MOD NOTE: See this post for a story index.

Now that "Worm" is nearing the inevitable end, it seems having fanfiction situated in Wildbows universe could be at least a stopgap to tide the fans over until he let's loose with the sequel. That's why I started this thread, to combine DLP's searching, reading and reviewing power in order to find and rec' anything worth some attention.

Here goes:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9761544/1/Bug-on-a-Wire

The writing is very sound, the action scenes are high quality and the AU!irony in the relationship of the two main characters is delicious. Only four chapters up, but more than worth the read.

5/5

If you want to sift through other stories to find the gems that may be hidden, here a few links:

http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Worm/?&srt=1&r=10

http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/wormverse-ideas-recs-and-fic-discussion-thread-10.274794/

 

I've read Cenotaph, which covers Taylor maybe joining the Wards, maybe becoming a rogue. I am enjoying it.

I've also read Neurocracy, which I like because I like the idea of different powers, and a fucked up Taylor. It's also in WBA.

Those are the two I've read, I think I'll read Bug on a Wire later.

 

I've been following a fair bit on Spacebattles, I'll link them when I get on my comp.

 

There are several that I'm actively following at the moment. Two of them have already been mentioned already in Bug on the Wire and Cenopath, here are the others:

• Scarab - http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/scarab-worm-scion.271246/
• An Imago of Rust and Crimson - http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/an-imago-of-rust-and-crimson-worm-crossover.270661/
• Memoirs of a Flashlight - http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/memoirs-of-a-human-flashlight-exalted-worm.268765/
• Templar - http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/templar-worm-starcraft.275462/

 

Bug on a Wire is looking pretty good so far. It's going to be interesting to see how Skitter and Shadow Stalker develop together, given that I find SS to be an interesting character in her own right.

 

Can people give a basic description of the fics they are recommending?

 

Bug on a Wire: Taylor meets up with Shadow Stalker and teams up with her on first night out. Things get worse
An Imago of Rust and Crimson: Taylor breaks down even harder in the locker and goes to a mental asylum. Things haven't gotten worse yet

 

I didn't as the the first chapter within those stories will give a better feel than I could put into words, but her goes:

Scarab and Memoirs of a Human Flashlight are both Exalted crossover's, however as I have no experience with that universe I have little knowledge other than whats in the story. Both never the less have Taylor with different powers, but considering the cross over they tend to have a multitude of them. This also resulted in different circumstances in that they went different paths than canon Taylor did in her preparation monthes (aka building costume and preparing for cape life)

Scarab so far has medical/bodily function and water affinity powers, and instead of using her months of preparation for cape life she focused on trying to improve herself with the help of the increased abilities from her power. She focused on getting into Arcadia and thus led into interaction with the Wards. Her first cape fight is actually the Leviathan.

MoaHF is more Purity/Uber (masters any tasks) with other talents too and had a rather public trigger thus she actually is in the Wards. I particularly enjoy this stories description of the Wards ecosystem. Too many stories have the initiation merely being a lolwtf practice cape fight then days later you are out on patrol and looking for fights when this runs counter intuitive to what the Wards were designed to be in the Worm verse. This also has great character interactions.

An Imago of Crimson and Rust is... different. This is not your ordinary fic and it is probably best if you just read it for yourself. You may enjoy it or you may hate it, I honestly don't know. For me though, it is certainly interesting enough in that it gives a disturbing power.

Templar is a Worm/Starcraft crossover in which Taylor receives the powers of the Protoss Dark Templar. It is only the first chapter in but it shows promise, but the powers have easily the potential to become overpowered especially when the author has stated they wish it to remain Brockton Bay dominant. This is however written by the author of Second Contact, which is both popular on Fanfiction.net and here where it received 5 stars in the Miscellaneous WBA.

I hope this kinda helps.

 

Neurocracy looks interesting, at least so far.

 

Yeah, I think I have read pretty much every worm story out there, so, here are my favourites:

Hope comes to Brockton Bay has an OC as a main char with the premise of what would happen if a genuinely good and nice person with sufficient (and necessary) power would be thrust in the BB cesspool and well, contrary to my expectation that this would be a Mary Sue wankfest, it has been really entertaining and interesting, alongside a few, much needed lighter and cuter moments, while still carrying the worm theme of consequences. Worth a read. AU-crossover-ish where an OC that the author created by some RPG gets dropped into the canon wormverse before the Slaughterhouse 9 and Echidna situation. Regular and frequent updates, decent length for a wormfic and uncompleted.

Shy Girl is an AU where Taylor triggers with a different power, that being the ability to summon and control Shy Guys. Crossover with Mario. Well written and quite fun. Regular updates. Not too serious as of now but given that this is Worm, we can expect everything going to hell in a basket rather soon. Decent length for a wormfic and uncompleted.

