Chương 68: 2.26 Bodysnatchers - Radiohead (4:02)

Z3ke [last online: 6 days ago] Inkwell Question for all the fanfic writers here: how long does it take to put together a chapter like the ones that Z3ke's been posting? I get that his updates aren't exactly short. Whenever he comes back from one of his mini-breaks it's with a wall of text. But six days of silence feels like a lot, especially with where he left things. We were starting the whole Witness arc, Binary dropped his "muhahaha" villain monologue, and then we get nothing.

Is this normal pacing and I'm just spoiled because other writers on this site update more often? Or are we looking at something else going on? FolkingSchmidt If you're writing casually, you can knock something out in a day or two. It might be longer if you're polishing it. But if you're obsessing and overthinking every detail, and trying to make sure all the lore and history lines up, you can stall yourself for a week or more. Also, Zeke kind of wrote himself into a corner here.

Binary trapped his character in that room and now he's got to figure out a way out of there that actually makes sense. If he fumbles that, the entire story could collapse. StoryLeech That's the downside to his premise and with how he's written everything. He's treating this story like it's really happening, which means he can't just hand-wave a bunch of shit. Think about what Brandon Sanderson said about hard vs soft magic.

I can't remember the exact quote and I can't find the video, but the basic idea is that hard magic has strict rules and consistent logic. Soft magic is a lot more flexible and mysterious. The benefit to a hard magic system is that your readers can think through the problems and come up with solutions using all the rules to your magic. Zeke is doing something similar to a hard magic type of fanfic. There are rules to the Fracture-verse games, and he's following them.

But the second he tries to go soft magic (breaking the rules to the game) everything turns to shit and he loses all his readers. He has to come up with a solution to Binary's trap that is consistent with the Fracture-verse world, isn't something obvious that we've all already tried, and doesn't feel like nonsense. That's not an easy thing to do. BushinBushin It could be that he's just dropped this fic. We're dancing around it, but it happens all the time.

Someone starts a fic, it gains traction and readers, and then the author just disappears. He could be burnt out. HexaDeweyDecimal | He could be burnt out. | I'm blaming Binary if that's the case. Things were finally picking up. His OC was getting stronger, people were engaging with the story and building theories, and Foppery was this close to blowing the whole Corva thing wide open. Then Binary shows up, tears the whole thing down, and now Zeke's gone quiet. CradleOfMirth Yea.

Binary basically reframed everything as "this is dumb and you're all dumb for buying into it." That's got to mess with Zeke's head. It had to feel like Binary dropped a. 5 star review right when the fic was peaking. Imagine you're writing a story and it's finally getting some momentum, and then someone comes along and pulls the rug right out from under you. Even if it's just one reader who doesn't like the fic, it feels a lot bigger than that when you're the one writing it.

MushroomCleric Binary is just a vocal minority though. He's a walking megaphone with an attitude. We all already knew that he was a dig. But I agree with what you're saying. If Z3ke is taking Binary's douche speech as representative of the entire forum, I could see him spiraling for a bit. But he'll be back. Blazer66 Zeke is gonna get banned so hard when he tells Binary how much he appreciates him. LongHairBum Yo, @Grave - can you give Z3ke a 24-hour immunity pass for when he returns?

Let him curse up a storm and shout at people. I think he's earned it. Binary is basically that guy at the beach kicking over everyone's sandcastles, and someone needs to tell him to knock it off. PuzzleBoxed I don't think Zeke quit. It's probably more that he's just stuck with his writing. The Witness Chamber is a nightmare scenario from a writing standpoint. I think everyone is underestimating how hard Zeke is going to have to work to come up with a plausible escape for his OC.

If he pulls a solution out his ass, everyone's going to bitch and moan about it and call it cheap. If he uses an existing mechanic in the story, we're all going to question why nobody thought to try it first. Zeke's trying to thread a very thin needle right now. He's probably doing what every writer has always done in this kind of scenario: he's staring at the wall for three days straight, writes something, deletes it, and then goes to get a drink. CrushDaddyXx Wooo!!! Time served and now I'm out for good behavior.

