peaksā specialties overlap in one way or another. An Ding, Zui Xian, Qian Cao, and Long Sheng each do some agricultural stuff, but Qian Cao and Long Sheng (especially LS) do most of it. And so on.Ā
Cang Qiong Mountain Sect also doesnāt have to do everything in-house. Shang Qinghua also has to make orders from other sects and merchants for stuff that Cang Qiong either canāt make or donāt have the space/time to make. I just like the idea that CQ is so powerful partly because theyāre so independent.Ā
If I keep the details loose, I can get a lot of fun humor out of it.Ā
I think one of the coolest Dirt Childrenā¢ headcanons I ever read was that because a Nation is indeed every single one of their citizens, that if they focused on a particular person, they knew everything about them, because, in a sense, the Nation /was/ that person.
damn this concept is fascinating: Iāve seen it used in the past in several fics where Human Meets Nation. Iāve also read fics where like, nations can subtly sort ofā¦Jedi Mind Trick their own citizens :^) so their citizensĀ ignore them (or their strange inhumanness) at times too.
the magic and mechanics of their existence are just really intriguing to think about. their soul is effectively tied to millions. millions and millions of horcruxes.Ā
I like to imagine that the amis try to jam together but they all play wildly different instruments and make the weirdest songs (I'm imagining a scenario involving at least one banjo, a bass clarinet, and a french horn, and perhaps depressing death music on pan flutes).
oh MAN youāve read my fic [eyebrow wiggle]
alright yes i like this like they try so hard to make literally any kind of semi passable music but theyāre just, not compatible, the worldās worst tragedy. here we go:
was forced to take piano lessons as a child, cannot unlearn the lessons but it has never once occurred to them to take advantage of the skill and use it for romancing purposes: enjolras, marius
can play the french horn, no one is really surprised but also what the fuck: bossuet
bass guitar AND bass clarinet: musichetta, sheās better at the clarinet though
inexplicably talented at the flute: eponine
depressing pan flute and shockingly, really fucking good at the saxaphone??? where did you even learn what in heck, also where did you get one of those weird horizontal triangle harp things (they have a name that starts with a d? i think?): jehanĀ
the cello, so well and so deep you can hear the sound of the strings resonate in your soul: combeferre
the fucking banjo. what the fuck. who are you where did you come from: grantaire
keeps a harmonica on hand in case a situation ever needs to be escalated: gavroche
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Okay first of all I want to say that you are doing the most incredibly mdzs meta and I love all of it. You do SUCH a great job of remembering themes and everyone actual characterizations. Like, I think you're the only person doing yzy metas (that I enjoy, at least).
Also that wei wuxian as naruto meta? beautiful, wonderful, I wheezed at the thought of wei wuxian doing a sailor moon friendship beam attack.
Awww thank you! Lmao it's very pleasant to have a scream hole for my thoughts that contains other people who can scream back, especially because most of them are nice about it.
Oh man, Yu Ziyuan meta, I definitely feel like the audience is not there but I have so many thoughts. She has like four entire scenes and she's shaped like a cliche but she's got so much psychological depth and is handled with a compassion that doesn't imo attempt to excuse her bullshit, just make it coherent. That's pretty rare.
Which, I guess I can see why that doesn't get a lot of fandom reverb but.
Anyway, thank you for validating! Excellent way to increase the odds I will make more.
All that said: oh my god the Naruto post. I'm. This all happened because I compared Zewu-jun to Jane Bennet one time. Help.
Was getting challenged to frame those mashups akin to being trapped in a hell of my own creation? Yes. Was it also super fun? Yes? Am I mad that tumblr's indexing is so bad I can't go and look at that abomination of a meta post now you've reminded me it exists? Extremely!
I love the implication that King of Retail is Too Wokeā¢ because of non-white people having red or blonde hair. Nothing else. Just the hair.
LMAO yeah.
Like, these kinds of pseudo-intellectual takes are always effectively slightly in code, because they want to convey things like that the mere presence of Minority as part of Normal People is an off-putting issue with a work of fiction, but know if they say that completely straight out with their whole chest rather than just implying it really hard they will get themselves shunted off to the margins, excluded from being taken seriously by a much larger subset of people.
So I'm fairly sure the intended takeaway there is in part that you can tell by this that the game designers included POC in a halfhearted lazy way, because they didn't bother to add rails to their program that would prevent an improbable rate of blond black people being generated.
Which is not actually the worst argument as far as it goes, tbh, there's some basis for drawing that conclusion, though it's not actually proven; there's lots of other possibilities for why it's like that, including that no one on the dev team felt red-headed Ms Yeung or whoever was issue enough to put in extra work to prevent it.
But that doesn't matter in this framework, because this guy feels it's proven and understands that as being, further, decisive evidence this inclusion was 'forced,' rather than an organic part of the game about retail work, and therefore a matter of representation and Diversity and Equity initiatives, and the issue is that the POC were there at all when the developer clearly wasn't all that personally invested in them. And therefore this is a clear example of why deliberate representation in media is 1) tyrannical and 2) inherently stupid and deserving of ridicule. See how stupid the outcome is? Because Forced Diversity makes things harder and worse, not realistic.
But since he's speaking in shitty dogwhistle code for an in-group, he has left out all those middle rungs and skipped to the end, causing himself to look way more ridiculous.
i hope nobody minds that i do this in one swoop i didnāt wanna spam peopleās dashes with the same thing a bunch of times but i very much appreciate everyone taking the time to answer me!Ā
thank you for letting me know!! seems especially poignant atm which i assume is why it was on my dash, iāll see if i can find it to give it a watch sometime soon!Ā