Death's Head is another AU where Taylor triggers with a different power, but this time a more serious and darker story. Taylor triggers with the tinker power to build Wolfenstein tech, with the flaw being that every invention that she creates needs to prominently and visibly display the swastika. So, basically, Taylor becomes a nazi tinker, which she absolutely loathes because she knows that she can never become a hero like this, so, her goal becomes to cleanse the symbol of its previous meaning and make it her own. She becomes rather ruthless quite soon and it is really interesting to follow. Features an interesting partnership with Purity. Irregular updates, decent length and uncompleted.

Midnight Sunlight is another story where Taylor triggers with an exalted power, which seems to be a crossover that is very popular at spacebattles for reasons I do not know. It's some sort of RPG, I think, but to be honest, not quite seeing the appeal so far. But as to this story, I like it, if only for the sufficient build up and writing. Still in its beginning stages and uncompleted. Writing is great, being a Ryuugi Shi story but also expect this to lose steam in its update rates soon and to sit on a cliffhanger that will never be updated again. I still haven't forgiven him for the interruption in his Dresden Files and Percy Jackson crossover.

I second Cenotaph, Bug on a Wire and An Imago of Rust and Crimson, there are a few short but really awesome snippets as well, scattered in the worm threads, so, if you have the time, it is worth slogging through the long spacebattles discussions. It is rather easy to locate the stories via fast scrolling or just clicking on the links in the first post.

I would also like to ask if it is okay to post or write snippets in this thread, since I have grown to like the format of writing short, self-contained one-shots or snippets that probably don't deserve their own thread. Also, would be awesome to get more people here to write for Worm.

 

Death's Head is looking like it could be quite good, although Taylor does seem to be acting a bit weirdly about the Nazi symbolism - not even attempting to cover the symbols with a glued on bit of card, or speaking to the Wards about it.

Cenotaph is good. But feels like it's just heading to a massive gut-punch when Shadow Stalker is revealed.

Shy Girl is fantastic. I've never got hugely into the Mario games, but I know enough to get by. And it's funny at reasonably consistent intervals.

All three are definitely recommended.

 

She can't cover the symbols up. If the swastika is not completely and clearly visible, the inventions could either just dysfunction or, more likely, blow up in her face.

As to speaking to the Wards, it is rather unlikely that they would sponsor a cape who is covered head to toe with that particular symbol. Maybe they could make it work but I can understand Taylor's hesitation to go to them and risk incarceration or something.

 

Death's Head and Shy Girl are surprisingly great. Nice update rate too. Would recommend.

The one thing I didn't like about Shy Girl was the introduction of master hand and how absolutely overpowered it is.

 

Minor nitpick - Scarab is a crossover with Scion, a RPG where the PCs are the children of the gods and goddesses empowered to fight the primordial powers of the universe. Made by the same people as Exalted, shares a lot of themes, and has a lot of the same problems.

The one who performed the visitation in the opening scene is Osiris, though it's a good bet that she isn't his kid because the author seems to be running with Osiris being . . . infertile. Instead, either Taylor is Osiris's adopted Scion or Osiris is performing the visitation for someone else, but at the moment, there's no way to tell.

 

Shy Girl is hilarious.

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Yeah, that's pretty much a copout which makes the story quite a bit less awesome. Still fun, though. And I'd take a worm fanfic wherever I get it.

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This place seems to be a goldmine for worm fanfics. 53 Posts with Worm in their title.

 

How is it a copout? If she could just cover it up, there would be no real conflict.

 

I tried reading Death's Head a while back, but I thought that the author made the tinker tech far too easy to make. One of the drawbacks of that class of powers was thus eliminated which soured it and I stopped reading.

Thank you for correcting me. As I said, I have no experience with Exalted and the concepts seems remarkably similar so I assumed it was the same.

 

I stopped reading Imago a few chapters in. There was nothing in particular that made me do so, but I just didn't find myself liking it.

Memoirs of a Human Flashlight, on the other hand, is brilliant. Another one I'd definitely recommend.

 

Just finished Bug on the Wire and it's awesome, I really hope author will update soon.

Looking Glass is a oneshot about an OC James Shirakawa aka Looking Glass, low-level teenage British cape with a very unique power. How unique, you'll have to read it yourself to find out. It basically serves as a prequel for Shattered Glass that I yet need to start reading, but Looking Glass was great. Story has that bitter-sweet tragic quallity that makes Worm so great.

 

To use better phrasing: it's quite a contrived limitation that provides the story its central conflict, and is often so absurd that it hampers immersion.