But yea, I'm also wondering where Zeke is. Dood needs to keep the momentum going from his last arc, because that one was mint. (Wonder who helped him with that.) ArtooDeetoa ^ This. He's got the entire forum waiting for his next update. It better be good. LurkerOfSurfers God, Zeke is way too good for you clowns if you're going to keep complaining about "Muh pacing", "Muh expected lore drops", "Muh combat", "Muh lore." InnerMarrow Y'all drinking the copium.

Zeke's gone and he's not coming back and it's all Binary's fault. Novalis Binary sounds like someone who got bullied in school.

"My plan is so much better than what the other primaries did - No, I can't explain it right now - it's super secret. I am 100% not trying to sabotage the story, because Zeke is more popular than me.

THREAD: [INVESTIGATION] Unanchored Tags and Corva Red/Black-Hunter Okay. Here's an update on what we're all working on. There are five areas that we know of where the unanchored tag can show up. A few of us are trying to recreate Foppery's discovery with the Broken Causeway. PaperSnakes is taking the lead in attempting the Veilstrider questline. I don't know how he's going to stay unanchored all the way there, but okay. We still need volunteers for the Glass Archives, the Cinder Expanse, and Pilgrim's Hollow.

Since we don't know the exact trigger points for the unanchored tag in those locations, people need to record everything. Foppery said that his tag appeared during an autosave - and the videos he's shared seem to agree with him - so if you feel that hitch of an autosave, note your location. PatchNotesOrDidntHappen I really wish Zeke had given us more to go on. This whole thing is going to be a massive timesink. Don't get me wrong, I love that we're uncovering new lore here.

The fact that it's Corva lore is the icing on the cake. But right now we're basically wandering through the game trying to catch the unanchored bug, and then we'll still need to survive 21 in-game days afterwards. That's such a pain in the ass. Also, we all know that someone's going to fuck up their run halfway through. We taking bets on who it's going to be? UnhelpfullyHelpful I was hyped for this for all of five minutes, then I remembered that I'd have to actually play Shards again.

DataDatum That's the funniest thing about all of this. It's not Binary blowing up Zeke's fic. It's not Foppery's poor timing in finding Corva after Binary became Primary. It's not that we all disbelieved a man who was solving one of the biggest lore mysteries in the entire Fracture-verse. The funniest thing is that we may have just discovered the most interesting mechanic in the entire series, and it's buried in one of the jankiest, least polished games in the series.

HonoredBibliophile | we may have just discovered the most interesting mechanic in the entire series | A body snatcher would be the PERFECT antagonist for a VR game. It would really let you experience what it's like to lose control of your body and become just a puppet for a body-hopping asshole. Staniel ^ Honored. I can't wait to get this working so I can experience what Foppery already did. Having your character just stop responding to your commands has got to be the most surreal experience imaginable.

SpicyShoyu This is insane from a gameplay perspective. From what Foppery said in his Field Report, Corva inherited all his stats/abilities/gear. That means that you're basically creating your own endgame boss. Your choices in your playthrough determine how dangerous Corva becomes. That's actually brilliant. RedMonty Corva's got first time Mimic tear boss from Elden Ring all over it. You go in Willy Billy and it's one of the toughest boss fights in the game.

But if you get naked before you enter then it doesn't matter how high level you are. The mimic is still gonna be a naked twink when you re-equip all your gear. Shukuen NGL, the idea of you making your own End Boss is terrifying. My OCD generally has me grinding all available skills to the highest level possible, even if it ends up having me spend 2-3 IRL weeks wandering one area like a loon. Shootingblnks That actually makes me a little pissed at the Severance devs though.

Imagine if this whole thing had surfaced properly, when the game came out.

"Hey, by the way, your actions in the game can spawn an antagonist that uses your build and weapons." That's a genre-defining game mechanic. It would be like the Nemesis system in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Instead, we get "maybe if you meet a shit ton of invisible conditions, and then grind for hours, you can unlock the most interesting content in the game." Fogbarrel Well yea… it wouldn't be Shards if it wasn't shit. But I've been thinking about something else.

If we're all trying to recreate Foppery's playthrough, RedMonty is right. Shouldn't we be trying to nerf ourselves? That way, when Corva spawns he's not that big of a deal and we can one-shot him. TwoGirlsOneCuphead Uh, no. I want the strongest Corva possible. Notice me, Corva-senpai!!! Lorehound77 We're glossing over the biggest implication to this body-hopping thing.

