Winter Contest Entry
author note: this shit is 90 pages long in microsoft word
The Forest of Noble Truths / Discussion
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This is the discussion related to the wiki page The Forest of Noble Truths.
The first half of this was a 2 star for me.
The second half was the best thing I've ever read on this site and was a 7 star for me.
I'll average that out to a 5 star. New favorite article.
This is one of the single greatest articles on the site. It's scale is extremely small and very personal. And it's extremely well executed. +1
This is beautiful. Author, please oh please post this to the RPC mainlist. This needs so much more attention. +1'd joyfully.
blabbo
I read this article a little while ago, and it was actually what led me to applying for a proper membership. Sorry in advance, as this is going to be kind of a long post.
It's an interesting read, and I went back and forth a lot on whether it seemed appropriate in tone or not. It definitely has the earmarks of an anomaly, and certainly violence and strangeness enough. However, there's a lot of it that seems almost too…not optimistic, but - I suppose the best way to put it is like a fairy tale. The RPC-1 is dangerous, but presented as a victim. The damsel trapped far from those who care about her, and needing rescued. Then, despite everything she's done, she is rescued, and gets to live happily ever after with a family who is not only still alive but don't question their daughter still being fifteen, despite her having been gone long enough to lose count of the passing years, even though she is aware that one winter ends before she blacks out and wakes in another.
What makes this ultimately work for me is that the story doesn't end with the happy ending. We get to see what fairy tales like this look like from the Authority's perspective, and it's a much more cynical viewpoint. From their point of view, "rescuing the damsel" was not a desirable outcome, and the researcher who did so is not only not a hero, but dangerously insubordinate, and unsuited for continued employment. The ending reminds us that the Authority is here for research, and that from their perspective the life of one unfortunate girl was not worth losing a valuable research specimen that they could continue to study with minimal risk. Not when there was no active danger to any others in leaving things as they were. Nor is that presented as an, "Oh, the Authority is evil." moment, but simply as the way things work - sacrifices must be made for the greater good, and it's too dangerous to let staff forget that.
As I said, it's cynical, but in a good way. It keeps the story from feeling too fairy tale, by reminding the reader what universe the story takes place in, and that ultimately happy endings aren't something to be counted on. Or rather, that this world is too dangerous to risk chasing after happy endings, even if it occasionally works out. So it ends up serving to remind the reader that not everything in the RPC universe is completely crapsack, but in a way that doesn't deny the harsh realities of the world it's set in.
Again, sorry for going on so long about it, but I just felt like I had to go into detail about what makes this story work for me, even when there are parts of it that seem like they really shouldn't.
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