I've got some mixed feelings. On one hand I love to see more Groves and the idea of laser moths is just the right kind of stupid to work in RPC. I enjoy the moths' biology (especially their attraction to tombs, I'm a sucker for that kinda thing) but the article ended up feeling like a long-winded historical annex without much cohesion. There's a powerful theme somewhere of natural beauty being perverted for use in war, but neither the beauty or the perversion aspects of that are accentuated very much.
I'm also not a fan of how this is thoroughly impenetrable to anyone fresh to RPC lore or who isn't very up to date on the specifics of all the AoIs and Groves. I'm not actually sure of how much would go over your head if you don't know all of these things, but it probably makes up for a pretty awkward read.
I feel like with just a few more direct, emotional accounts of people interacting with the moths this would be far better. Cut down the Scotichronicon excerpts to one longer, more fleshed out segment that accentuates the beauty (and danger) of the moths, add a segment with Groves's (or anyone's) perspective about their weaponization to transition to the second part of the theme, and a properly spectacular log or account of the lasers' effect on the ships, and you practically fix nearly all the issues I mentioned.
That last part I feel is the main sticker: the lasers really don't feel as spectacular as they should be. By this point in the article it's been built up that the moths feed off of magic radiation that emanates from burial sites of saints and their relics and that they can use it as a laser, so when I hear that this is being weaponized into a single anti-air gigalaser I am really expecting to be impressed — but the actual effects are redacted.
One bit about the lore mechanics/specifics of Groves: it radiating from saints' corpses is really, really weird. 632 states it might originate from the plane of platonic ideals, 590 treats it as the magic equivalent of nuclear radiation… Which fit decently well together, but don't mesh all that well with holyness and saints. I'm not saying it's irreconciliable, I'm saying it's weird as it is presented.
(account deleted) 29 Mar 2022 18:59