It was mostly brushed off in Zeke's fanfic, but since it's almost entirely confirmed, then Corva has been moving between all the different iterations in this game. We should start compiling every known interaction our characters have had with Corva throughout the entire series. I'm talking about looking at dialogue, cutscenes, sidequests, and everything else. Then we should look for inconsistencies there. There's got to be some kind of tone shifts or moments where things felt off.

If the devs have been hiding this whale mystery from us the entire time, there's got to be some behavior that Corva exhibited that doesn't fit with his character. GnomelandSecurity You're basically proposing a full forensic analysis of Corva's entire existence in EVERY game. That means we'll be able to put this mystery to bed next year. EnidCheats Lore's got a good idea though.

If Corva has been body-hopping through the different games and he isn't just some Cid character like we all thought, then the devs had to have left some clues in the writing. I can tell you that the first place we should all look into is those moments where Corva feels like he knows more than he should. I for one can recall a few times where that's happened. FarFieldVanishes I've already started pulling the clips.

There's a few stuff in Null Protocol that is weird, but I don't have anything definitive yet to point to and say that's where the devs gave us the biggest hint.

THREAD: Corva Would NEVER Do This - What is Zeke Even Writing Anymore USER: NullSigil NullSigil | ZEKE'S FANFIC IS SUCH BOSHEET | HAHAHAHAHAHA. I just came back to this thread and I'm actually crying. Yo Lorem. What do you have to say for yourself? This aged like milk left in a volcano. This entire thread is an absolute curdled disaster and I'm here for it. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

3Schofields | Zeke is trying to turn him into a straight up slasher villain. Nope. Absolutely not. That should tell everyone that Zeke doesn't understand the lore of the game he's playing. | Lorem-Ipsum. This you? AshenRook Yeaaaaa. I'll own up to it. I was one of the loudest voices saying that Corva being a body-hopper made zero sense. I was wrong. There you go Null. Credit where credit's due, Zeke found something interesting. NullSigil | Corva is the moral center of the Fracture-verse. He's the anchor point.

He's who players love and strive to be like. You don't turn him into a stab-happy psycho just to increase engagement on your fic. | HAHAHA. You really wrote that like it was scripture. 😂 AshenRook Yea yea. Keep it coming. I deserve it. SoftLocked | Zeke made it all up. He's just inventing shit for attention. Or he's retconning lore because he wants his OC to be special. Pick one of those answers because either one of them is more believable than Corva secretly being evil. | That one's my favorite from Lorem.

It's just… chef's kiss. VeneratedWitchHunter To be fair, Zeke hid the Corva stuff well. All he did was drop a few clues that Corva was a body-hopper and it took Foppery a long time to piece everything together. Without that, this thread would have still been running anti-Zeke stuff. SeasonalWitnessing I think some of us (me included) were too attached to our interpretation of Corva to accept a plot twist that messy from Zeke.

Now that he's been proven to have been right, we're all thinking back to the games to find out where we could have messed up. Saltmines Uh… Venerated, don't think you can get away with being all lovey dovey on Zeke now. You and Binary were two of the biggest anti-Zeke voices ever since the beginning. VeneratedwitchHunter Correction: I was one of the biggest anti-Zeke voices. But my man picked a class from Shards that wasn't even released in the game.

Then, he gets the entire forum to be playing Shards to discover more lore. He's my favorite fanfic writer around. But yea, I'll cop to the fact that we all clowned ourselves by jumping to conclusions right after Zeke posted his Corva stuff. NullSigil No no, you clowned yourselves. I was merely an innocent bystander laughing from the sidelines. (Do not check my post history.) HandsWithoutArms Okay, real talk, does everyone owe Zeke an apology or what? I mean… that backlash was brutal.

Nuttin'Honey Meh, he's probably okay. He most likely knew that dropping something about Corva being a maniac with that little clarity was always going to explode. But it's also why it works now. The reread value of his fic is absolutely insane now. It felt like nonsense at the time but now that everything's snapped into place it's more like "OH. You absolute menace."

