Cryopod Update 47: Part 76 Refreshed (Jason and Amelia begin to battle!) (Bonus: Explanation of the difficulties of writing about Wordsmithing)

I don't have a ton to say about the part itself today, but rather a meta discussion of Cryopod's nature.

Part 76: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCryopodToHell/comments/53vtwn/part_76_discovery/

Original length, 1,984 characters (VERY short!)

New length: 12,300 characters

So, basically, this begins the battle with Amelia. Beyond that, it's mostly about Jason giving himself the willpower to actually fight her.

Jason in Cryopod Refresh is a different being from the one in Classic. You can argue that's good or bad, and we could have that debate for days. I feel that instead of making him a person who kills and slays at a whim, until someone pulls some bullshit out of their ass, it's better for him to hate killing, and have his powers restricted by the universe in the simplest ways.

So here it is. No killing or resurrection with simple words.

Oh sure, he can still kill, he just has to work for it a bit. You see, the problem with Cryopod Classic is that, yes, I could theme a story around a godlike human with infinite killing abilities... but I didn't do that properly. When you end up with a literal sociopathic monster like Hope, there's no good way to explain why he doesn't just kill and mind-control anyone who opposes him. It's a plothole explosion!

If I were to REALLY rewrite Cryopod, I would approach an actual omnipotent Wordsmith very differently. The entire story would become that, YES, he can kill and mind-control anyone he pleases, creating a perfect universe, but everyone would fear and resent him. That, however, does not work with the current plot structure of Cryopod.

So we're left with either a Jason who can kill everyone with a single word... but sometimes he doesn't even when the person is really really bad and you know it would be simple, or he simply can't, because... muh anti-energy and Wordsmith word protection.

And maybe you think it would be okay if he just killed everyone. Picture Cryopod, but with all the cool villains like Beelzebub, Diablo, Bael, all of them just instantly dead.

Oof. Where's the tension? The only person who can compare to a Wordsmith is... another Wordsmith.

And how does that work? One Wordsmith says "Die" and boom, the other dies. Oh, unless they don't, of course. Then you just have a plothole.

This is a problem I've mentioned in the past, but I'll reiterate it again. If you were growing up and playing Superheroes on the playground, here's how it would work.

....

Jimmy: I'm Awesome Man! I can kill anything with one punch!

Cindy: I'm Invincible Woman! I can block any attack!

Jimmy: Nuh-uh! Not my instant-kill punch!

Cindy: Uh-huh! I can block anything!

Jimmy: Well I have a Super Laser that can pierce ANYTHING, Cindy!

Cindy: Yeah, but I have the ULTIMATE SHIELD, Jimmy!

....

This is what Wordsmithing battles in Classic Cryopod would devolve into.

There are several solutions to nerfing or weakening Wordsmithing just enough that it doesn't dissolve tension, or create plotholes. Here are the ones I know of, and have used all throughout Classic Cryopod.

1. Stupid protagonist. Jason is simply too dumb to think of using Puppet and Autonomy to resurrect Phoebe!

2. Magic protection. You can't just say Die and kill Amelia, because she magically protected herself from a bunch of your kill-words, or whatever!

3. Technology. You can't kill Marie, she has anti-energy surrounding her! Your Kill command is useless!

4. Arbitrary Protagonist: Jason will Puppet and Autonomy Beelzebub, but not Phoebe! This is because we need Phoebe to stay dead so Jason really feels her loss... or something. (This is basically Dumb Protagonist, but way worse.)

5. Blanket Ban. Jason simply can't instant kill or resurrect.

6. Omnipotent Protagonist: No limits. Kills and resurrects whenever convenient, and the story has zero tension. Big bad enemy? Oh he's dead. Love interest died? Bring her back to life!

As you can see, literally none of these work well. However, as the author, I made the decision that I would either use 5 or 6 for the Refresh, and decided on 5.

First off, yes, it's arbitrary. If you think about it, the Genie from Aladdin has similar restrictions. The story needs Aladdin to fall in love with the Princess, so no making her fall in love. If Jaffar can be instantly killed, that deflates tension, and if people can be resurrected, that eliminates stakes.

Now, there is a seventh option. This option is that Jason is simply a morally upright figure, one who would never kill. That would work. It really would. I could easily craft a narrative around this, and then just ban Resurrection while allowing Kill to be available.

But, this seventh option has one major downside. Jason won't be the only Wordsmith. Assuming no evil Wordsmiths appeared, I could remove the Kill restriction and just assume Jason never uses it out of moral principles, but would Hope?

Of course he would. Hope would kill anyone that got in his way. He kills Belial and Cassiel in Classic Chapter 2, so there's no reason he wouldn't just slay and mind-control everyone in his path.

And if that's the case, then we have plotholes if Hope doesn't kill Jason instantly with Wordsmithing. Jason can't give himself Phoenix powers, otherwise he could do that to everyone, and then we have that playground superhero fight again.

So, I am taking the simple route. No killing. No resurrection.

The only question left is... what about mind-control?

Blocking instant kill words with anti-energy, or using magic to protect yourself is one thing, but I feel like psionic blockers, hardened minds, things of that sort are much more reasonable to believe. I actually think some arbitrary means of blocking mind control, if the plot requires it, are okay. Additionally, leaving the option to mind-control on the table gives more interesting philosophical questions. Jason would NEVER kill anyone, but would he force demons to ally with him if he thought it would end wars?

I could just arbitrarily block it too, but unlike instant killing and resurrection, mind control has several neat applications, for humans and enemies alike. We'll see how it all works out.

..........................................

I apologize for the mini-blog above. However, I have very strong feelings on this subject, having spent over a year and a half writing Cryopod. I believe, with all my heart, that a simple blanket-ban on resurrection and killing is the simplest, least bullshitty way to preserve tension and stakes in the current version.

Look... if you guys want an omnipotent Jason, while having an intelligent story, with few to zero plotholes, stakes, and tension... that will have to wait for a full, clean rewrite. One with a new plot, new universal imbalance, and new story focus.

As of now, Refresh Jason is still mostly omnipotent. He has two very simple restrictions, and that's all. I think that once he learns to use Wordsmithing within those boundaries, he will be a far, far more interesting protagonist than Classic Jason. Less dumb, too. Nobody liked Dumb Jason, I know this because that's what everybody complained about in the comments :P

Thanks for reading.