THREAD: Zeke Lore Hunt Edition USER: Starved&Confused Starved&Confused (Original Poster) Assuming that Zeke actually finds a way out of the Witness Chambers, where do we want him to go next? I'm not talking about trying to act as his primary or anything. I'm speaking purely in a lore potential way. There's a couple spots I wouldn't mind him poking around in if he's going to be uncovering all these mysteries. CartographerHero Rift Scar. There's no question about it.

Frontiers has always been my favorite game in the series because it always felt so empty, but Zeke has already uncovered soooo much lore already. The Rift Scar is a big something is wrong zone and I'd love for Zeke to go poking into it. ThornDialect Yea. I can see that. Frontiers has always felt almost half-finished, what with how vast and nothing there is out in the Deadlands. It stands to reason that we've missed a ton of lore out there.

Hell, now that Corva has been proven true, I'm wondering if there's a way to check on what the Eaters are up to. thE-YellowDart The only problem with the Eaters is that they're most likely a Syndicate's only monster. Now that the servers have all been shut down, we won't be able to replicate what Zeke uncovers. That being said, if Zeke really is a dev - like the current theory suggests - I'm willing to accept what he writes about the Eaters as lore until someone else comes along and disproves him.

LurkerOfSurfers I'm waiting for that moment where Zeke encounters someone, Zekes all over them, and in their dying breath goes: "It's time we reunited… my dear Farlonei…" SlothPanda OMG, what's up with everyone being obsessed about Farlonei? It's not gonna happen. Even if it did, Zeke would need to head over to the Emberveil side of the map to make headroom there. That's too far away to be sending Zeke right now. MangoHabaneroPopcorn Uhhh…

at the risk of getting flamed for not knowing all the lore that everyone else does. Who the hell is Farlonei? SlothPanda It's this crazy theory that some people subscribe to that a Phoenix has taken root in a town in Emberveil and has become their new leader. You know how a bunch of weird animals and folklore creatures are popping up in that game due to their Fracture? It's based on that idea.

A vocal minority from the thread suggest that there are monsters that are hiding in people and trying to live in peace with the Humans that are hunting them. CrimsonProphecy88 He should head to Nexora and go digging around in Null Protocol. That game has tons of unfinished lore. If Zeke is willing to uncover mysteries, then Nexora is basically a goldmine. GlassyNinja Ooo. If Zeke used to be a dev then Nexora would be like a confession booth for him. There's so many unanswered questions in that game.

He could really let the lore slip there. ColdSnapTheory As much as I'm going to get pushback for this (and I will because this entire forum is on his nuts) Zeke is just a guy writing a really convincing fic. He's not a former dev. That whole narrative is getting out of hand. What's more likely is that he's a fan and he's a better lore-theorist than all of us. He uncovered a bunch of stuff and is writing a fic to drop all that hidden lore.

The best thing we can do is be willing to follow his story wherever he takes us. If we push him into Null Protocol and he doesn't have any interesting lore to release, then I can see everyone on the forum getting pissed. And that's not fair on him when he's just trying to write an interesting story. BananaFonanana I honestly hope that he's not a dev. If he is, then this story is kinda messed up. If he's actually tied to the dev team, then what's the deal with the name Zeke?

We've all been shitting on Binary for trashing this fic, especially now that we know the Corva stuff is real. But Z3ke is pretending to be Ezekial Mercer - a bartender from NYC who has gone missing. Only two things can be true. Either he is Ezekial Mercer, in which case he's a fan of the games and found a bunch of cool lore and then just up and quit his entire life to write a Fracture-verse fanfic.

Or he's a dev, in which case he knows a bunch of the lore because he helped write it, but he decided to use a real missing person's identity just to sell the story that he got isekai'd. NeonPilgrim Yea… that kinda makes me uncomfortable. I'd rather the idea that Zeke is really just a dedicated fan who's dug deeper than the rest of us. The alternative makes everything a little too messy. Occams_Barber Call me crazy, but what if Zeke has been telling the truth this entire time.

He started posting a couple days after Ezekial vanished, and has never, not once broken character. He tells us he doesn't know about the games, and all of his reactions reflect that. He finds stuff that's actually in the Fracture games that people can then verify. He describes his time in the world from the POV of a real person, where the economy is real, and everybody acts like a person, not an NPC.

When he vanishes for days at a time, his explanations do match up with what a real person would have been doing in those timespans. And he really really freaks out at the potential that skills could change who he is, which is reasonable for a real person instead of the avatar we play in these games. The only assumption we would need to believe is that Zeke was telling the truth.

I'm using "was" because following that path of logic, Binary basically killed a real person by locking them in a room with no exit and limited water. MapHackJunkie Yeaaaa. That's not happening. Everything that you wrote can just as easily point to Zeke being a writer devoted to his craft AND being a huge super-nerd about the Fracture-verse. You're saying that he's writing in the POV of a real person where the economy is real. That's something that a bunch of fanfic authors do. Nothing new there.

He's vanishing for days at a time but making his explanations line up with what someone else has done. That just means he needs time to write his story and is giving plausible explanations for why he's disappearing and not updating the forum. He's really freaking out about the skills changing who he is? That means he's invested in something that fanfics never really care about: actual consequences to your actions. Most fics that I've read are power fantasies.

But Zeke is writing a grounded story that would have to do with a bunch of ethical and moral quandaries. As much as we'd all want to believe that Zeke has been isekai'd into that world - mostly because I want to be isekai'd into the Fracture-verse - we gotta be realistic. I mean… do some Occam's Razor shit. The simplest answer is the best. What makes more sense, Zeke has been isekai'd? Or Zeke is a fan and loves writing his fanfic?

THREAD: IMPORTANT DISCUSSION - Who Should Zeke Romance??? USER: VelvetCoffin VelvetCoffin (Original Poster) Enough with the lore threads. They're boring and uncultured. We need to address the real question which is: who is Zeke's endgame romance? Bluey I do keep cringing internally every time Zeke asks this forum to help in these matters of safety and internal struggles. They all may be your one cheat power in this world, but they aren't a friend.

Everyone just assumes that Zeke will write away the bumps in the road from this adventure. The whole thing has me looking forward to Zeke to get an actual companion who he can share his honest feelings with. CrackedTeacup Finally, a topic I can sink my teeth into. It's all about Milicent. Opposites attract and all. She's composed and terrifying, while Zeke is… Zeke. It just works. Let's see them bump uglies and we'll call it character development. HappyGoNucky Absolutely not.

Milicent is WAY past the point of falling for Zeke. Plus, he's already given her the glyph book so she's going to be fooling around with that for a while. Also, she didn't really come off as romance ready when they were in the Under-MIZ together. You think she's suddenly going to look at him and think that's my man?? She gives off more "transcended romance" energy. Zeke would be a mild distraction at best. She's got her family to take care of and no time for my man. CrackedTeacup Zeke can fix her.

Zeke can make her love him. MuffinxZombie Not at all. If anything, Zeke would make her character worse. Tigre&Bunny Milicent feels like the kind of woman who'd ghost Zeke, break his heart, and then show up three arcs later like nothing happened. Kelasgre I'm shipping him with Riley. Don't ask me why - they had a conversation that lasted less than a minute, and their relationship is somewhere between "purely business" and "cautiously friendly."

But I'm shipping them anyway; Riley has the energy of a strong, interesting female lead. ZekeXRiley is my OTP! VelvetCoffin (Original Poster) Hmm… that's not a bad idea. She is the only woman that he's written about on the forum without immediately subjecting her to the Cthulu horror that is the Reclaimer. That alone puts her at the top of the list. SnailSpecter God that's such a low bar. Zeke needs to get some more game. Connoisseuroffiction Yeah, shipping culture is sometimes very vicious. Apologist No.

Riley deserves better. Actually, everyone deserves better than Zeke. He's just a big old mess right now and shouldn't be inflicting that on ANYONE. MeiDei You're all wrong. The only correct answer is the Blooming Witch. It would be the most amazing love story in the history of love and stories. She's an unstable ancient being with power beyond human reckoning. He's a former bartender with no idea what he's doing in this world. He strolls into the House of Seasons and thinks "I can fix her."

She absolutely cannot be fixed. They ruin each other. It's beautiful. RiftRamen She'll either take him to bed or take him to hell. There is no in-between for their relationship. That's how you know it's real love. Amongus Corva x Zeke (Til death do us part) VelvetCoffin (Original Poster) Jeezus. Amongus has gone insane. This is a SERIOUS forum. We're trying to hook our boy up here. Mchiavelli Wait. Wait. Wait. Here me out. Corva x Zeke. Enemies to lovers. It'll be a slow burn fanfic.

It starts with Zeke trying to hunt down Corva. He somehow survived what Corva and Wren and Cole did to him back at the Valley of Echoes. They hate each other and are lifelong enemies. But then… Corva finds the forum. He's been trying to learn more about Zeke so that he can defeat him. It's a whole "learn your enemy" type of thing going on. Zeke makes a new character, but this time with Corva as the username and he updates from Corva's POV. Suddenly, he's not just the villain.

Corva lost his entire family to the plague. He lost his wife and his two daughters, and everything after that was just survival. He became a cold drifter because he had nothing left. Zeke finds the posts on the forum and he starts reading it. Not only that… but he REPLIES. They start arguing. Zeke's complaining that Corva tried to kill him. Corva complains that Zeke didn't let Corva body snatch him. You could cut the sexual tension with a knife.

VelvetCoffin (Original Poster) This is just Pride and Prejudice set in the Fracture-verse.

"Mr. Corva, you are the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to love." Mchiavelli YES. That's exactly what it is. Corva and Zeke start off hating each other. There's so many misunderstandings and clashing ideologies. Then slowly they start to respect each other. And then it turns into something more. Zeke finds out that Corva doesn't want power. That's not why he's body-hopping. He yearns for the connection that he lost when his wife and daughters were taken by the plague.

Zeke becomes that connection for him. He introduces him to the world that he's been blind to this entire time. Zeke becomes that thread that brings Corva back to humanity. Maybe, just maybe, Corva begins to change because of Zeke's romantic interest. Apologist You know… I'm kind of liking this. Corva posting on the forum can be like: "I have consumed three hosts today. Yet none of them understood me." VelvetCoffin (Original Poster) Zeke will reply with "have you tried to open up emotionally?

CaptPuffnStuff This thread needs to be studied. It's the most unhinged thing I've ever read. And I've read a lot. NeonPilgrim I hate that this is the most compelling ship that we've come up with. VelvetCoffin (Original Poster) So, to summarize: Milicent would ignore our boy. Riley is somehow too viable. The Blooming Witch would be a toxic relationship. And Corva would be an enemies-to-lovers Victorian tragedy. We did it everyone. We solved romance.

THREAD: [FANFIC] Of Bodies and Bad First Impressions (Zeke x Corva AU) USER: Mchiavelli Mchiavelli (Original Poster) [A/N: I've never written fanfic before, so go easy on me.] It is a truth, perhaps not universally acknowledged but certainly whispered with increasing urgency, that a single man in possession of a moderately successful fanfic must be in want of a husband. Zeke, for his part, would have denied this outright. He did not consider himself particularly notable.

His posts were long, yes, and occasionally drew attention. But attention was a fickle thing and rarely worth the effort it demanded in return. If anything, he preferred to remain unnoticed - an observer rather than a participant. This preference had, regrettably, not been respected.

"You've seen it, haven't you?" asked StoryLeech.

"The new user." Zeke frowned at the notification.

"New user? That doesn't exactly narrow it down."

"The one that everyone's talking about. Don't pretend you haven't noticed." Zeke had, in fact, noticed. It had been difficult not to. The account had appeared without introduction, without history, and without any apparent interest in conducting itself in a manner befitting polite company. Its posts were sparse, precise, and deeply unsettling. Corva, the username read. Nothing more.

"I've seen the posts," Zeke admitted after a moment.

"They're strange."

"That's one word for it," came the reply from StoryLeech.

"He's arguing with people like he knows things he shouldn't." Zeke hesitated, his fingers hovering over his Tech Slate. He had seen the same thing: assertions made with confidence where none should exist. Corrections delivered as fact. Beneath it all, there was an undercurrent of something that suggested familiarity. It was, he told himself, a performance. An elaborate one, perhaps, but still a performance.

"You're overthinking it," Zeke typed at last.

"It's probably someone committed to the same bit you all believed I was playing." Even as he sent the message, he found the reassurance lacking. Mchiavelli (Original Poster) That's all I've got so far. If this gets even one person to regret encouraging me, I'll call that a win. MushroomCleric Jeezus. ZEKE!!! Come back! We need you. Do you see what we've turned into without an update?!?!?